British Book awards balance art and selling power to decide best writer in 30 years

Novelists rub shoulders with presidents, chefs, comedians and thriller megastars on longlist to define the title with the biggest impact on the book worldIt could be almost the setup for a joke, but a former president, a Booker winner and an erotic fiction superstar have walked on to the British Book awards’ longlist, and one of them could be crowned the best writer of the past three decades.Barack Obama, Hilary Mantel and EL James are three of the bestselling writers on an eclectic list drawn up to celebrate the awards’ 30th anniversary.A Year in Provence, Peter Mayle (Penguin) | 1990Delia Smith’s Christmas (BBC Books) | 1991Wild Swans, Jung Chang (William Collins) | 1992The Art Book (Phaidon) | 1995Longitude, Dava Sobel (Fourth Estate) | 1997Northern Lights, Philip Pullman (Scholastic) | 1997Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, JK Rowling (Bloomsbury) | 1998Bridget Jones’s Diary, Helen Fielding (Picador) | 1998Captain Corelli’s Mandolin, Louis de Bernières (Vintage) | 1998The Illustrated Mum, Jacqueline Wilson and Nick Sharratt (Doubleday) | 2000White Teeth, Zadie Smith (Penguin) | 2001Sahara, Michael Palin (Weidenfeld Nicholson) | 2003Brick Lane, Monica Ali (Transworld) | 2004The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time, Mark Haddon (David Fickling) | 2004The Lovely Bones, Alice Sebold (Picador) | 2004The Da Vinci Code, Dan Brown (Transworld) | 2005The Gruffalo’s Child, Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler (Macmillan) | 2005The Sound of Laughter, Peter Kay... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'

[ The Guardian | 2020-02-14 06:01:23 UTC ]

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Richard Osman becomes first debut author to land Christmas No 1

The Thursday Murder Club sees off titles by Barack Obama and David Walliams in chaotic week for Britain’s book tradeRichard Osman’s cosy mystery about a group of elderly sleuths, The Thursday Murder Club, has become the first debut novel ever to become the Christmas No 1, selling a remarkable... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2020-12-22 15:00:18 UTC ]
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Barack Obama has created a playlist to accompany A Promised Land.

Continuing on the Barack Obama’s Favorite Media end-of-year march, the former President has released a 20-song playlist to accompany his memoir A Promised Land, composed of songs that recall memories of his time on the campaign trail and in the White House. There’s some Beyonce, some John... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2020-12-21 17:24:57 UTC ]
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Audible Charts: A Promised Land puts down roots

Barack Obama's A Promised Land (Penguin) has once again reigned atop the Audible weekly chart. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-12-18 08:36:55 UTC ]
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Osman, Obama and Pinch of Nom battle for Christmas number one

Richard Osman's The Thursday Murder Club (Penguin), Pinch of Nom Quick & Easy (Bluebird) and Barack Obama's A Promised Land (Viking) are all in the running for the Christmas number one spot, as the print market heads into its final week before Christmas. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-12-17 11:48:04 UTC ]
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Barack Obama took a break from promoting his own book to highlight 17 of the year’s best

The former president’s annual list is an eclectic mix of fiction and nonfiction. Continue reading at The Washington Post

[ The Washington Post | 2020-12-17 08:56:12 UTC ]
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How Julia Donaldson conquered the world, one rhyme at a time

She published her first book in her 40s and became the biggest selling author of the past decade in any genre – The Gruffalo alone has sold 13m copies. How did this former busker make it so big?The room where the children’s author Julia Donaldson writes – the heart of her vast picture book... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2020-12-17 06:00:31 UTC ]
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Amazon Charts: A Promised Land puts down roots at the top

Barack Obama's A Promised Land (Penguin) has once again charted top of both the Amazon Most-Sold and Most-Read: Non-Fiction charts, as it claimed a third week as the UK Official Top 50 number one through Nielsen BookScan's TCM. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-12-08 21:17:24 UTC ]
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Obama's A Promised Land scores a third week at the top

Barack Obama's A Promised Land (Viking) has held the UK Official Top 50 number one for a third week running.  Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-12-08 06:33:52 UTC ]
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“Romance Is Political”: The Unlikely Fundraising Effort That Raised $400,000 for the Georgia Senate Runoff Race

Courtney Milan explains how a group of romance novelists rallied behind one of their own: Stacey Abrams. Continue reading at Slate

[ Slate | 2020-12-07 19:30:17 UTC ]
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Booksellers See Subdued In-Store Holiday Sales, Online Eruption

Booksellers reported a significant drop in customer traffic and a commensurate drop in sales, but online orders were way up, forcing bookstores to adapt. Barack Obama's memoir and Jeff Kinney's latest were the most popular titles over the Thanksgiving weekend at stores surveyed by 'PW.' Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2020-12-03 05:00:00 UTC ]
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Words Without Borders in December: Female Sudanese Novelists ‘Caught in a Limbo’

'Not being Arab nor African enough,' translator Sawad Hussain writes, female writers aren't supported by Sudan's 'literary ecosystem.' The post Words Without Borders in December: Female Sudanese Novelists ‘Caught in a Limbo’ appeared first on Publishing Perspectives. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives

[ Publishing Perspectives | 2020-12-02 16:34:21 UTC ]
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A Promised Land digs in, with PRH reporting 100,000 second week sales

Barack Obama's A Promised Land (Viking) has secured a second week in the UK Official Top 50 number one spot. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-12-01 09:38:10 UTC ]
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Amazon Charts: A Promised Land breaks ground

Barack Obama's A Promised Land (Penguin) has risen into the Amazon Charts' Most-Sold: Non-Fiction top spot, after debuting a week ago, ahead of its publication.  Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-11-24 22:23:24 UTC ]
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Obama memoir hits charts top spot, PRH says 147,000 sold

Barack Obama's A Promised Land (Viking) has soared straight into the UK Official Top 50 number one spot in its first week on sale.  Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-11-24 12:37:14 UTC ]
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Obama’s Memoir Is a Chance to Finally See Our Sanest President

Critical responses to Barack Obama’s memoir suggest less what’s in the book than what we’ve always wanted from him. Continue reading at Slate

[ Slate | 2020-11-20 20:45:30 UTC ]
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Douglas Stuart Wins the 2020 Booker Prize for ‘Shuggie Bain’

One of four debut novelists among the six writers shortlisted this year, Stuart wins for 'Shuggie Bain,' also a National Book Award finalist. The post Douglas Stuart Wins the 2020 Booker Prize for ‘Shuggie Bain’ appeared first on Publishing Perspectives. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives

[ Publishing Perspectives | 2020-11-19 20:23:21 UTC ]
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50 notable works of fiction in 2020

The novels that captivated us include James McBride’s “Deacon King Kong” and Hilary Mantel’s “The Mirror and the Light.” Continue reading at The Washington Post

[ The Washington Post | 2020-11-19 13:30:00 UTC ]
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Obama Memoir Sells 887,000 Copies on Day One

Barack Obama's first presidential memoir, 'A Promised Land,' sold more than 887,000 units in all formats and editions in the U.S. and Canada on its first day on sale, its publisher said. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2020-11-19 05:00:00 UTC ]
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Hilary Mantel’s next book will be a short story collection about her childhood.

This morning, Publishers Marketplace reported that two-time Booker Prize winner and historical fiction supremo Hilary Mantel has a new short story collection on the horizon. Learning to Talk, which will be released by Holt at some point next year, is billed as “a collection of loosely... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2020-11-18 18:07:12 UTC ]
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7 of the Year’s Best Debut Novelists on Their First Literary Loves

Every year, we ask The Center for Fiction First Novel Prize Finalists to reminisce about the first book they fell in love with. This year, we asked Finalists to reflect not just on the first story that stole their heart, but the story that seeded curiosity and empathy for the plight of others... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2020-11-17 09:48:30 UTC ]
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