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"


Weekly E-Ranking: Darker ties up number one

EL James’ Darker tied up the Weekly E-Book Ranking number one straight out of the gate, displacing Penguin Random House stablemate Lee Child’s The Midnight Line in its first week on sale. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2017-12-15 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Journalist Mark Halperin suspended by MSNBC over sexual harassment claims

Veteran reporter ‘deeply sorry’ after five women say he sexually harassed themAlleged incidents occurred at ABC in early 2000sProminent MSNBC journalist Mark Halperin – co-author of a best-selling book about Barack Obama – has been suspended from his role as a contributor to the network... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2017-10-26 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this


'World-class' S&S UK celebrates 30th anniversary

Simon & Schuster UK celebrated its 30th anniversary at London's National Gallery, with president and c.e.o. Carolyn Reidy praising the press for transforming from a "tiny" distribution arm into a "world-class" publisher in that time. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2017-10-18 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Cover versions: why are UK and US book jackets often so different?

The American edition of Hillary Clinton’s What Happened looks stylish and elegant; the UK one is dreadful. But the reasons that books differ so much across different markets isn’t solely down to simple salesCovers sell books. But in the case of Hillary Clinton’s memoir What Happened, you can’t... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2017-09-26 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Golden Pans awarded to Wicks, Donaldson and Archer

Pan Macmillan authors Joe Wicks, Jeffrey Archer, Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler were last night awarded the Golden Pan, one of the industry's very first author awards, recognising sales in excess of one million copies over a book's lifetime. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2017-09-07 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Magabala Books: 30 years of Indigenous publishing – in pictures

Magabala Books was born in 1984, when a group of Indigenous elders from the Kimberley in Western Australia decided to establish their own publishing house focused on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander writers and illustrators, and telling Indigenous stories. Magabala publishes for a general... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2017-08-10 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Up lit: the new book trend with kindness at its core

From Matt Haig’s How to Stop Time to Gail Honeyman’s Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine, the empathetic literature inspired by a year of tragedies, political upheaval and economic uncertaintyA bruising year dominated by political and economic uncertainty, terrorism and tragedy has, publishers... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2017-08-02 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Airline easyJet launches children's book club

Budget airline easyJet has launched a “flybrary” in its entire UK fleet with 7,000 classic books selected by Jacqueline Wilson. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2017-07-19 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Mantel's novel "increasingly unlikely" to be next year

Hilary Mantel has revealed it is “increasingly unlikely” that her next novel will be published by next summer. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2017-07-05 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Authors' unique responses to Austen auctioned by RSL

Authors and artists including Margaret Atwood, Hilary Mantel and Quentin Blake have created one-off, hand-written responses to Jane Austen to be auctioned in aid of the Royal Society of Literature. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2017-06-22 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Naomi Alderman to judge Science Book Prize

Novelist Naomi Alderman will join the judging panel for the 30th anniversary of The Royal Society Insight Investment Science Book Prize. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2017-06-02 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Barack Obama to endorse Jo Cox memoir

The memoir of late Labour MP Jo Cox, written by her husband Brendan, has received the backing of former president Barack Obama who said she "made the world a better place". Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2017-05-25 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this


'Show me the money!': the self-published authors being snapped up by Hollywood

After the success of self-published authors like Andy Weir and EL James, Hollywood is scooping up the rights to books as fast as it can. But why – and is it always good for the author?After watching Quentin Tarantino’s Kill Bill, self-published author Mark Dawson was inspired to create his own... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2017-05-15 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Julia Donaldson and Helen Oxenbury | picture book royalty join forces

Two members of picture book royalty - Julia Donaldson and Helen Oxenbury - have joined forces for a new and charming tale. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2017-04-29 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Moyes, le Carré and Kerr shortlisted for CAMEO awards

Twelve "stand-out" book adaptations from the past two years have been named on the shortlists for the Creativity Across Media: Entertainment & Originality Awards (CAMEO), including titles by Jacqueline Wilson, Judith Kerr and Jojo Moyes. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2017-03-06 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Bookstore News: January 18, 2017

A Texas bookstore readies for opening in a former Borders location; a New Jersey bookstore inspired by Barack Obama’s first election turns eight; a New Hampshire college store ponders going corporate; and more. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2017-01-18 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Run for Office

On Friday, Donald J. Trump, liar, con man, bigot, serial assailant, former reality TV star, failed casino magnate, failed football team owner, failed airline owner, failed magazine publisher, failed steak salesman, and loser of the national popular vote, will be sworn in as the 45th president of... Continue reading at Slate

[ Slate | 2017-01-17 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Hodder blown away by Great Storm acquisition

Hodder and Stoughton has acquired Windblown after a "keenly contested" auction, a narrative non-fiction title written to mark the 30th anniversary of 1987's Great Storm. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2016-11-16 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Fiction and picture books look set to boost Christmas sales

Fiction and picture books are likely to take the lion’s share of sales over the Christmas period, although this year’s YA and teen offering is not as strong, according to a number of children’s booksellers. Florentyna Martin, children’s buyer at Waterstones, said younger fiction is particularly... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2016-10-10 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this


James, Hawkins and Ness join 'most powerful' authors list

EL James, Paula Hawkins and Patrick Ness have joined for the first time the Hollywood Reporter's 25-strong list of "most powerful" authors. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2016-10-01 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this