Canongate puts titles on the iBookstore (UK)

"Canongate has become the first publisher after the launch of the iBookstore in the UK to make its books available on the Apple iPad, with titles such as Yann Martel's Life of Pi and Barack Obama's Dreams of my Father going on sale. The independent publisher joins Hachette, HarperCollins, Penguin and Macmillan all of which had their titles available at launch on 28th May. Pricing is largely in line with paperback r.r.p. with Life of Pi priced at £7.99 and Dreams of my Father priced £8.99. Dreams of my Father is already available on the Kindle priced at £2.99, whlle Life of Pi is available on Kindle for £3.80" - The Bookseller

Ken Follett: Fall Of Giants

Ken Follett's World Without End was a global phenomenon, a work of grand historical sweep, beloved by millions of readers and acclaimed by critics. Fall of Giants is his magnificent new historical epic. The first novel in The Century Trilogy, it follows the fates of five interrelated families-American, German, Russian, English, and Welsh-as they move through the world-shaking dramas of the First World War, the Russian Revolution, and the struggle for women's suffrage. Thirteen-year-old Billy Williams enters a man's world in the Welsh mining pits...Gus Dewar, an American law student rejected in love, finds a surprising new career in Woodrow Wilson's White House...two orphaned Russian brothers, Grigori and Lev Peshkov, embark on radically different paths half a world apart when their plan to emigrate to America falls afoul of war, conscription, and revolution...Billy's sister, Ethel, a housekeeper for the aristocratic Fitzherberts, takes a fateful step above her station, while Lady Maud Fitzherbert herself crosses deep into forbidden territory when she falls in love with Walter von Ulrich, a spy at the German embassy in London...

Royal Society Prize for Science Books 2010 shortlist

Royal Society Prize for Science Books 2010 shortlist:

* A World Without Ice by Henry Pollack (Avery Books, Penguin Group)
* Everyday Practice of Science: Where Intuition and Passion Meet Objectivity and Logic by Frederick Grinnell (Oxford University Press)
* God's Philosophers: How the medieval world laid the foundations of modern science by James Hannam (Icon Books)
* Life Ascending by Nick Lane (Profile Books)
* We Need To Talk About Kelvin by Marcus Chown (Faber and Faber)
* Why Does E=mc2? by Brian Cox and Jeff Forshaw (Da Capo Press, Perseus Books Group)

The winner will be announced on 21 October 2010 and the winning book will receive £10,000. £1000 per book is awarded to the author(s) of the shortlisted books

5th Manchester Literature Festival 2010 (UK)

5th Manchester Literature Festival 2010 - 14-25 October 2010 - Manchester, UK - "Writers will be travelling to Manchester from as far afield as North Africa, China, Scandinavia and the United States to take part in this year's festival. Our distinguished line up of guests includes UK Poet Laureate Carol Ann Duffy and Nobel Laureate Seamus Heaney, beloved novelists Bernard Cornwell, Caryl Phillips, Lionel Shriver and Barbara Trapido, and award-winning screenwriter Heidi Thomas. The programme features a Historical Readers' Day and a series of events commemorating the 200th anniversary of the birth of pioneering Manchester writer, Elizabeth Gaskell. Looking to the future, we present some unique MLF commissions, including the inaugural Manchester Sermon to be delivered by Jeanette Winterson, and the translation of a short story by acclaimed Chinese writer Ding Liying. We will also be showcasing some of the UK's hottest new talent, and inspiring the next generation of readers and writers with a tempting selection of family-friendly activities. With everything from a Moomin storytelling event to a debate on horror fiction, there's something to suit all literary tastes and ages"

2010 Guardian first book award longlist

The longlist for the 2010 Guardian first book award has been announced:

Fiction:

* Mr Chartwell by Rebecca Hunt (Fig Tree)
* Boxer, Beetle by Ned Beauman (Sceptre)
* Things We Didn't See Coming by Steven Amsterdam (Harvill)
* Your Presence is Requested at Suvanto by Maile Chapman (Cape)
* Black Mamba Boy by Nadifa Mohamed (HarperCollins)

Non-fiction

* Bomber County: The Lost Airmen of World War Two by Daniel Swift (Hamish Hamilton)
* Being Wrong: Adventures in the Margin of Error by Kathryn Schulz (Portobello)
* Romantic Moderns: English Writers, Artists and the Imagination from Virginia Woolf to John Piper by Alexandra Harris (Thames & Hudson)
* Curfewed Night: A Frontline Memoir of Life, Love and War in Kashmir by Basharat Peer (HarperCollins)

Poetry

* The Floating Man by Katharine Towers (Picador)

Man Booker Prize app launched

The Man Booker Prize has unveiled exciting new digital plans for the 2010 prize. These include the launch of the first literary prize app and an exclusive partnership with T-Mobile and GoSpoken