Latest News from The Bookseller

Patterson awards £110k to indie bookshops Nearly 70 independent bookshops have today (8th September) received funding from James Patterson in the latest round of grants given by the American author. Patterson revealed he has awarded £110,000 in grants to 69 independent bookshops across the UK and Ireland. The grants will be used to fund many different activities including author events, a children’s reading challenge and a Book Bus for school visits. Other causes include the refurbishment and redesign of children’s sections in shops, the creation of storytelling spaces and new signage, carpeting and flooring.

Thomas, Page and Jurevics to headline FutureBook Conference Annette Thomas, Stephen Page and Susan Jurevics are the keynote speakers for this year’s FutureBook Conference, the largest digital publishing gathering in Europe. Nigel Roby, chief executive and publisher of The Bookseller, has also unveiled what is to be a week-long sequence of events culminating in the FutureBook Conference on 4th December.

Quick Reads joins The Reading Agency Quick Reads is set to become one of The Reading Agency’s programmes following a decision by the two charities to work together. Cathy Rentzenbrink, project director of Quick Reads, told The Bookseller she is very excited about the partnership. “All the work we now do will have a greater impact. There will be much more value for our stakeholders because the same contribution will have a bigger impact.” She said it made sense for the two charities to work together because they both work on adult literacy and “there is huge synergy” between the two, she added.

Publishers donate to Ness' fundraising campaign Publishers including HarperCollins and Egmont have made donations each to a fundraising effort for Syrian refugees, while bookshops and authors continue to raise money and give donations. Author Patrick Ness’ fundraising effort has so far raised more than £610,000, including Gift Aid and pledges yet to be paid.

PA welcomes BBC pledge to work with arts bodies The Publishers Association has welcomed the BBC’s commitment to working more closely with the UK’s arts institutions. The corporation released its report about the future of the BBC yesterday (7th September) in which it pledged to work with a wide range of cultural partners, create an ‘Ideas Service’ and a children’s iPlayer called iPlay which would feature not just television programmes but “blogs, podcasts, games and educational tools”.

New Chris Cleave book set for 2016 release Sceptre is to publish a new novel by Chris Cleave in April 2016. Everyone Brave is Forgiven is a “stunning, unconventional wartime epic”, which follows a newly recruited teacher who resolves to stay in London at the outbreak of the Second World War. The novel moves from Blitz-torn London to the Siege of Malta, and is a story of “passion, loss, prejudice and incredible courage”. Suzie Dooré acquired British Commonwealth rights, excluding Canada, to the novel from Peter Straus at Rogers, Coleridge & White.

Taschen opens 'concept' store in Selfridges Taschen has opened a “concept space” in Selfridges in partnership with WH Smith. The art book publisher has opened the visually striking area as part of WH Smith’s concession space in the London Oxford Street department store. A Taschen spokesperson told The Bookseller that for the past year it had been working closely with WH Smith at Selfridges. The new store also reveals the new Taschen brand identity.

Arnaud Nourry to be questioned at FBF Hachette Livre c.e.o. and chairman Arnaud Nourry will be interviewed as part of Frankfurt Book Fair’s c.e.o. talk series. Nourry will be questioned by the editors of The Bookseller, Livres Hebdo, Bookdao, buchreport, PublishNews Brazil and Publishers Weekly. The discussion, moderated by Rüdiger Wischenbart, will focus on the current transformation of the global book business in the context of this year’s Global Ranking of the Publishing Industry, in cooperation with the Frankfurt Book Fair Business Club.

Obama to honour Stephen King with National Medal Stephen King will be presented with the United States’ National Medal of Arts by Barack Obama on 10th September. The medal is the highest award for artists given by the US government and is given to those who are “deserving of special recognition by reason of their outstanding contributions to the excellence, growth, support and availability of the arts in the United States.”

Pride and Prejudice-inspired teen novel to Chicken House Chicken House will publish a teen novel about Lydia, the naughty younger sister in Jane Austen’s classic novel Pride and Prejudice, written by Natasha Farrant. Lydia: the Bad Bennet Girl, to be released next year, is described as the perfect way to introduce teenagers to the original novel, as Farrant has “brought a modern yet fiercely authentic voice to the original wild child of romantic fiction”, said the publisher.

New editions of Nawal El Saadawi from Zed Books Zed Books is to publish new editions of three books by feminist writer Nawal El Saadawi. The author, who was imprisoned in the 1980s by Egyptian president Anwar Sadat after publishing a feminist magazine and who fled Egypt in 1988 after receiving threats from militant Islamists, will be in London to launch the new editions. Zed will release Woman at Point Zero, first released in 1975, as a £9.99 paperback, The Hidden Face of Eve as a £12.99 paperback, and God Dies by the Nile and Other Novels as a £14.99 paperback on 15th October.

New Michael Grant series for Egmont Electric Monkey, Egmont’s YA imprint, has bought the UK and Commonwealth rights, excluding Canada, to a new series by US author Michael Grant. The three-book series Front Lines is set during an alternative World War Two where young women are eligible for the draft. Rio Richlin and her friends are fighting not only Hitler’s army, but also a male-dominated society.