Latest news from The Bookseller

Record number contest British Book Awards' indie prize A record breaking number of submissions has led to the highest ever number of regional shortlisted bookshops at the British Book Awards’ Independent Bookshop of the Year category, sponsored by Gardners Books.

BA warns rates hike will leave some 'crippled' The Booksellers Association (BA) this week warned Treasury chief secretary David Gauke that planned increases to business rates bills this April will result in many booksellers’ businesses being “absolutely crippled”.

British Book Awards judges revealed Former Little, Brown chief executive Ursula Mackenzie, Front Row’s Samira Ahmed, television presenter June Sarpong and past Publishers Association c.e.o. Simon Juden are among the judges for the British Book Awards 2017.

Pearson reports £2.6bn loss for the year Pearson has reported a massive statutory loss for the year of £2.6bn, including a goodwill impairment, following the challenges it has been facing in the US education market. The company, which in January delivered its fifth profit warning in four years, also reported a sharp rise in debt to £1,092m (2015: £654m).

Century to publish 'major' new Minecraft fiction series Century is to publish the first Minecraft fiction books this summer.

Government extends PLR to e-books and e-audiobooks The government is expanding the Public Lending Right (PLR) to include e-books and e-audiobooks, meaning their authors will be eligible for payment in the same way as those whose physical books are borrowed from libraries.

Head of Zeus posts boost of 31% The full-year results of publisher Head of Zeus show that in 2016 its revenues increased by 31%, to £7m, up from £5.4m in its previous set of results.

UK libraries 'missing 25m books' The UK's public libraries are missing 25 million books, according to new figures from libraries body CIPFA, although the decline in books could be worse than the figures indicate due to discrepancies between computer audits and physical stock takes.

'Timely' new book from US Senator Warren to William Collins William Collins has acquired Senator Elizabeth Warren’s "important" new book This Fight is Our Fight: The Battle to Save Working People for publication on 4th May 2017.

Penguin publishes Adrian Mole's collected poetry to mark his 50th Penguin is publishing The Collected Poems by Adrian Mole - in the character's own "imprint", Mole Press - to celebrate the 50th birthday of Sue Townsend's creation.

Roth, Coetzee, Amis join in authors' letter to Trump Philip Roth, Zadie Smith, J M Coetzee and Anne Tyler are among 65 leading writers joining with PEN America in an open letter to President Donald Trump, urging him to reconsider his travel ban against visitors from seven Muslim-majority countries.

Sands and Gundar-Goshen win JQ Wingate Literary Prize Philippe Sands and Ayelet Gundar-Goshen have been chosen as joint winners of the Jewish Quarterly Wingate literary prize (worth £4,000).