Latest book news from The Bookseller

Glaister steps down as c.e.o of The Book People The Book People’s co-founder Seni Glaister is stepping down from her role as c.e.o of the company. William Wellesley, who has been at the company since January, and has been previously joint managing director at Molton Brown and group chief operating officer at GEMS Education, has been appointed as The Book People’s new c.e.o. Glaister said it was in the “best interests” of the company to step away, but added that she was already beginning her new venture to “provide a service nobody yet knows they need”.

Chinese publishers crack the top 10 as STM remains staunch The changing nature of the worldwide book industry is sharply demonstrated in the upper echelons of the 2015 edition of the Global Ranking of the Publishing Industry: for the first time, publishing houses from outside Europe and North America have cracked the top 10. Both the groups—Phoenix Publishing & Media (PPM) and China South Publishing & Media (CSPM)—come from China, perhaps a key moment in the (long-predicted) emergence of the country as publishing’s next superpower.

Rowling pens Harry Potter play Author J K Rowling has confirmed that a Harry Potter play, entitled "Harry Potter and the Cursed Child", will open in the West End next year. Rowling broke the news today (26th June) on Twitter, saying the play “will tell a new story, which is the result of a collaboration between writer Jack Thorne, director John Tiffany and myself”. The producer is Sonia Friedman.

Gibbon convicted of Alison Morrison murder Satellite engineer Trevor Gibbon has been found guilty of the murder of former children's publisher Alison Morrison.

Fergusson and Healey among SoA award winners The Society of Authors last night (25th June) distributed £85,000 to writers at its annual authors’ awards, giving out prizes to writers of fiction, non-fiction, poetry and material for teaching English. Author Ben Fergusson won the biggest prize of the night, receiving the £10,000 Betty Trask prize for a first novel of “outstanding literary merit” by an author under the age of 35 for The Spring of Kasper Meier (Little, Brown).

Bonnier buys Totally Entwined Group Bonnier Publishing has acquired Lincolnshire-based commercial fiction publisher Totally Entwined Group for an undisclosed sum. Bonnier is acquiring the whole company and its imprints Totally Bound Publishing (romance), Pride Publishing (LGBTQI fiction), Finch Books (YA), Evidence Press (crime and thriller) and Celebritease (celebrity authors).

Johnson & Alcock acquires Fox Mason Literary agency Johnson & Alcock has acquired Fox Mason, the literary agency set up by Ben Mason in 2010, for an undisclosed sum. Johnson & Alcock is taking on the liability for Mason’s 20 authors as well as his employee Becky Thomas, who joins Johnson & Alcock as an associate agent. Mason, who was shortlisted for The Bookseller’s agent of the year award in 2013, is selling his agency to move to San Francisco to pursue new opportunities.

Photo highlights of Independent Bookshop Week The annual extravaganza of indie booksellers returned last week with a barrage of book-centric events, readings, publicity and costumes. Lisa Campbell documents the highlights of the action-packed seven days. David Headley from Goldsboro Books and Sheila O’Reilly right from Dulwich Books with presenter Jo Good on BBC London 94.9FM on Monday (22nd June).

SAGE celebrates 50 years Labour peer Baroness Tessa Blackstone called on civil servants and politicians to make proper use of the evidence-based work of social scientists in their policy decisions, in a speech last night (Thursday 25th June) at an event to celebrate SAGE's 50th anniversary.

Trade praise for Carnegie and Greenaway winners The trade has praised CILIP’s Carnegie and Kate Greenaway award winners, claiming the choice will bring a welcome focus to historical and non-fiction children’s stories.

Süskind’s digital backlist published The backlist of Patrick Süskind’s titles, the internationally acclaimed bestseller Perfume and its follow-up The Pigeon, have been made available in e-book for the first time from today by publisher Hamish Hamilton. Simon Prosser, publishing director of Hamish Hamilton said: "We could not be happier to publish Patrick Süskind’s outstanding work in e-book. For the very first time, readers in our territories will be able to access in electronic format both Perfume and The Pigeon, broadening yet further the readership for this most brilliant and original of contemporary writers."

S&S buys Australian debut Simon & Schuster has bought a "unique" debut from an Australian author. S&S ssistant fiction editor Carla Josephson bought UK, Commonwealth & ANZ rights in All These Perfect Strangers by Australian prize-winning author Aoife Clifford from Rebecca Ritchie and Clare Forster at Curtis Brown.