Latest from The Bookseller

J S Group sees e-textbook boost The JS Group has seen “significant” growth in the take-up of e-textbooks last year, helping it to a 14.5% increase in higher education UK revenues. However, a decline in legal print sales and the reduction in value of a contract with the Ministry of Justice meant the Hammicks legal arm saw a decline of 18.1% in revenue last year.  The company also exited its operations in Ghana in its International arm, but saw revenue in its Botswana operations grow by 9.4% before currency movements.

Mal Peet dies Author Mal Peet has died, his agent Peter Cox has announced. Peet died last night (2nd March), after being diagnosed with cancer just last Christmas. The writer, whose latest novel The Murdstone Trilogy came out in 2014, won a number of awards during his career, including the Carnegie Medal, the Guardian Children’s Book Prize and the Branford Boase Award.

Twelve redundancies at The Folio Society Twelve members of staff left The Folio Society in January, the publishing house has confirmed.  A spokesperson said the job losses came as a result of a "fundamental restructure" of the company, with The Folio Society now employing a total of 58 people. The job losses came from marketing, operating and systems but did not affect production or editorial.

Patterson, Archer and 'Hawk' fly to top of charts A busy publication schedule drove change across all the major Bookseller charts last week, with titles from James Patterson, David Walliams, Jeffrey Archer and Helen MacDonald all chalking up number ones in their first week of sale.

Donaldson and Monks create 'Ladybird' sequel Writer Julia Donaldson and illustrator Lydia Monks have created a sequel to What the Ladybird Heard, entitled What the Ladybird Heard Next, which will be published by Macmillan Children’s Books (MCB) in September.

Mundy to be Samuel Johnson prize director Toby Mundy, the founder and former c.e.o. of Atlantic Books, is to become the first director of the Samuel Johnson Prize for Non-fiction. Meanwhile submission deadlines for publishers will change to “accommodate the timelines and deadlines of the publishing calendar”.

Four jobs go at British Museum publishing Four staff at the British Museum’s digital and publishing department, which includes British Museum Press, have taken voluntary redundancy as part of a restructure. Last autumn the museum said it was restructuring the department to help deliver the museum’s “strategic goals for digital” and consulting on 10 roles.

Bookshops and libraries prepare for WBD Libraries and bookshops are preparing to mark this year’s World Book Day tomorrow (5th March) with a series of storytime events and author visits. More than 70 branches of Waterstones are hosting events, ranging from storytime to dressing up competitions and events with schools, and will stock this year’s range of World Book Day £1 titles, with books by authors including David McKee, Chris Riddell, Michael Morpurgo, Holly Smale and Daisy Meadows.

First Catholic literary festival set for June The Catholic newspaper the Tablet is to host the first UK Catholic literary festival, sponsored by Bloomsbury, as part of celebrations for its 175th anniversary. Among the speakers at the June event at the Library of Birmingham will be Lady Antonia Fraser and David Lodge. The Tablet Literary Festival's theme will be "the Catholic imagination in literature", with speakers from Catholic and non-Catholic backgrounds, and from the literary, theological and historical worlds.

Ebury Press to publish Hynde memoir Ebury Press is to publish the memoir of Chrissie Hynde, frontwoman of The Pretenders, acquired in a “major deal”. Publisher and deputy m.d. Jake Lingwood bought world English and translation rights, excluding North America, while Gerry Howard, v.p., executive editor at Doubleday, Penguin Random House USA, bought North American rights in a co-deal from Creative Artists Agency (CAA) on behalf of Chrissie Hynde and Quietus Management.

English PEN's call to Mexico's president English PEN and the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) have urged the Mexican president to take stronger steps to protect freedom of expression during his current state visit to the UK. English PEN has a campaign focus on Mexico in 2015, the same year which will see the country as the Market Focus at the London Book Fair.