Caution evident in buying and selling of politically sensitive material amid fears of growing repression from mainland’s Communist partyThe 2016 Hong Kong book fair, the most important event in the city’s literary calendar, opened its doors on Wednesday to familiar long queues and hordes of special security personnel on watch for potential stampedes. Inside, it was business as usual: a large convention hall divided into genres, with one large area just for religious publishers, complete with saffron-robed monks writing calligraphy and dispensing blessings. Media types gathered on the first floor where a local starlet in a low-cut dress posed for photographers in front of a stand devoted to fashion books and magazines.But this year is the first fair held in Hong Kong since the disappearances of five booksellers from the city in late 2015. For many visitors, the attention is squarely on the few publishers still willing to sell “forbidden books”. What has happened to the five men has profoundly shaken Hong Kong’s book trade: Gui Minhai, owner of the Mighty Current publishing house and the Causeway Bay Books shop, remains in detention in mainland China after having disappeared from his holiday house in Thailand in October 2015, only to reappear in a tearful televised confession in January 2016. Mighty Current editor Lee Bo was also reportedly abducted from Hong Kong and later reappeared in March, as did manager Lui Por. Just two days later, business manager Cheung Chi-ping... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'
[ The Guardian | 2016-07-25 00:00:00 UTC ]
Many in the book trade have reacted with surprise and excitement to the shock General Election result, which saw the Conservatives fail to win a majority government, and Labour increase its number of seats by 29 – contradicting many pollsters’ predictions of a large Tory majority. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2017-06-10 00:00:00 UTC ]
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According to The Bookseller’s online survey of the trade, 64.1% intend to vote for Jeremy Corbyn’s party at the polls next Thursday (8th June), while 15.7% will put a cross in the box of the Liberal Democrats, with the Conservative Party coming a close third on 13.1%. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2017-06-02 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The Liberal Democrats have received a surge in support from the book trade ahead of the general election on 8th June thanks to the party’s clear stance against Brexit, according to a survey conducted by The Bookseller. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2017-04-21 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The book trade has expressed surprise over the snap general election called by prime minister Theresa May and is divided over whether it will harm or boost the book market. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2017-04-20 00:00:00 UTC ]
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As Theresa May triggers Article 50, Philip Jones considers what this means for the future of the book trade. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2017-03-31 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The book trade is celebrating International Women's Day today (8th March) with a host of events and publications ready to show solidarity with women worldwide, as well as the launch of a new prize for Women in Translation to address the gender imbalance in literature in translation. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2017-03-09 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Retailers blame the presidential campaign and postelection anxiety for the year ending on a flat note, but some categories are growing in the book trade and in the comics shop market. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2017-02-10 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The book trade has generally welcomed Amazon’s new ebook offer, but questioned the five year cap for the new deal and raised concerns over whether it will hold in the UK in a post-Brexit world. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2017-01-26 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Hong Kong used to be a place of relatively free speech in China, but that was before Xi Jinping’s crackdown. Now everybody from writers to booksellers, publishers and printers fear they will be next to ‘disappear’Just over a year after five publishers and booksellers disappeared from Hong Kong... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2016-12-28 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Rogers, Coleridge & White co-founder Gill Coleridge reflects on five decades in the book trade, and how a new bursary in honour of Deborah Rogers will aid those embarking on their first. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2016-12-14 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Über literary agent Ed Victor muses on his 40 years working in the book trade. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2016-11-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Members of the US book trade have urged the industry to remember the powerful role books play in promoting unity and understanding in the wake of the US election result which saw Republican candidate Donald Trump beat Democrat Hillary Clinton to take the White House as US president elect. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2016-11-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The book trade has reacted with “dismay”, “horror” and “frustration” to this morning’s shock news that Republican candidate Donald Trump has beaten Democrat Hillary Clinton to take the White House as US president elect. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2016-11-10 00:00:00 UTC ]
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In the wake of the Frankfurt Book Fair, a few international titles are heating up, among them a new gangster trilogy based in Hong Kong and an Italian self-help book about the positive side of failure. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2016-10-25 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Jessica Faircliff looks at the challenges faced by the book trade in South Africa. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2016-10-06 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Jonathan Ruppin says the book trade "remains riddled" with bias when it comes to ethnic diversity. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2016-09-27 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Genre is a funny thing in the book trade: almost essential as a marketing tool, yet used too strictly, or taken as a metonym for too wide a range of titles, it inevitably attracts ire. The nom de guerre currently in vogue is “grip lit”. Whether one objects to the term and its use or not, it has,... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2016-09-13 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Bookshops in the UK are being called on by one of China’s largest bookstore chains, Zhejiang Xinhua, and an online journal devoted to the book trade in China, Bookdao, to attend a global summit to tackle the “threat” of online retailing. The two-day forum, scheduled for 11th–12th April 2017,... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2016-09-09 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Caution evident in buying and selling of politically sensitive material amid fears of growing repression from mainland’s Communist partyThe 2016 Hong Kong book fair, the most important event in the city’s literary calendar, opened its doors on Wednesday to familiar long queues and hordes of... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2016-07-25 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The White Horse Bookshop is sponsoring the Richard Jefferies Society Writers’ Prize while the book trade is experiencing a “golden age of nature writing”. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2016-07-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
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