The Roundup with PW

Kwame Alexander: The 'Say Yes Guy' at Winter Institute 11
"I'm the 'say yes guy,' the inspiration guy," said Alexander, the Newbery Medalist for 'The Crossover,' at his Winter Institute breakfast keynote on the final day of Wi11 in Denver. more »

15 Righteous Comics About Rock 'N' Roll: Comics are particularly well-suited to capture the audicious image and aura of Rock ’n’ Roll. Here are 15 comics about both real and fictional bands, fans, gigs, and jams.

Diana Gabaldon/Poisoned Pen Name Writer in Residence

Little, Brown and Company author Michael Koryta was selected as the 2016 Diana Gabaldon/Poisoned Pen Writer in Residence in Scottsdale, Ariz. »

Rabe to Remain Bertelsmann CEO

The supervisory board of the parent company of Penguin Random House has renewed the contract of CEO Thomas Rabe for another five years. Rabe has been CEO since 2012.

10 Books for Harry Potter Fans: If you liked the magic in the Harry Potter series, then read these 10 books, including 'The Night Circus.'

A Book of 'Dad Poems': Three comedians are behind a coffee table book of "Dad poems" entitled 'Leaves of Grass I Trimmed With My Mower.'

'Jane Eyre' House to Lose Funding: In 2018, County officials will no longer support Wycoller Hall, Charlotte Brontë’s model for Mr. Rochester’s Ferndean Manor.

A Hong Kong Publisher's Warnings: Bao Pu, a publisher in Hong Kong, said that the freedom of expression in the territory is being increasingly threatened.

NYY Suing for Copyright Infringement: 'The New York Times' is suing over author David Shields' use of 64 thumb-nail sized photos of the paper's front pages.

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Children's Books in the media:

From School Library Journal: Book Publishing – from Executives to Reviewers – Is White and Female, Survey Finds. Click here From the Associated Press: Recent Controversies Spark Discussion About Slavery Books. Click here From the National Coalition on Censorship: A Birthday Cake for George Washington: The Problem with Banishing Books. Click here From the Associated Press: J.K. Rowling to Receive the PEN Award for Literary Service. Click here From the Telegraph: New picture book award launched in honor of U.K. publisher Klaus Flugge. Click here From the Philly Voice: An 11-year-old N.J. girl launches a book drive to collect books where black girls are the main characters. Click here From Variety: 'Little House on the Prairie' Movie Is in the Works at Paramount. Click here

From the Guardian: Frances Hardinge's novel The Lie Tree wins the U.K.'s Costa Book of the Year. Click here From National Public Radio: Teaching Kids About Slavery: Picture Books Struggle with the Task. Click here From Scholastic: Scholastic answers the statement from NCAC and PEN questioning its withdrawal of A Birthday Cake for George Washington. Click here From the New York Times: Where the Wild Things Aren't: Obstacles to a Sendak Museum. Click here From Yahoo: J.K. Rowling's magic touch sends Harry Potter book sales booming. Click here From Entertainment Weekly: Amy Poehler, Judy Blume, and Kate DiCamillo celebrate Beverly Cleary's 100th birthday with new forewords. Click here From io9: Minimalist editions of the Harry Potter books, created in Hungary. Click here

Costa Award: why Frances Hardinge's children's novel really is the best book of the year

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• Philip Womack - 27 January 2016 • The Telegraph

It comes as absolutely no surprise to me that Frances Hardinge, winner of the 2015 Costa Children’s Book Award, has gone on to win the overall prize, Costa Book of the Year, for her superb novel, The Lie Tree.

I say novel, and not children’s novel, for a reason. The children’s publisher David Fickling, when asked what a children’s book was, said that there is no such thing; only good books that can be read by all. And that, by the longest of miles, is true for The Lie Tree.

Nevertheless, those who write for children, or publish books for children, or anyone interested in this vast and varied literature, should be rejoicing. This is the first “children’s book” to win the main Costa gong since Philip Pullman in 2001 with The Amber Spyglass. That had cosmic scope, theological grandiosity, and an intrepid, innocent child heroine. 
Pullman, alongside JK Rowling, was at the forefront of a resurgence in the field of children’s literature, proving that it can be serious and entertaining.

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PRH's Makinson on Being a Bookseller and Publisher

Shelf Awareness

"I [own a bookshop] with my brother, who runs it. It's in the county of Norfolk in England. It is a relatively small bookshop, but people in the company always worry that I regard this bookshop as the bellwether of the entire global book economy. We have a bad weekend in Norfolk and I come into the office and say, it's terrible, we are all doomed--or the opposite. But I do actually find owning a bookshop quite interesting in understanding at a very local level what is going on. 

The danger of somebody doing the sort of job that I do is that you look at this big picture where you're publishing 15,000 books a year around the world, and you have a macro view. But you also need to have the opportunity to drill down quite deeply. So I do actually follow quite carefully what happens to my little bookshop in Norfolk.

"One of the things I was talking about yesterday is the importance of community and how essential it is that publishers actively support bookshops. And one of the ways is by encouraging them to be centers of cultural and commercial activities."

--John Makinson, chairman of Penguin Random House, in a q&a with Mint after speaking at the Jaipur Literary Festival

Giving Realism the Side-Eye: The Fiction of Diane Williams

By Jonathon Sturgeon January 25, 2016 - Flavorwire

“Water is a burned substance.” This strange line comes from nowhere to conclude Honoré de Balzac’s “Gambara,” one of the real-est short stories I have ever read about art. And the line is made mystifying by what we call Balzac’s realism: the material descriptions, psychological observations, and sociological inventions that conspire to submerge the reader in a world with depth.
…Read More

Star-crossed Lovers and Bygone Times

Off the Shelf By Kerry Fiallo    |   Wednesday, January 27, 2016 We like to romanticize the age of sixteen. Pop culture tells us it’s a turning point, filled with sweet birthdays and sexual awakenings. Mine was not that dramatic, but sixteen was a turning point for me, though not for any of the reasons that John Hughes claimed it would be. At sixteen I was introduced to Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh, the kind of eccentric writer whom only England can produce. Waugh’s delicious coming-of-age tale of star-crossed lovers and sexually ambiguous pretty boys drinking their way through guilt trips over religion and lost love provided an admittedly romantic backdrop to my own rocky adolescent journey to adulthood. READ MORE

Bridget Williams Books launches BWB Collections

 BWB Collections combine some of New Zealand’s finest non-fiction narratives to provide a powerful new online platform for reading, research and education.

Launching today with The Treaty of Waitangi Collection, BWB Collections are available to libraries, schools, university departments, businesses, public sector organisations, law firms, think tanks, research centres – anyone with an internet connection.

Collections key features

§  Deep, rich and high-quality New Zealand non-fiction books brought together online for the first time – these are landmark digital resources.

§  Optimised for mobile and tablet devices using a design that is intuitive, fast and easy to read.

§  Provides new pathways into the scholarship by linking the book content and the web in new and exciting ways. 

§  Built to last with high-quality production values and using tools and materials from organisations such as Perma.cc, CrossRef, RefME,Piwik and the Ministry for Culture and Heritage.

§  Simple to access and flexible to use, each Collection is delivered through the web browser providing unrestricted access for subscribing organisations.

§  Every collection is a living resource managed directly by BWB’s editorial team, with books added regularly from our publishing and beyond. 

New Collections to come include The BWB Texts Collection, The Critical Issues Collection and The New Zealand History Collection. The Collections platform is packed full of features and BWB will continue to enhance it with new books and features into the future.

Subscriptions to BWB Collections will also help fund the digitisation and addition of selected out-of-print New Zealand books, beyond BWB’s publishing, to ensure works of critical importance are available into the future

It's release day for Helen Lowe's Daughter Of Blood - she is celebrating in style with a virtual party on her blog

"It's release day for Helen Lowe's Daughter Of Blood -- not just here  NZ but in the US, UK, an Australia as well and of course she is celebrating in style with a virtual party on her blog. 
To join in, just click on

Let's Welcome Daughter Of Blood

There'll be more happening throughout the day with interviews, guest posts, including a Reddit Fantasy AMA, a number of interviews around the world and guest features coming up on the week on SF Signal, TOR.com and more. 
Visit Helen's blog for details!"

Children's novel The Lie Tree wins Costa Book of the Year

By Tim Masters, BBC Arts and entertainment correspondent

Image copyright Getty - Frances Hardinge becomes only the second children's author to win the top Costa prize

A children's novel has been named Costa Book of the Year for only the second time in the prize's history.

The judges said Frances Hardinge's Victorian murder mystery The Lie Tree would "grip readers of all ages".
Hardinge beat bookmakers' favourite, debut author Andrew Michael Hurley's gothic horror The Loney, to win the £30,000 prize.
The previous children's novel to win was Philip Pullman's The Amber Spyglass in 2002.
Receiving the award, a clearly surprised Hardinge said: "It is a fantastic time to be writing children's fiction and YA (young adult) fiction.

"For those people who might be hearing this who think that children's and YA fiction is not their thing please do come and explore - there's a beautiful jungle out there." 
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Latest news overnight from The Bookseller

Fiction trends in 2016: ‘Grip-lit’ here to stay The appeal of the psychological thriller shows no sign of waning, according to publishers predicting the trends for 2016, following The Girl on the Train's ride to success in 2015.

PRH to publish 'lost' Beatrix Potter story Frederick Warne & Co, an imprint of Penguin Random House Children’s, will this September release a previously unpublished children’s story by Beatrix Potter, with new illustrations by Quentin Blake.

HarperCollins buys Ibiza cookbook HarperCollins has bought what is being billed as the first recipe book to showcase Ibiza cuisine.

Bonnier Publishing Fiction changes its name to Bonnier Zaffre Bonnier Publishing Fiction is changing its name to Bonnier Zaffre, effective immediately.

Penguin Press strikes six-figure deal to publish scientist Gaia Vince Gaia Vince, the first woman to win the Royal Society's Science Book of the Year prize, is moving to Penguin Press from Chatto.

S&S to publish Morley on Bowie Simon and Schuster will publish a "unique and personal biographical critique" of the late David Bowie, by the arts and music commentator Paul Morley.

Parragon to bring its Eric Carle range to UK Bath-based Parragon has signed a licence to bring its range of Eric Carle products - which it already sells in the US and Canada - to the UK market.

Quadrille to publish Cath Kidston's first cookbook and colouring books Quadrille is to publish a cookbook and colouring books with Cath Kidston.

Publishing Scotland gives first translation grants Publishing projects in Macedonia, Albania, Norway and Spain are among the recipients of the first tranche of grants from Publishing Scotland's new Translation Fund.

Cable, Tamblyn and Chi to speak at IPG conference Vince Cable, Michael Tamblyn and Youngsuk Chi are among the names speaking at the Independent Publishers Guild's annual spring conference this year.

Granta to publish new Lipsyte novel Granta has acquired the UK and Commonwealth rights (excluding Canada) to Hark, the new novel by Sam Lipsyte.

Horwood becomes SoA's new committee chair Novelist William Horwood will be the new chair of the Society of Authors' (SoA) Management Committee.