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 ]
Publisher who turned Faber & Faber into a champion of the best contemporary writingMatthew Evans, who has died aged 74 from leukaemia, was a great publisher who also happened to play a decisive role in the making of the musical Cats. He transformed Faber & Faber from the Vatican of... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2016-07-07 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Officials in Hong Kong say they will not send back a bookseller who jumped bail in mainland China, where he was detained over books mocking Chinese leaders. Continue reading at BBC News
[ BBC News | 2016-07-06 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Mary Cash, v-p and editor-in-chief of Holiday House, reports on her trip to the Seoul International Book Fair in South Korea. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2016-07-01 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Animal Media Group, an independent media and book production company that is looking to ramp up its presence in the book trade, has signed a two year distribution deal with Consortium. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2016-06-30 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Bernardi succeeds longtime Dark Horse book trade executive Michael Martens, who is retiring after 22 years, and will takeover in time for the American Library Association meeting in Orlando, Florida. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2016-06-21 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Britain will vote this week on whether to remain in or leave the European Union, but what does the book trade think? Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2016-06-21 00:00:00 UTC ]
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After nearly eight months in solitary confinement, one of five Hong Kong booksellers who vanished after their detention in mainland China gave a detailed account Thursday of his ordeal, defying not only a gag order but also authorities’ demand that he remand himself to custody. Lam Wing Kee,... Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2016-06-17 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Three months after he disappeared from his home in Hong Kong, bookseller and publisher Lee Bo has returned from China, the Hong Kong government has said in a statement. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2016-03-25 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The book trade should not get complacent following a rise in print book sales, Anthony Forbes Watson, managing director of Pan Macmillan, warned delegates to Nielsen’s Book Insights Conference 2016. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2016-03-25 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The UK’s possible exit from the European Union, looking likely to be the subject of a summer referendum, would be a disaster for the book trade, according to industry figures such as Waterstones m.d. James Daunt, Bonnier Publishing c.e.o. Richard Johnson and Alma Books m.d. Alessandro Gallenzi. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2016-02-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The book trade is aiming to put books at the heart of Valentine's Day, with publishers unveiling a range of campaigns reflecting that there is a light and a dark side to the day. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2016-02-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The Bookseller is seeking the book trade’s views on whether the UK should leave the European Union ahead of the nation’s referendum vote. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2016-02-06 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The author of a controversial book on China's president, believed to be the reason five booksellers from the Mighty Current publishing house in Hong Kong went missing between October and December 2015, has released the title online. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2016-02-06 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The author advocacy group critical of Amazon known as Authors United has joined with the Authors Guild to host a discussion about the retailer’s power and influence in the book trade. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2016-01-21 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Holiday House, an independent publisher based in New York, has bought the US rights to Hidden by Miriam Halahmy in a two-book deal. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2016-01-09 00:00:00 UTC ]
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From the Author's Guild case against Google to missing booksellers in Hong Kong, here is a list of some top publishing links from the week of January 4-8, 2016. The post Top Publishing Links of the Week: January 4-8, 2016 appeared first on Publishing Perspectives. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2016-01-08 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Suspected abduction of five booksellers prompts fears of mounting self-censorship in face of mainland crackdown on ‘salacious’ publicationsOne of Hong Kong’s leading international bookshop chains has removed politically sensitive books from its shelves in the wake of the mysterious disappearance... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2016-01-07 00:00:00 UTC ]
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After fifth disappearance, umbrella movement’s Agnes Chow criticises China regime in video that has gone viralA young pro-democracy activist in Hong Kong has released a video, which has gone viral, attacking Beijing’s campaign of “political suppression” following the disappearances of five... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2016-01-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The book trade must "work together" to navigate potential disadvantages of ebook lending, the chief executive of the Booksellers Association, Tim Godfray, has said. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2015-12-10 00:00:00 UTC ]
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In the late 1990s the venerable book trade chronicler Ian Norrie wrote to The Bookseller’s then-editor Louis Baum to complain about the inclusion of an author in the magazine’s series of The Great and the Good. “Authors are not part of the book trade per se,” Norrie wrote. This week The... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2015-12-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
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