World Book Night titles unveiled (UK)

Pride and Prejudice and The Alchemist are among the 25 titles that will be given away on World Book Night in 2012. One million books will be distributed at venues including hostels, pubs and hospitals in a bid to boost reading. Now in its second year, the event will move from March to 23 April, marking both Unesco's International Day Of The Book and Shakespeare's birthday. Some 20,000 members of the public will be chosen to give away copies of their favourite title from the list

TS Eliot prize 2011 shortlist (UK)

The shortlist for the TS Eliot prize 2011 has been announced:

* Black Cat Bone by John Burnside
* The Bees by Carol Ann Duffy
* Profit and Loss by Leontia Flynn
* Night by David Harsent
* Armour by John Kinsella
* Grace by Esther Morgan
* Tippoo Sultan's Incredible White-Man-Eating Tiger Toy-Machine!!! by Daljit Nagra
* November by Sean O'Brien
* Farmer's Cross by Bernard O'Donoghue
* Memorial by Alice Oswald

Bedford Square Books launches with six titles

Bedford Square Books, the new e-book and Print on Demand venture coming from the Ed Victor Literary Agency, has gone live with all six launch titles now available to the public. In addition, Ed Victor confirmed that the company will publish its first original work, a novel by entrepreneur Louise Fennell, wife of jewellery designer, Theo. Fennell's debut novel, Dead Rich, is a contemporary black comedy. It will be published on February 8 2012 in e-book and POD formats

Writeidea Reading Festival 2011 (UK)

This is the third year of Writeidea - East London's free reading festival - and it is now established as a highlight in the cultural calendar in the capital. In contrast to many other literary festivals across the country, all our events are free, as we think that everyone should have the opportunity to meet and engage with our best writers and hear them talking about their work - 11 - 19 November - London, UK

Novelist Catherine Fisher named young people's laureate (Wales)

A writer from Newport is to be named Wales' first Young People's Laureate later. Catherine Fisher, a former primary school teacher and archaeologist, is an award-winning author of fantasy novels for children. She will be asked to inspire young people to read and be involved in creative writing. Her appointment by writers' body Literature Wales will be unveiled by singer Charlotte Church later

Julian Barnes wins Man Booker Prize 2011

Julian Barnes has been named the winner of this year's £50,000 Man Booker Prize for Fiction for The Sense of an Ending, published by Jonathan Cape. London-based Barnes has been the bookies' favourite to win since the shortlist announcement on 6 September. The source of the description of the prize as 'posh bingo', Barnes has been shortlisted three times in the past for Arthur and George (2005), England, England (1998) and Flaubert's Parrot (1984)

The Fourth Brook Green Book Festival 2011 (UK)

The Fourth Brook Green Book Festival 2011 sponsored by Holy Trinity Catholic Church, Brook Green. The aim of the Festival is to bring together West London writers and local people - 17-21 October, 2011

Galaxy National Book Awards 2011 shortlist categories

The shortlist categories for the Galaxy National Book Awards 2011 have been announced

2011 Independent Booksellers Week (UK)

Independent Booksellers Week is part of the IndieBound campaign for independent bookshops, which promotes independent bookshops, great books, strong reading communities, and the idea of shopping locally and sustainably. An exciting new development for 2011 is the inclusion of National Reading Group Day on the second Saturday of IBW, Saturday 25th June. National Reading Group Day is one of BA President Jane Streeter's key objectives for 2011. It's not necessarily about booksellers starting reading groups, or even running groups in the shop, but about capitalising on the current huge grassroots affection for Reading Groups in the UK - 18 to 25 June 2011. RSS Feed

The British Library and Google to make 250,000 books available to all

The British Library and Google have announced a partnership to digitise 250,000 out-of-copyright books from the Library's collections. Opening up access to one of the greatest collections of books in the world, this demonstrates the Library's commitment, as stated in its 2020 Vision, to increase access to anyone who wants to do research. Selected by the British Library and digitised by Google, both organisations will work in partnership over the coming years to deliver this content free through Google Books and the British Library's website. Google will cover all digitisation costs. This project will digitise a huge range of printed books, pamphlets and periodicals dated 1700 to 1870, the period that saw the French and Industrial Revolutions, The Battle of Trafalgar and the Crimean War, the invention of rail travel and of the telegraph, the beginning of UK income tax, and the end of slavery. It will include material in a variety of major European languages, and will focus on books that are not yet freely available in digital form online

The Publishers Association Bulletin - 20 June 2011 (UK)

The Publishers Association Bulletin - 20 June 2011 - is now available online

Andrea Levy wins Walter Scott Prize for The Long Song (Scotland)

The second Walter Scott Prize for historical fiction has been awarded to Andrea Levy for her slavery novel The Long Song. The £25,000 prize was awarded at one of Scotland's top literary events, the Borders Book Festival in Melrose. The author accepted the award from the Duke of Buccleuch, sponsor of the prize, at a ceremony hosted by festival patron Rory Bremner

Book Grocer: 22-28 June 2011 (UK)

Book Grocer: 22-28 June 2011 - The week ahead in literary London from the Londonist blog

Germany honours John Le Carré with Goethe Medal

John Le Carré has been named as one of this year's recipients of Germany's Goethe Medal, which goes to individuals who "have performed outstanding service for the German language and international cultural dialogue". This "master of the political and psychological crime novel", according to the Goethe Institut, "condensed Germany's difficult role during the era of the cold war" in his books, and "vividly brings to life the global fields of conflict"

Palgrave Macmillan announces Palgrave Open

Palgrave Macmillan has announced the launch of Palgrave Open which offers authors of accepted primary research papers the option to publish their articles with immediate open access upon publication. With Palgrave Open authors can choose to pay an Article Processing Charge (APC) in order for their article to be made available to non-subscribers

First Fictions, a festival for readers and writers (UK)

Myriad Editions are joining forces with the University of Sussex to launch an exciting new event to celebrate and champion first novels, past and present. The First Fictions Festival uniquely fuses an innovative and eclectic programme of literary events featuring an array of new and established authors, with a course of creative writing masterclasses as well as an academic conference on the impact of creative writing on critical thinking. Among those helping to celebrate first works will be Kate Mosse, Jackie Kay, Elleke Boehmer, Steve Bell, Meg Rosoff, Melissa Benn, Michael Prodger and Ian Rankin - treating us to an exclusive reading from his unpublished first novel. To be held January 2012

First winner chosen for Aspire Award (UK)

Carly Miller, a student at the University of Sheffield, has won the first CILIP/IFLA Aspire Award. She will receive a free residential place at CILIP's flagship conference, Umbrella 2011. The conference will take place at the University of Hertfordshire in Hatfield on 12-13 July. The Aspire Award was created in memory of CILIP's Chief Executive Bob McKee, who died in August 2010. The Award will support Bob's passionate interests - developing new professionals and strengthening international relationships. It will help new professionals develop through networking at UK and international events

J.K. Rowling announces Pottermore

Pottermore is a free website that builds an exciting online experience around the reading of the Harry Potter books. Come back on 31st July to find out how you can get the chance to enter Pottermore early

OxfordWords blog

OxfordWords blog - Here you'll find articles about words, language, and dictionaries, plus English grammar and usage tips, interactive features, games, competitions, and more. From Oxford Dictionaries Online

2011 CILIP Carnegie Medal and CILIP Kate Greenaway Medal winners

The winners of the 2011 CILIP Carnegie Medal and CILIP Kate Greenaway Medal have been announced:

CILIP Carnegie Medal winner: Monsters of Men by Patrick Ness
CILIP Kate Greenaway Medal winner: FArTHER illustrated by Grahame Baker-Smith

Carnegie winner Patrick Ness attacks library cuts (UK)

Author Patrick Ness has criticised Education Secretary Michael Gove over library closures as he accepted a prestigious children's fiction prize. Ness was awarded the Cilip Carnegie Medal for his novel Monsters of Men at a ceremony in London. "We must accept that it is not only libraries that are under threat, but librarians as well," Ness said. The prize is awarded by children's librarians for an outstanding book for young people. Ness's winning novel is the third and final book of the Chaos Walking trilogy about the power struggles on a planet where private thoughts are audible. The US-born author described decisions to partially staff libraries with volunteers as "a one-sentence, Big Society idea whose consequences and ramifications they haven't even remotely considered". Talking about Mr Gove, Ness said: "Here is a man who races to the latest news about what a tragedy it is that three out of every 10 children don't own a book - The BBC

Desmond Elliot Prize 2011 winner announced

Anjali Joseph has been named as the winner of the £10,000 Desmond Elliott Prize 2011 for Saraswati Park, published by Fourth Estate. The Prize is awarded annually to the best first novel and Anjali Joseph's portrayal of modern-day India was selected for its enchanting narrative and assured style

We Love This Book - from The Bookseller (UK)

We Love This Book is the new consumer book magazine and website from The Bookseller Group, launched on 25 June 2011. We Love This Book will celebrate the most exciting books in the world today, with independent reviews, features with big-name and emerging authors, events, book video trailers and much, much more

London Literature Festival 2011 (UK)

London Literature Festival 2011 – an exciting mix of talks and events from brilliant writers, thinkers and artists. This year, with our riverside site transformed in celebration of the 60th anniversary of the Festival of Britain, we explore the past, present and future of Britain and its capital. We investigate the complexities of modern Britain in our State of the Nation series, and articulate our dreams and nightmares of the future in our Futurology events. With writers from over 30 countries joining us, we invite you to immerse yourself in a momentous London Literature Festival this summer. 30 June to 14 July, 2011

Edinburgh International Book Festival 2011 (Scotland)

The Edinburgh International Book Festival 2011 takes place 13-29 August, 2011 in Scotland

Guardian Books podcast: Do books have a future?

Publishers, academics, digital pioneers and writers assembled in Milan at the Book Tomorrow conference. Claire Armitstead, the Guardian's literary editor, went along to find out what the future holds for the printed word
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The Penguin Podcast - Blogger's Night

The Penguin Podcast - Blogger's Night - "Back in April we held the inaugural Penguin Bloggers' Night. Think of it like an evening of speed dating, where the internet had a gaggle of new books and authors vie for its affections. And here's your chance to listen to that gaggle"
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Women dominate first Rising Stars list - The Bookseller

Women dominate the first-ever The Bookseller Rising Stars, an annual listing which highlights the people who will shape the British book trade. Two-thirds - 26 of 39 entries - of Rising Stars 2011 are women. The list is divided into six categories: publicity, sales and marketing; design, production and supply chain; digital; bookseller; editorial; and agents and rights. Digital was the only category which had a majority of men, with five out of seven entries. All six agents and rights professionals on the list are women, as are six of eight booksellers.

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The Royal Society of Literature Ondaatje Prize 2011 winner (UK)

Edmund de Waal has been awarded the GBP10,000 Royal Society of Literature Ondaatje Prize for The Hare with Amber Eyes (Chatto). This is an annual award for a distinguished work of fiction, non-fiction or poetry, evoking the spirit of a place
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Téa Obreht wins the 2011 Orange Prize for Fiction (UK)

Serbian/American author Téa Obreht has won the 2011 Orange Prize for Fiction with her debut novel The Tiger's Wife (Weidenfeld & Nicolson). At 25, Obreht is the youngest-ever author to take the Prize. Celebrating its sixteenth anniversary this year, the Prize celebrates excellence, originality and accessibility in women's writing from throughout the world. At an awards ceremony at the Royal Festival Hall, Southbank Centre, London, hosted by Orange Prize for Fiction Co-Founder and Honorary Director, Kate Mosse, the 2011 Chair of Judges, Bettany Hughes, presented the author with the £30,000 prize and the ‘Bessie', a limited edition bronze figurine. Both are anonymously endowed

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Foyles branches out to east London (UK)

Foyles bookshop is to open its seventh branch near the site of the 2012 Olympics in the new Westfield Stratford City shopping centre. The family-owned bookseller, which has its flagship store on Charing Cross Road, central London, will launch its latest shop in the Westfield Stratford City, dubbed "Europe's largest urban shopping centre" and due to open later this year. The seventh Foyles will trade from over 5,000 square feet and be situated on the ground floor - The Bookseller

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National Crime Writing Week - June 2011 (UK)

National Crime Writing Week takes place at various venues in the UK, 13-19 June, 2011

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Red House Children's Book Award 2011 winners

The winners of the Red House Children's Book Award 2011 have been announced. Michael Morpurgo's novel Shadow has won this year's Red House children's book award, which is voted for by young readers. Other winners were Angela McAllister and Alison Edgson's Yuck! That's not a Monster in the category for younger children, and Alex Scarrow's TimeRiders in the older readers' category
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James McGonigal wins the Michael Marks Awards for Poetry Pamphlets with Cloud Pibroch

Poet James McGonigal has won the Michael Marks Awards for Poetry Pamphlets with Cloud Pibroch (Mariscat Press), for the publishing year 2010. Judge Lavinia Greenlaw presented the poet with the prize at an award ceremony at the British Library in London on 13 June 2011
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The Worlds of Mervyn Peake (British Library)

Mervyn Peake (1911-1968) was a prolific and astonishingly original writer and artist, who touched at one time or another on almost every literary form. To celebrate the centenary of Peake's birth, the British Library's exhibition The Worlds of Mervyn Peake (5 July to 18 September 2011) examines Peake's output as novelist, poet, playwright and illustrator through the worlds he inhabited, both real and imagined. The exhibition brings together a wealth of material from the British Library's collections, including the recently acquired Mervyn Peake archive. Previously unknown works discovered amongst Peake's papers include: the manuscript of the soon-to-be published fourth Titus book, Titus Awakes, completed by Peake's wife Maeve Gilmore after his death; and the complete first scene of his sci-fi play 'Isle Escape', in which a couple escape to a tropical island to wait out a world war that they later discover failed to take place
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2011 Dolman Travel Book Of The Year shortlist announced

2011 Dolman Travel Book of the Year shortlist announced:

* Dreaming in Hindi by Katherine Russell Rich (Portobello Books)
* Drinking Arak off an Ayatollah's Beard by Nicolas Jubber (Da Capo Press)
* Germania by Simon Winder (Picador)
* Molotov's Magic Lantern by Rachel Polonsky (Faber)
* Parisians by Graham Robb (Picador)
* The Last Resort by Douglas Rogers (Shortbooks)

The winner will be announced 6 July, 2011
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Belfast Book Festival 2011 (Northern Ireland)

In a Festival that now offers some 40 events, the organisers have tried as much as possible to appeal to a wide range of readers and writers across Belfast. There are established authors such as John Banville, Maurice Leitch, and David Peace; local authors with new works, Jo Baker and Lucy Caldwell; performers such as Larry Lamb and Owen O'Neill; poets like Martin Mooney, Leontia Flynn and Ben Maeir. There'll also be events based on The Belfast Blitz: The People's Story with readings from a new book of eye-witness accounts, the first live performance of W.R. Rodger's The Return Room, as well as an exhibition of photography books based on the Belfast Exposed archive - Until June 19, 2011
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Robert Burns book project awarded £1m grant (UK)

A Scottish university has been given £1m to produce the first complete scholarly edition of the works of Robert Burns. Glasgow University's Centre for Robert Burns Studies will publish six volumes over the next eight years, with another six to follow in the next decade. They will include The Oxford Handbook to Robert Burns and The Collected Prose of Robert Burns. The work will be funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC). The £1m award follows an Oxford University Press (OUP) contract which the university secured two years ago to produce the work. The project - Editing Robert Burns for the 21st Century - will involve a team of five literary scholars at Glasgow led by Dr Gerry Carruthers, a leading international Burns expert. Dr Carruthers said the project marked "a seismic shift" in Burns studies. He said: "We now have the platform to assert Burns's status as a major Romantic-period artist alongside the likes of William Wordsworth and John Keats." - BBC

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Diagram Prize for the Oddest Book Title of 2010 shortlist (UK)

The shortlist for the Diagram Prize for the Oddest Book Title of 2010 has been announced. The winner will be announced 25 March 2011:

* 8th International Friction Stir Welding Symposium Proceedings - Various authors (TWI)

* The Generosity of the Dead - Graciela Nowenstein (Ashgate)

* The Italian's One-night Love Child - Cathy Williams (Mills & Boon)

* Managing a Dental Practice the Genghis Khan Way - Michael R Young (Radcliffe)

* Myth of the Social Volcano - Martin King Whyte (Stanford University Press)

* What Color Is Your Dog? - Joel Silverman (Kennel Club)
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'Lost' Enid Blyton book unearthed (UK)

"An unpublished and previously unknown Enid Blyton novel is believed to have turned up in an archive of the late children's author's work. Mr Tumpy's Caravan is a 180-page fantasy story about a magical caravan. It was in a collection of manuscripts that was auctioned by the family of Blyton's eldest daughter in September. "I think it's unique," said Tony Summerfield, head of the Enid Blyton Society. "I don't know of any full-length unpublished Blyton work." The collection was bought by the Seven Stories children's book centre in Newcastle" - BBC

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John le Carré to gift his entire literary archive to the Bodleian Library

"John le Carré, one of the world's most celebrated authors, has offered his literary archive to Oxford's Bodleian Library with the intention that it should become its permanent home. Le Carré said, 'I am delighted to be able to do this. Oxford was Smiley's spiritual home, as it is mine. And while I have the greatest respect for American universities, the Bodleian is where I shall most happily rest.' Richard Ovenden, Keeper of Special Collections and Associate Director of the Bodleian Libraries said 'We are enormously grateful that John le Carré has made his archive available to the Bodleian. It is compelling primary evidence of a major cultural contribution to a literary genre and will offer scholars important insights into his work. We hope the collection will also be appreciated more widely, through exhibitions, seminars and conferences as well as through digitization initiatives.'"

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Sheridan Morley Prize for Theatre Biography winner

"Actor Simon Callow's memoir My Life in Pieces (Nick Hern Books) has won the Sheridan Morley Prize for Theatre Biography. The "Four Weddings and a Funeral" actor combined "zest, originality and passion" in the memoir to win the £2,000 prize, according to the judges. He beat a shortlist comprising Reluctant Escapologist by stablemate Mike Bradwell, Finishing the Hat by Stephen Sondheim (Ebury), Putting it On by Michael Codron and Alan Strachan (Duckworth) and Born Brilliant –The Life of Kenneth Williams by Christopher Stevens (John Murray). The Sheridan Morley Prize is awarded annually for the best biography, autobiography or diary of a theatrical or show‐business subject published in the English language" - The Bookseller

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Historical Writers' Association (UK)

The Historical Writers' Association grew from the belief that we as historical writers need to have the same kind of professional body run by professional writers for professional writers (and their agents and publishers and booksellers) to sustain, promote and support each other and our work in the way that the Crime Writers' Association supports writers of crime. Our initial plans involve a Festival of Historical Literature to be held in conjunction with English Heritage's Festival of History at Kelmarsh, near Northampton on 16th - 17th July 2011

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The 2011 Sunday Times EFG Private Bank Award shortlist announced

The shortlist for the The 2011 Sunday Times EFG Private Bank Award has been announced:

* Will Cohu – 'East Coast – West Coast'
* Anthony Doerr – 'The Deep'
* Roshi Fernando – 'The Fluorescent Jacket'
* Yiyun Li – 'The Science of Flight'
* Hilary Mantel – 'Comma'
* Gerard Woodward – 'The Family Whistle'
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2011 Orange Prize for Fiction (UK) longlist

The Orange Prize for Fiction, the UK's only annual book award for fiction written by a woman, has announced the 2011 longlist. Celebrating its sixteenth anniversary this year, the Prize celebrates excellence, originality and accessibility in women's writing throughout the world:

* Lyrics Alley by Leila Aboulela (Weidenfeld & Nicolson) - Sudanese; 3rd Novel
* Jamrach's Menagerie by Carol Birch (Canongate) - British; 10th Novel
* Room by Emma Donoghue (Picador) - Irish; 7th Novel
* The Pleasure Seekers by Tishani Doshi (Bloomsbury) - Indian; 1st Novel
* Whatever You Love by Louise Doughty (Faber and Faber) - British; 6th Novel
* A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan (Corsair) - American; 4th Novel
* The Memory of Love by Aminatta Forna (Bloomsbury) - British/Sierra Leonean; 2nd Novel
* The London Train by Tessa Hadley (Jonathan Cape) - British; 4th Novel
* Grace Williams Says it Loud by Emma Henderson (Sceptre) - British; 1st Novel
* The Seas by Samantha Hunt (Corsair) - American; 1st Novel
* The Birth of Love by Joanna Kavenna (Faber and Faber) - British; 2nd Novel
* Great House by Nicole Krauss (Viking) - American; 3rd Novel
* The Road to Wanting by Wendy Law-Yone (Chatto & Windus) - American; 3rd Novel
* The Tiger's Wife by Téa Obreht (Weidenfeld & Nicolson) - Serbian/American; 1st Novel
* The Invisible Bridge by Julie Orringer (Viking) - American; 1st Novel
* Repeat it Today with Tears by Anne Peile (Serpent's Tail) - British; 1st Novel
* Swamplandia! by Karen Russell (Chatto & Windus) - American; 1st Novel
* The Secret Lives of Baba Segi's Wives by Lola Shoneyin (Serpent's Tail) - British/Nigerian; 1st Novel
* The Swimmer by Roma Tearne (Harper Press) - British; 4th Novel
* Annabel by Kathleen Winter (Jonathan Cape) - Canadian; 1st Novel
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UK's most borrowed ebooks announced

Ebook retail and library service provider OverDrive has released a list of the most borrowed ebooks from UK libraries for February 2011. The list covers books checked out and on a waiting lists at libraries using OverDrive's fulfilment service. Books loaned by libraries can be read on any ePub/Adobe DRM compatible device any on a number of apps for tablets and smartphones. They cannot be read on Amazon's Kindle or Apple's iBooks which use their own proprietary DRM
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Julian Barnes wins David Cohen Prize for Literature

Author Julian Barnes, whose novels include Flaubert's Parrot and England, England, has been presented with the David Cohen Prize for Literature. Past recipients of the £40,000 prize, described by judges as the UK's Nobel Prize for Literature, include Harold Pinter and Doris Lessing. The biennial lifetime achievement award went to Seamus Heaney in 2009. BBC

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"More Dickens" competition (UK)

"To celebrate the bi-centenary of Charles Dickens' birth in 1812, the Dickens Fellowship and the English Association announce the More Dickens competition, to be first awarded in 2012. First prize of £500 will be awarded for an extended class project based on one of Dickens' works. The runner up will receive £250. The competition is open to classes of all ages in primary schools in the UK and can be completed at any time during 2011. Projects may link with regular literacy and numeracy work and include other areas of the curriculum, for example, art, geography, history, music, science. The judges will be looking for originality and lively outcomes, but are also very much interested in hearing about the teaching and learning processes that are part of everyday good practice"

2011 Sunday Times Oxford Literary Festival (UK)

"The 2011 Sunday Times Oxford Literary Festival runs from Saturday 2 to Sunday 10 April, and offers a wonderful range of talks, discussions, debates, readings, Literary Lunches and Dinners in the exceptional and beautiful surroundings of Christ Church and Corpus Christi and Merton Colleges - with many major events staged in The Sheldonian Theatre, The Bodleian Library and other prestigious venues.

The Festival reflects the great literary traditions of The University of Oxford, and its historic Colleges, as well as the contemporary reputation of its Departments and Institutes in every field of scholarship, research and enquiry.

Novelists, biographers, historians, poets, critics, politicians, soldiers, public servants, scientists, and medics will be joined by artists, philosophers, theologians, architects, engineers, botanists, environmentalists and children's writers.

The Sunday Times Oxford Literary Festival is widely acclaimed for its stimulating and provocative programme and the quality and fearlessness of its debates. This year we extend our series of major lectures and presentations at The Sheldonian Theatre, with World-class speakers, and have developed the Children's Festival under the direction of Nicolette Jones, Children's Editor of The Sunday Times.

But above all the unique feature of The Sunday Times Oxford Literary Festival is the warmth of the welcome for all who attend, and the opportunity for the general public to meet and mix with authors, writers and public figures, from breakfast in hallowed halls through lunch, tea or drinks in the Festival Marquee to nightcaps in bars, inns and hotels throughout the city"

Booker Prize Foundation to honour Beryl Bainbridge (UK)

"The late, much-loved novelist Dame Beryl Bainbridge was shortlisted five times for the Booker Prize, but never actually won. Despite many other literary accolades, the press's phrase - the 'Booker bridesmaid' - stuck. In her honour, the Booker Prize Foundation has created a special prize, The Man Booker Best of Beryl, and asks the public to consider which of her five shortlisted novels deserves the accolade. No author has ever been shortlisted as many times for the prize. Her shortlisted books were The Dressmaker (1973); The Bottle Factory Outing (1974); An Awfully Big Adventure (1990); Every Man for Himself (1996) and Master Georgie (1998) all of which are now published in paperback by Abacus"

Redwall author Brian Jacques dies aged 71 (UK)

"A former merchant sailor whose children's books sold millions worldwide has died aged 71. Brian Jacques' Redwall series of books were translated into 29 languages and sold 20m globally. He first wrote the series, set in an abbey populated by animals, for children at the Royal Wavertree School for the Blind in Liverpool. The Liverpool-born writer's weekly show, Jakestown, ran on BBC Radio Merseyside for more than 20 years. He died after a heart attack at the weekend and leaves a wife and two grown up sons"

Lightship Literary Competitions (UK)

"Lightship Publishing will publish literary fiction and poetry. To help fund our lists and discover new voices, we will run annual international writing contests: the Lightship International Short Story Prize, the Lightship International Poetry Prize, the Lightship International Flash Fiction Prize, and First Chapter. This is our inaugural year and we are absolutely thrilled to have writers, agents and editors of the highest calibre, Toby Litt, Kachi A. Ozumba, Jackie Kay, Tibor Fischer, Simon Trewin and Alessandro Gallenzi, as our respective judges in the 2010-2011 competitions. Experienced readers will assist the named judges in selecting the shortlists. Our named judges will select the winners"

Waterstone's Children's Book Prize 2011 winner (UK)

"The winner of this year's Waterstone's Children's Book Prize is Artichoke Hearts by Sita Brahmachari. It is an insightful, honest novel exploring the delicate balance, and often injustice, of life and death - but at its heart is a celebration of friendship, culture - and life"

Derek Walcott wins TS Eliot poetry prize

Caribbean poet Derek Walcott has won this year's prestigious TS Eliot Prize for Poetry for his latest collection, White Egrets. Walcott, 81, was up against several other well-known poets including Simon Armitage and Seamus Heaney. Judges' chair Anne Stevenson said the judges had found it difficult to choose a winner. But they concluded White Egrets "was a moving, risk-taking and technically flawless book by a great poet." The collection includes two poems written to Barack Obama. Walcott wins £15,000, while his fellow nominees pick up cheques for £1,000 each

BBC Year of Books 2011 (UK)

"The BBC has announced its Year of Books 2011 which will celebrate books and matters related by inviting audiences to free their imagination with a broad range of quality programmes. From established literary strands to new documentaries, readings, debates and dramas, the year will champion the power of books with a host of new programmes, as well as drawing upon the BBC's extensive literary archive and regular programming strands"

2010 Costa Book of the Year award winner

"Poet Jo Shapcott has won the 2010 Costa Book of the Year for her collection Of Mutability, her first new work in over a decade and in part influenced by her experience of breast cancer. In Of Mutability, Shapcott is found writing at her most memorable and bold. In a series of fresh, unflinching poems, she movingly explores mortality and the nature of change: in the body and the natural world, and in shifting relationships between people. By turns grave and playful, arresting and witty, the poems in Of Mutability celebrate each waking moment as though it might be the last and, in so doing, restore wonder to the smallest of encounters"

Royal Society of Literature announces masterclasses (UK)

"The Royal Society of Literature, in collaboration with the Booker Prize Foundation, has announced a series of masterclasses for 2011. The masterclasses will be given by four exceptional writers, two of whom - Ali Smith and William Boyd - have been previously shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize, and a third, Candia McWilliam, is a former judge. Also included in the programme is the award-winning British travel writer, novelist and President of the RSL, Colin Thubron. The masterclasses are open to members of the RSL and non-members. They offer a unique opportunity for both established writers and newcomers to writing to learn what it takes to become a successful writer and to have their work professionally critiqued"

Authors to lobby Scottish parliament on Save Our Libraries Day (UK)

"Gruffalo creator Julia Donaldson and fellow children's writer Julie Bertagna will be among a group of authors and illustrators protesting to the Scottish parliament about library closures north of the border this Saturday, the national Save Our Libraries Day. The cutbacks will hit the most vulnerable the hardest, warn the authors in a formal statement to be handed to the Edinburgh parliament. "The cuts to book budgets, library opening hours, mobile services, branches, and the drastic and unnecessary deletion of professional posts strike at those most in need of a library service and those least able to protest against the cuts in that service – the less affluent, the elderly, the frail, people who are challenged mentally and physically and their carers, those who look after babies and toddlers and, crucially, our children – who are our future," they say. Authors Theresa Breslin, Nicola Morgan, Gill Arbuthnott , Vivian French and Alan Temperley will also be among the protesters"

Galaxy Book of the Year winner announced (UK)

"The winner of the Galaxy Book of the Year has been announced as One Day by David Nicholls. The prestigious accolade was voted for by the public on www.channel4.com from a shortlist of the eight category winners from the Galaxy National Book Awards 2010: an impressive literary set including Stephen Fry, Hilary Mantel, Jonathan Franzen and Andrew Marr"
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100% cut to English book gifting programmes announced

The U.K. Department for Education has announced that funding for all the Booktrust's English book gifting programmes will be cut by 100% from 1 April 2011. Programmes include Bookstart, Booktime and Booked Up
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