Trade News from The Bookseller

Townsend's work will be 'championed' for years Penguin Random House will “nurture, protect and champion” Sue Townsend’s work for years to come, c.e.o. Tom Weldon has said. Speaking at an event to celebrate the late writer’s life and work at The British Library, Weldon made the promise to Townsend’s family, who were in attendance. He also said Townsend would “be seen as one of the great comic writers this country has produced”. “Sue was a passionate egalitarian,” Weldon said, “and she believed everyone had an equal right to an education and access to books and reading.”

Ladybird to drop gender-labelling of books Penguin Random House’s Ladybird imprint will no longer publish books labelled “for boys” and “for girls”, in response to a campaign by Let Toys Be Toys. Ladybird has previously published books such as Ladybird Favourite Fairy Tales for Girls and Ladybird Favourite Stories for Boys. The Let Toys Be Toys campaign launched Let Books Be Books earlier this year to encourage publishers to stop labelling books for a certain gender.

Vaizey accused of 'offloading responsibility' on libraries A parliamentary debate on libraries descended into "personal attacks" between libraries minister Ed Vaizey and shadow communities and local government minister Lyn Brown. Speaking at a Westminster Hall debate on public libraries yesterday (19th December), Brown, a Labour MP for West Ham, questioned Vaizey's lack of intervention into local councils' plans to close multiple libraries across the UK.

Bloomsbury and Walker Books 'influential in China' Bloomsbury UK and Walker Books are among the 20 most influential international children's publishers in China, according to data released at the Shanghai Children’s Book Fair (CCBF). According to book data company Bookdao, which compiled the ranking, Scholastic USA is the most influential foreign publisher, followed by Penguin Random House USA in second position and Casterman, the Belgian publisher of Tintin, in third. Bloomsbury UK was the highest ranking UK-based publisher, coming in at fourth position, and Walker Books UK came in at number 19.

PRH creates new PR director role for children's division Penguin Random House Children’s is to create a new PR director role for the whole division, following the departure of Adele Minchin. The PR director will oversee PR across the division, which was created earlier this year, leading campaigns across both Penguin and Random House. Graham Sim, Penguin Random House’s brand director, said: “Our wonderful children’s authors and brands face increasing competition from general media and entertainment brands, so we are looking for a PR expert to guide our brilliant teams and continue to grow our unrivalled portfolio.