The pandemic has thrown publishing and booksellers into crisis – and left customers struggling to obtain books when they most want them. But some in the industry sense an opportunity to drag it into the 21st centuryOn 18 March, Emma Corfield-Walters received the news that for the second year running, her shop, Book-ish, in Crickhowell in the Brecon Beacons, had landed the title for Wales in the regional round of the independent bookshop of the year award. Corfield-Walters has run Book-ish for 10 years. It has 16 staff and a cafe, is the base for a literary festival that she also organises, and is credited with having played a major part in the regeneration of Crickhowell’s award-winning high street. Above all, it is a highly successful business: 2019 was a record year. The fact that it would now again be a contender for the overall prize – to be announced in June at the British book awards – was for Corfield-Walters a hard-earned affirmation of a decade’s passion and work.But she was hardly celebrating. Britain was then five days from lockdown. “It was surreal,” she says. “We’d won best bookshop in Wales, yet I wasn’t sure for how much longer I’d have a shop that people could visit. It was like that scene in Star Wars when the walls are moving in, and the room’s getting smaller and smaller. The goalposts were shifting every day. At first, we thought: OK, we’ll buy hand sanitiser! But by the weekend, it was clear the shop would have to close.” Her first thought was for her... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'
[ The Guardian | 2020-05-10 08:00:20 UTC ]
An independent bookshop spotlighting women’s writing is opening in Edinburgh today (6th August), inspired by a successful book club. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2021-08-06 19:47:21 UTC ]
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Before Covid, A Good Used Book was a pop-up bookshop thriving across L.A. It's back to physical business this month — at the end of a long, hard road. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2021-08-05 13:00:28 UTC ]
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The Cliveden Literary Festival is public-facing and has yet to announce its actual programing for its 2021 edition. The post England’s Cliveden Literary Festival Plans a Physical Presentation appeared first on Publishing Perspectives. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2021-08-04 20:41:18 UTC ]
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Matt Haig has become the first author to feature on Bookshop.org's Indie Champions list with two titles in the same month. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2021-08-01 01:03:15 UTC ]
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Essay Photo by Rodion Kutsaev / Unsplash When I met Emmanuel Carrère in 2014, I had one question for him. I was sent by the magazine I worked for at the time to interview him at a literary festival in which he was participating. Carrère had just... Continue reading at World Literature Today
[ World Literature Today | 2021-07-13 18:44:07 UTC ]
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The Society of Young Publishers has opened submissions for its mentorship programme for the second year running, inviting aspiring publishers living in the UK or Ireland to apply. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2021-07-09 11:10:18 UTC ]
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Líra Könyv made to pay £600 for failing to clearly indicate the story featured ‘a family that is different than a normal family’A bookshop chain in Hungary has been fined for selling a children’s story depicting a day in the life of a child with same-sex parents, with officials condemning the... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2021-07-08 12:09:32 UTC ]
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Julia Donaldson, Sara Ogilvie, Lemn Sissay, Ingrid Persaud and Jasbinder Bilan have won prizes at the Indie Book Awards, held as part of Independent Bookshop Week's celebrations. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2021-06-26 13:47:44 UTC ]
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Former Review Bookshop manager Katia Wengraf has raised more than £10,000 online to help fund her new independent store, Mount Florida Books, in a former tattoo parlour in Glasgow. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2021-06-20 21:34:09 UTC ]
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Hachette and its authors, incuding Juno Dawson, Brit Bennett and Libby Page, are championing indie booksellers in a social media campaign to support Independent Bookshop Week. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2021-06-19 08:06:16 UTC ]
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News and Events Left column (top to bottom): Boris Boubacar Diop, Ludmilla Petrushevskaya; Middle left column: Michális Ganás, Cristina Rivera Garza, Jean-Pierre Balpe; Middle right column: Natalie Diaz, Naomi Shihab Nye, Micheline Aharonian... Continue reading at World Literature Today
[ World Literature Today | 2021-06-15 14:25:01 UTC ]
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"We want to be recognised as one of the leading children’s book publishers in the industry: we want not only to be recognised, we want to be respected.” Sanjee de Silva (pictured), the new publisher at Sweet Cherry, recently named Small Press of the Year at the British Book Awards, has big... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2021-05-28 22:25:53 UTC ]
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Jane Buckley, who won the inaugural Designer of the Year prize at the recent British Book Awards, discusses her recent promotion and the art of pairing writers and illustrators together. I speak to Jane Buckley just after what must have been a pretty good couple of days for her. On 13th May, at... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2021-05-28 15:18:52 UTC ]
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Interviews Photo of Sulaiman Addonia by Alexander Meeus. For me, one of the most astounding books of this past year—which may have slipped your attention due to the pandemic—was Silence Is My Mother Tongue, the second novel by Ethiopian Eritrean... Continue reading at World Literature Today
[ World Literature Today | 2021-05-18 13:43:22 UTC ]
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The British Book Awards' three-hour digital prize program included Nibbie winners' announcements in 28 categories. The post The British Book Awards: 2021 Winners appeared first on Publishing Perspectives. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2021-05-13 22:30:42 UTC ]
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Online indie retailer Bookshop.org is calling for publishers and authors to link to independent bookshops and its own site for the duration of Independent Bookshop Week (IBW). Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2021-05-10 23:36:00 UTC ]
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Hachette UK has been selected as one of the Times Top 50 Employers for Women for the second year running. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2021-04-28 21:32:56 UTC ]
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New figures from the Publishers Association show fiction and audiobooks did particularly well, with value of consumer sales up 7% on 2019 despite bookshop closuresFiction sales in 2020 soared by more than £100m for UK publishers, as readers locked down at home made their escape into books, with... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2021-04-26 23:01:49 UTC ]
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An indie bookshop in Brigg, north Lincolnshire, was forced to close on Tuesday (13th April) after only a day's post-lockdown trading, following a break-in that left the shop unsafe for customers. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2021-04-13 17:09:48 UTC ]
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Eight retailers and nine small presses now are in the running for the British Book Awards' top winners' list, coming in May. The post Nibbies 2021: Bookstore, Small Press Regional and Country Winners appeared first on Publishing Perspectives. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2021-03-17 11:28:19 UTC ]
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