Latest book news from The Bookseller

Carey and Ondaatje in Charlie Hebdo protest Peter Carey [pictured] and Michael Ondaatje have pulled out of a PEN gala, objecting to an award due to be given out honouring French magazine Charlie Hebdo. Rachel Kushner, Taiye Selasi, Francine Prose and Teju Cole are also among those who are no longer planning to attend the PEN American Center Gala in New York on 5th May, where the satirical magazine is due to receive a Freedom of Expression Courage Award.

Sandon and Arthur meet with Harper Lee Cornerstone m.d. Susan Sandon and William Heinemann publisher Jason Arthur have met with Harper Lee ahead of the publication of Go Set a Watchman in July, with Sandon saying the writer has a “sharp sense of humour and astonishing recall of poetry and literary references”. Sandon and Arthur went to see Lee at the residential home where she lives in Monroeville, Alabama on the weekend of April 17th to 19th, along with Lee's literary agent Andrew Nurnberg.

Zoella loses 'editorial consultant' YouTube star Zoella, real name Zoe Sugg, has revealed she is writing the sequel to her debut novel Girl Online (Penguin) without the help of an “editorial consultant”. Girl Online was written with the assistance of Siobhan Curham, although Curham’s involvement with the book was not initially made explicit. Penguin confirmed Curham’s role after rumours began circulating on social media.

Summer fun for kids at Foyles Foyles is planning a "Summer of Fun" children’s festival, featuring events with favourite characters such as Alice in Wonderland, Star Wars and Aardman’s Shaun the Sheep. The festival will take place during 25th July-30th August at Foyles stores across London and Bristol. Themes of art, nature, fantasy and science will run across the festival and Foyles will aim to bring books to life with immersive theatre experiences, visits from kids’ favourite characters, film screenings and workshops.

How the book trade will be voting The Bookseller is conducting a survey into the book trade's opinions on the May 7th general election. Share your views with our quick, five-question survey on your voting intentions and how this year's election affects the book trade.

Third Cormoran Strike novel for the autumn A third "Robert Galbraith" novel featuring detective Cormoran Strike, Career of Evil, will be published by Little, Brown this autumn, it has been confirmed. No precise publication date has yet been revealed.   The first in the series authored by J K Rowling, The Cuckoo's Calling, was published in 2013, and follow-up The Silkworm last year. The novels have recorded volume sales of just over 560,000 in the UK through Nielsen BookScan, to a value of £4.3m.

PRH Children's UK buys Pharrell Williams picture books Penguin Random House Children’s UK will this autumn publish Happy!, the debut children’s book from US musician Pharrell Williams, to coincide with US publication by Penguin. Happy! is a picture book about what it means to be happy and is inspired by the words of Williams' hit song "Happy", which has sold 12 million copies worldwide.

Sharjah builds printing press The government of Sharjah is building a printing press it hopes will rival Chinese competitors as part of a new initiative, the Sharjah Book Authority (SBA), launched at the Sharjah Children’s Reading Festival. “The SBA will be located five minutes from Sharjah airport and Dubai airport is 10 minutes away,” said Ahmed Alameri, the newly appointed chairman of the SBA and director of the Sharjah Book Fair. “If a UK-based company wants to print a book it will be cheaper to ship back to the UK than from China. Or we can distribute it overseas.”

Soho Press looks to build UK readership Independent US publisher Soho Press is looking to build a broader UK audience this year by focusing on a handful of its flagship titles.

Yiyun Li wins Sunday Times short story award Chinese-American author Yiyun Li is the first female winner of the £30,000 Sunday Times EFG Short Story Award for her story "A Sheltered Woman". Director Richard Eyre presented Li with her winner's cheque at the Stationers’ Hall this evening (Friday 24th April).

HoZ makes crime list available through print-on-demand Head of Zeus is making available digital crime list, MysteriousPress.com, in print-on-demand format through Amazon.co.uk.

Celebrities support Christie anniversary campaign Famous Agatha Christie fans – including authors Kate Mosse [pictured], Val McDermid, and Sophie Hannah, Hercule Poirot actor David Suchet and former tennis player Greg Rusedski – are supporting a campaign to find the world’s favourite Christie novel to celebrate the author’s 125th anniversary.