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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Barack Obama's new memoir will arrive right after the presidential election

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The first volume of Barack Obama’s memoir is getting a 3 million copy printing this November.

We’ve known for a while that Barack Obama would be coming out with a new memoir. Today his publisher confirmed that the book, A Promised Land, will be released soon after the November elections. The former president isn’t a stranger to the pen. His first memoir, Dreams From My Father: A Story of... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

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Barack Obama's Memoir Is Finally Here — At Least The First Part Of It

"A Promised Land," to be released Nov. 17, weighs in at a whopping 768 pages. Obama said it's "a fun and informative read." Continue reading at HuffPost

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PRH to Release Obama’s 'A Promised Land’ Globally in November

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Barack Obama memoirs to be released by Viking in November

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Most diverse Booker prize shortlist ever is also almost all American

With no room for Hilary Mantel’s conclusion to her Wolf Hall trilogy, the six finalists also include four debutsHilary Mantel will not win a third Booker prize with the final novel in her Thomas Cromwell trilogy, after American writers made a near clean sweep of this year’s shortlist.With four... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2020-09-15 12:21:07 UTC ]
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Record orders for BA Christmas catalogue

The Booksellers Association says it has received a record number of orders for this year's Christmas catalogue, featuring introductions by Hilary Mantel and Cressida Cowell, as the busy autumn period kicks off. Continue reading at The Bookseller

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Hilary Mantel and Historical Fiction Are On a Break: Critical Linking, August 23, 2020

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Remember when famous writers used to shill for consumer products?

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With book tours scrapped, authors are finding new ways to connect with their readers

Chris Bohjalian, Mary Kay Andrews and other novelists have turned to Zoom and Facebook Live to find their audience. Continue reading at The Washington Post

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Poets and novelists have been writing about life under COVID-19 for more than a century

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This Week's Bestsellers: August 17, 2020

Stephenie Meyer has the #1 book in the country with ‘Midnight Sun,’ a retelling of ‘Twilight’ from Edward’s perspective. Plus Isabel Wilkerson’s ‘Caste,’ #4 in the country, is Oprah’s latest book club pick, and Wimpy Kid author Jeff Kinney has an ‘Awesome Friendly Adventure.’ Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

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Audible Charts: Midnight Sun strikes the top

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Reclaim Her Name: why we should free Australia's female novelists from their male pseudonyms

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'Midnight Sun' Tops 1 Million Copies Sold in First Week

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Amazon Charts: Midnight Sun dawns at the top

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