Latest news from The Bookseller

Solomon: 'once well-known authors now struggling' The Society of Authors is seeing a number of "once well-known authors" apply for assistance to its Pension Fund, intended to help those who have fallen on hard times - when with fairer contracts allowing rights reversion they could be making an income from their backlist, SoA chief executive Nicola Solomon has said.

Samuel Johnson Prize strikes sponsorship deal with Baillie Gifford The Samuel Johnson Prize for Non-Fiction has struck a new five-year sponsorship deal with Baillie Gifford and will seek to extend its reach to the US.

Angel makes first acquisition for Faber Mitzi Angel has acquired a biography of eight women who worked in Mecklenburgh Square, London, during the interwar period as her first acquisition for Faber.

Festival format hampers diversity, says McGregor The format of literary festivals, which “privileges those from a specific cultural and educational background”, is hampering diversity, author Jon McGregor argued yesterday at the Cambridge Literary Festival.

Lord Weidenfeld helps Christian Syrians fleeing ISIS British publisher Lord George Weidenfeld is helping to fund 2,000 Christian Syrians fleeing ISIS to repay a personal debt.

Myers and Benson win £10k Portico Literature Prize Benjamin Myers has won the £10,000 Portico Literature Prize 2015 for Fiction while Richard Benson won the £10,000 Portico Prize for non-fiction.

Amazon sells 86 items per second on Black Friday Amazon UK said Black Friday this year was its busiest day ever, as it sold around 86 items per second.

Russia: Eksmo takes full control of Ventana-Graf Oleg Novikov, a Russian billionaire and general director of AST Eksmo, one of Russia’s leading publishing houses, has acquired full control of Ventana-Graf, a major Russian publisher of educational literature and textbooks.

Bezos on Guardian Media 100 list Amazon’s founder Jeff Bezos made the Guardian Media 100, in a quiet year for publishers and authors on the list.