Latest News from The Bookseller

Grant cheers WBD growth World Book Day director Kirsten Grant said she was “delighted” with the event this year, as sales of children’s books increased 24% week on week in the wake of the March event. “I was so delighted with World Book Day this year, it was so much bigger than in 2014,” she said. “I felt we turned the corner not only in book sales and token redemption but also in terms of the huge saturation of media coverage.”

CILIP open letter urges Birmingham to reconsider library cuts Nick Poole, chief executive of the Chartered Institute of Library & Information Professionals (CILIP), has written an open letter to Birmingham City Council, urging it to keep its libraries open and professionally staffed.

Bezos responds to exposé on Amazon's working culture Amazon’s founder Jeff Bezos has responded to a New York Times article describing alleged ruthless work practices at the company after the article sparked outrage on social media. The NYT has written an in-depth expose on the working culture and practices at the online giant in the US after interviewing more 100 current and former employees.

Smith warns library closures threat to 'democracy of reading' Author Ali Smith has used her appearance at the Edinburgh International Book Festival to warn how the closure of public libraries was threatening the “democracy of reading”. Smith, who was interviewed at the festival yesterday (16th August), said the continued closing of libraries would have an impact on the next generation of writers, and that creating “community libraries” meant that in the end the libraries would “fall apart”.

Vogue colouring book to Conran Octopus Conran Octopus has commissioned a colouring book inspired by iconic images from British Vogue in the 1950s. The book, illustrated and authored by Iain R Webb, explores a “glamorous dream wardrobe of luxurious ballgowns and soigné cocktail dresses, smart suits and dramatic accessories”. Captions will offer fashion and style tips, and are taken from the original pages of Vogue. Readers will be able to colour in their own cover, with Conran Octopus encouraging people to post artwork to Instagram using the hashtag #voguecolouringbook.

Online festivals widen writers’ web of readers Online festivals will continue to grow, although traditional festivals remain the best way to forge connections with readers and fellow writers, authors have told The Bookseller. Writers said that online festivals offer authors the chance to be inventive and connect with fans around the world simultaneously, with the advantage that they do not significantly disrupt writing time. Writer Helen Smith founded the BritCrime online festival, which took place in July.

Pan Mac appoints Long as publishing operations director Pan Macmillan has appointed James Long as publishing operations director. Long, who joined Macmillan 10 years ago as a project manager at Nature and moved to Pan Macmillan in 2008, will take on his new role with immediate effect. At Pan Macmillan Long has up to now been responsible for website platform development, the e-book programme, new digital publishing projects and most recently the company's data and insights service.

Shanghai book fair launches young illustrator competition The Shanghai International Children’s Book Fair (CCBF) is launching a competition for illustrators aged between 18 and 39. The competition is now open and illustrators, publishers and art schools from anywhere in the world can submit published or unpublished work produced during the past two years.