Latest News from The Bookseller

Susie Nicklin buys Dulwich Books Dulwich Books has been bought by Susie Nicklin, executive chair and co-founder of The Marsh Agency, for an undisclosed sum. The deal came about Dulwich Books’ former owner Sheila O’Reilly told The Bookseller that she was looking for a business partner to help expand the company in multiple directions.

PRH sees 'strong growth' in first half of 2015 Strong revenue growth by Penguin Random House (PRH) in the first half of 2015 helped its parent company Bertelsmann to achieve its highest revenues since 2007. Meanwhile, Bertelsmann's chief executive Thomas Rabe has told Reuters the company could "imagine" raising its stake in Penguin Random House but the decision was up to co-owner Pearson.

Waterstones' latest Book Club titles revealed Backlist titles from William Boyd and Jonathan Coe are among the novels selected for the latest Waterstones Book Club.  Altogether three of the eight titles are published by Penguin – A Good Man in Africa by William Boyd, published in 2010, What a Carve Up by Jonathan Coe, published in 2014, and Etta and Otto and Russell and James by Emma Hooper, published this year.

The new top draw: graphic novels' fortunes transformed Last year was the best year for sales of graphic novels in the UK since BookScan records began in 1998, with the genre bringing in almost £20.5m worth of print sales. Publishers and retailers are crediting the boom to a broadening of range and a diversification of characters and writers within the genre. In 2014 the Graphic Novels sector saw the value of print sales rise by 13.9% on the previous year, bringing in over seven times more than the value of the sector in 2004 (£2.8m), according to Nielsen BookScan.

Chip Lit Fest remunerates author hours Chipping Norton Literary Festival will pay the authors who appeared at this year’s event just under £100 per hour of work as part of its new profit share scheme. The festival, which was first held in 2012, previously paid authors their accommodation, subsistence and travel expenses, but not an additional appearance fee.

Ancelotti to pen 'management memoir' for Penguin Successful football coach Carlo Ancelotti is to write a management memoir for Portfolio Penguin.  Quiet Leadership: Winning Hearts, Minds and Matches will be published in spring 2016. In Quiet Leadership, Ancelotti will reveal the full story of his managerial career - his methods, mentors, mistakes and greatest triumphs. It will also address the characters, challenges and decisions that have shaped him. According to Penguin, the book is both a “scintillating memoir” and a “rare insight into the business of leadership.”

CILIP opens Carnegie to translated fiction Next year’s CILIP Carnegie Medal will be open to English translations of foreign language books for the first time. Joy Court, chair of the working party for both the Carnegie and Kate Greenaway Medals, said the expansion would "strengthen" the reputation of the two awards.

H&S signs England cricketer Joe Root Hodder & Stoughton has bought England cricketer Joe Root’s Bringing Home the Ashes. Root will briefly recount “his astonishing rise to cricket stardom”, before focusing on the 2015 Ashes series.

National Libraries Day set for 6th February Next year’s National Libraries Day will take place on 6th February and aim to increase involvement from public libraries. The national event, which seeks to promote the celebration of libraries, library staff and their communities across the UK, aims to increase involvement from public libraries in order to showcase the “untapped potential for libraries to cater for many different needs and interests” by attracting as many visitors as possible to local libraries on the day.

Blue Mark plots paperback plan New independent publisher Blue Mark Books will release its fourth title, alongside paperback editions of its launch titles, in September.

Proud exhibits horror art London-based Proud Galleries will publish its first book, Drawing Blood by Graham Humphreys, in October, priced £150.

Two new Millie Marotta colouring books to Batsford Pavilion imprint Batsford has signed two new colouring books for adults by Millie Marotta. Batsford publisher Tina Persaud acquired world rights in the books from Karolina Sutton at Curtis Brown. Pavilion has previously released two colouring books for adults by Marotta – Millie Marotta’s Animal Kingdom and Millie Marotta’s Tropical Wonderland.