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 ]

Other news stories related to: "British Book awards balance art and selling power to decide best writer in 30 years"


12 Novels about Historical Women to Inspire a Better Future

The Spanish philosopher and poet George Santayana once said, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” As a genre, historical fiction allows us to shuttle back in time to stand in the shoes, clogs, chopines, and go-go boots of people—real and imagined—to consider the... Continue reading at Electric Literature

[ Electric Literature | 2019-07-15 11:00:13 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Summer reading: dive into the perfect book

As publishers vie to persuade us to pack their titles for the holidays, we chart the evolution of the ’beach read’Summer reads, beach reads, holiday reads … at this time of year, the publishing world works itself into a sweat trying to force its novels into our carry-on luggage, or over the... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2019-07-14 07:00:23 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Can Sci-Fi Writers Prepare Us for an Uncertain Future?

Businesses and public policy makers are tapping novelists to imagine the path forward. But how much stock should we put in the predictions of storytellers? Continue reading at Wired

[ Wired | 2019-07-12 13:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this


The Writers Who Left: Cuban Exile and What Comes Next, by Margaret Randall

Cultural Cross Sections Margaret Randall Children’s choir at the 2014 La Matanza Book Fair / Photo by Mauro Rico / Ministerio de Cultura de la Nación / Flickr When good engineers or scientists emigrate, they are able to continue their work. Novelists... Continue reading at World Literature Today

[ World Literature Today | 2019-07-10 21:07:28 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Essex libraries saved after council U-turn in triumph for campaigners

Essex County Council has announced it is ditching plans to close its libraries and their future is secure for the next five years following a huge community campaign, supported by authors including David Walliams and Jacqueline Wilson. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2019-07-09 00:31:48 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Graffeg to publish Welsh language edition of The Lost Words

Independent Wales-based publisher Graffeg is to publish the Welsh-language edition of the award-winning The Lost Words by Robert Macfarlane and Jackie Morris.   Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2019-07-04 18:40:35 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Viewfinders: 10 Y.A. Novelists Spin Fiction From Vintage Photos

The New York Times invited Asian-American authors to choose photos from our archives and write short young-adult fiction inspired by them. Continue reading at The New York Times

[ The New York Times | 2019-06-28 17:18:37 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Adam wins Desmond Elliott Prize for 'electrifying' debut Golden Child

Claire Adam has won the £10,000 Desmond Elliott Prize for first-time novelists with her "electrifying" debut Golden Child (Faber). Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2019-06-18 18:50:22 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Jurors Announced for the 2020 Neustadt Prize

News and Events WLT Norman, Okla. (June 11, 2019) – Robert Con Davis-Undiano, Neustadt Professor and executive director of the World Literature Today organization at the University of Oklahoma, this week announced the names of nine writers to be the jury... Continue reading at World Literature Today

[ World Literature Today | 2019-06-10 16:04:37 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Holt Will Publish Mantel's 'The Mirror & the Light' Next March

Henry Holt will publish 'The Mirror & the Light,' the final book in Hilary Mantel’s bestselling and prize-winning series about Thomas Cromwell, on March 10, 2020. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2019-05-22 04:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Hamish Hamilton to publish 'lost nature classic'

Hamish Hamilton will publish “a lost classic of children's nature writing”, The House Without Windows, from 1927, to be introduced and illustrated by Jackie Morris.   Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2019-05-21 21:56:21 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Mantel's final Cromwell novel set for March 2020

Hilary Mantel’s next novel The Mirror & the Light will be published in March 2020, 4th Estate has revealed, following fevered speculation around a billboard image circulated online. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2019-05-21 20:27:05 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Hilary Mantel billboard sparks new book speculation

A mysterious billboard in Leicester Square has sparked speculation online that 4th Estate has just dropped a major hint of imminent news on the long-awaited final novel in Hilary Mantel’s Thomas Cromwell trilogy. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2019-05-21 01:36:14 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Macfarlane and Morris create 'ambitious' successor to The Lost Words

Robert Macfarlane and Jackie Morris have begun "an even more ambitious and necessary project” than the publishing phenomenon The Lost Words for Hamish Hamilton, entitled The Book of Birds: A Field Guide to Wonder and Loss. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2019-05-14 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Barack Obama's Memoir Won't Be Released Until At Least 2020

It sets up the possibility that the former president's highly anticipated book will come out during the 2020 campaign. Continue reading at The Huffington Post

[ The Huffington Post | 2019-05-08 11:31:20 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Weekly E-Ranking: James leads new quartet at summit

EL James’ print sales may be eye-popping but the digital market is truly where she’s queen of all she surveys, as The Mister soars effortlessly into the Weekly E-Book Ranking number one spot. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2019-05-03 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this


London Symphony Orchestra announces Elmer performance

The London Symphony Orchestra (LSO) is creating a musical performance based on the Elmer book, Elmer’s Walk, to celebrate the patchwork elephant’s 30th anniversary. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2019-04-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler reflect on 20 years of The Gruffalo

One of the UK’s best-loved creative duos, Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler, muse on two decades of their most famous creation, The Gruffalo. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2019-04-03 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Hachette and PRH battle it out for The British Book of the Year trade awards

Hachette and Penguin Random House are leading The British Book Awards’ trade shortlists with 11 nominations each, with Hachette managing hat-tricks in both the Imprint and Publisher of the Year categories. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2019-03-22 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Coelho and Donaldson titles picked for Bookbug programme

Scottish Book Trust will distribute 800,000 titles by authors such as David Melling, Joseph Coelho and Julia Donaldson to toddlers across Scotland as part of the Bookbug initiative. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2019-02-20 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this