Latest News from The Bookseller

Booksellers back Bryson as Super Thursday’s finest Competition for the Christmas number one spot is wide open this year, a consequence of “the strongest autumn [in publication terms] in years”. Yesterday marked Super Thursday (8th October), the day on which the greatest number of hardback titles—including many likely bestsellers—are released in the run up to Christmas. Coinciding with the industry-wide Books Are My Bag promotion, Super Thursday sparked a frenzy of activity in high street bookshops.

Books pre-empted and auctioned in countdown to FBF Agents have sold a series of books at auction and via pre-empts ahead of the Frankfurt Book Fair.

Deborah Rogers foundation and prize founded A foundation, which will award a £10,000 prize to new writers, has been set up in memory of the late literary agent and chair of Rogers, Coleridge and White, Deborah Rogers.

Profile launches new cycling imprint, Profile Pursuit Profile is set to launch a new imprint, Profile Pursuit, which will publish “high quality and original” cycling books. James Spackman, formerly m.d of Watkins Media, will join Profile Books as publisher of Profile Pursuit. In addition to commissioning books, he will be involved in sales, marketing and publicity for the cycling books.

Iran confirms FBF boycott Iran’s cultural ministry has confirmed its Iranian representatives will not attend the Frankfurt Book Fair next week - and has urged other Islamic countries to boycott in protest about Salman Rushdie's presence there.

Ruby Wax Mindfulness Guide to Penguin Life New imprint Penguin Life is set to publish a new title by Ruby Wax - A Mindfulness Guide for the Frazzled. Wax's title, to be published on 7th January 2016, will mark the launch of the new imprint, supported by a major media, marketing and digital campaign. Coinciding with the book's launch, Wax will embark on a UK book tour featuring high profile appearances and blanket national print and prime time TV coverage, the publisher said.

V&A announces new publishing partners The V&A is partnering with Penguin Random House Children’s UK and Thames & Hudson to develop and expand its publishing activity. The first co-published titles are due to launch in Autumn 2016, with full ranges to be made available in 2017. Both partnerships will be a collaboration of designers, illustrators, photographer, artists and authors – including curatorial experts from the V&A - with Penguin focusing on a diverse range for children and Thames & Hudson concentrating on its adults list.

Harry Potter novels now available on Apple's iBooks Apple has announced that enhanced editions of all seven books in J K Rowling’s Harry Potter series are exclusively available on the iBooks store. Until now, the Harry Potter digital books have only been available through the Pottermore Shop. The digital books, which can be read on the iPhone, iPad, iPod touch and Mac, feature the original text, interactive animations and artwork, as well as annotations to the text by Rowling. Readers can also choose their own customised titles and typography.

CILIP members' anger at body's blog post CILIP has been forced to defend a blog post allegedly aligning the body with Conservative Party policies following an outcry from members on social media. CILIP published a blog post entitled "Libraries, equality and the turnaround decade" following Prime Minister David Cameron's speech at the Conservative Party Conference on Wednesday (7th October).

Alexievich wins Nobel Prize in Literature Belarusian writer Svetlana Alexievich, 67, has won the Nobel Prize in Literature. The chair of the Swedish Academy, Sara Danius, said her polyphonic writings were "a monument to suffering and courage in our time."  Alexievich is recognised for her work chronicalling the lives and experiences of her fellow citizens in Belarus, Russia and the Ukraine, documenting events such as the the Chernobyl disaster and the Soviet war in Afghanistan through a human lens.

Knowledge Unlatched moves into second phase Knowledge Unlatched, the Open Access scheme for humanities and social science books run by publisher Frances Pinter, is entering a second pilot phase with much increased support from publishers. The not-for-profit scheme brings libraries and publishers together, on a global basis, to fund the publication of high-quality, specialist scholarly books and make them Open Access.

Oneworld wins two crime novels at auction Oneworld is to publish the 2014 winner of Finland's "most presitigious and valuable award" They Know Not What They Do by Jussi Valtonen, and “multi-award-winning” debut The Hermit by Thomas Rydahl. The books were acquired by publisher Juliet Mabey in two "heated auctions".