Latest News from The Bookseller

Project Literacy lobbies UN leaders A petition has been handed to the United Nations headquarters in New York to lobby world leaders to acknowledge the “urgency of the international illiteracy crisis” and pledge to take meaningful action to address it. It has been co-ordinated by Project Literacy, a five-year initiative created by Pearson “to build a more literate world in which every individual is empowered to succeed, progress and flourish”.

Children's Conference: Old-fashioned publishing skills 'still relevant' Old fashioned publishing skills are still "as relevant and vital as ever" in the children's market, even though children are increasingly discovering books through digital and new media brands, Egmont UK's m.d. Cally Poplak (pictured) has told The Bookseller Children's Conference. Poplak said Egmont's strategy was driven by "what children love to read and what their parents are prepared to buy". Research done by the publisher with Nielsen has also found that parents "really value reading".

Claudia Rankine wins Forward Prize for Best Collection Jamaica-born Claudia Rankine has won the £10,000 Forward Prize for the Best Poetry Collection.

Publishers more content with digital transition than authors Publishers are more content about how the book business is weathering the digital transition than authors, early results of the FutureBook Digital Census have found. The Digital Census, the annual tracker of the book business’ digital evolution, was launched two weeks ago and so far more than 400 respondents have completed the survey.

WHS reveals 100 most voted for paperbacks WH Smith has revealed a list of 100 "best paperbacks of all time" as voted for by its customers. The chain retailer asked customers to vote for their favourite paperback through social media, with “thousands” getting involved. WHS said that Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird topped the list, with J R R Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings and Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice following closely behind.

Laurence King launches children’s list Laurence King Publishing will tomorrow (30th September) launch a children’s list of illustrated non-fiction and activity books. The list launches with Pierre the Maze Detective: The Search for the Stolen Maze Stone (h/b, £14.95), which is an illustrated book of mazes for children aged eight and over. Created by Hiro Kamigaki and IC4Design, the book features 15 full-spreads of illustrated mazes and is out now.

Clare and Bryson honoured at Stanford Travel Writing Awards Horatio Clare’s Down to the Sea in Ships  (Chatto & Windus) was announced as the Stanford Dolman Travel Book of the Year yesterday (28th September) at an event at London’s National Liberal Club. Meanwhile Bill Bryson (pictured) was revealed as the winner of the inaugural Outstanding Contribution to Travel Writing prize. Down to the Sea in Ships is an account of the "ordinary" men that place their lives in "extraordinary" danger on container ships on the high seas.

New independent Drake - The Bookshop opens A new pint-sized independent bookshop has opened in Stockton. Drake – The Bookshop opened on 22nd September and is run by Richard Drake and his partner Melanie Greenwood. It occupies a space of only 3x4sqm as a small start-up in the Enterprise Arcade, a 140-year-old building in the heart of Stockton. It stocks 600 titles across fiction, crime, young adult and children’s books, as well as a range of dyslexia-friendly titles.

Penguin to reissue The Rights of Man Penguin Books is to reissue H G Wells’ The Rights of Man, with a new introduction by Ali Smith.

Self-publishing platform Pronoun launches Pronoun, a new self-publishing platform backed by venture capitalist firms, has launched. Formed in May, the platform brings together the "technology, data, and expertise" developed by multimedia publishing platform, Vook; data and analytics platform, Booklr; and short-form e-book publisher, Byliner.

Labour would 'aggressively' target Amazon and Google to pay fair tax Labour’s shadow chancellor John McDonnell has said the party has “aggressive” plans to make corporations such as Amazon, Google Starbucks and Vodafone pay their “fair share of taxes”. In his first speech as shadow chancellor at the Labour Conference taking place in Brighton this week, McDonnell outlined plans to cut the deficit by targeting corporate tax avoidance and increasing taxes on the rich.

Rushdie to discuss freedom of expression at FBF Salman Rushdie will discuss the significance of freedom of expression for authors and the book industry in his keynote address at the Frankfurt Book Fair this year. A spokesperson for the Frankfurt Book Fair said: “The publication of polemic literature and its consequences affect not just authors but the entire publishing industry. That’s why freedom of expression and boundaries are the key topics at this year’s book fair.” Walliams’ great Grandpa blasts to number one Grandpa’s Great Escape (HarperCollins Children’s Books) has become David Walliams’ third straight book to hit the UK Official Number One in its first week of sale, while also earning its author his 50th Children’s chart-topper.