She published her first book in her 40s and became the biggest selling author of the past decade in any genre – The Gruffalo alone has sold 13m copies. How did this former busker make it so big?The room where the children’s author Julia Donaldson writes – the heart of her vast picture book empire – is down a winding staircase, in the cellar of her grand white house in Steyning, West Sussex. Her desk looks out on the street at knee height. “I’m thinking of writing a book about legs,” Donaldson said, as she showed me around the house this summer. Children from the nearby school often wave in at her as they pass. Donaldson is well known in Steyning, due to her frequent signings at the local bookshop. She and her husband, Malcolm, a retired paediatrician, recently bought the local post office to save it from closure. But elsewhere she can walk the pavement without being recognised. “I got a letter the other day for Jacqueline Wilson,” Donaldson told me. “It said: ‘You’re my favourite author!’”If you are not someone who spends much time with young children, you may only be dimly aware of Donaldson’s work – although you will probably be familiar with her most famous creation, the Gruffalo. If you have children, however, you will know her as a cultural juggernaut whose influence among children is perhaps only surpassed by the works of Disney and CBeebies. Donaldson, who is 72, has written more than 210 books: chiefly picture books, but also poetry, plays, a 60-part phonics... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'
[ The Guardian | 2020-12-17 06:00:31 UTC ]
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Children’s books website ReadingZone has launched a competition for children and young people to create a picture book for World Book Day, judged by author and illustrator Sarah McIntyre. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2022-01-22 20:56:16 UTC ]
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For the first time on record, picture books outsold fiction for young readers through the TCM, after clawing back a huge deficit. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2022-01-22 08:33:40 UTC ]
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If you chart the shift in the BookScan era of the publishing into Children’s & Young Adult Non-Fiction (CYANF), you see it evolving from, broadly, a more schools-book focused sector to one in which the vast bulk of the revenue is derived from trade titles. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2022-01-22 07:28:02 UTC ]
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In "Small World," short chapters and sheer eventfulness keep the story chugging along. Continue reading at The Washington Post
[ The Washington Post | 2022-01-21 12:00:01 UTC ]
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Legend Times is to move all of its publishing companies from Booksource to Macmillan Distribution (MDL). Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2022-01-20 13:14:03 UTC ]
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Once again the children’s writer Julia Donaldson tops the year-end ranking of writers through Nielsen, but a rise in sales of backlist titles saw a number of authors with large oeuvres make an appearance. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2022-01-16 10:02:13 UTC ]
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Before he helped bring down Richard Nixon, the reporter grew up in a school of hard knocks. His memoir is a treasureFew reporters are synonymous with their craft. Bob Woodward of the Washington Post is one, his former partner, Carl Bernstein, another. Together, they broke open the Watergate... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2022-01-16 07:00:43 UTC ]
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Science fiction is full of computer programmes and androids who fall afoul of the plots of some of Shakespeare’s most brutal tragedies. Continue reading at The Conversation
[ The Conversation | 2022-01-14 13:00:02 UTC ]
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On January 14, 1963, poet Sylvia Plath published her first novel in England under the pseudonym “Victoria Lucas.” The book had a positive but relatively quiet reception; only a few weeks after its publication, on February 11, Plath would die by suicide. It wasn’t published in the US until 1971,... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2022-01-14 09:50:32 UTC ]
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Two decades ago, I wrote my very first novel while working at The Community Bookstore, an independent bookstore in Brooklyn, New York. That job enabled me to complete my book, not just because of the flexible hours, but because the other staffers were all aspiring writers, and many of our... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2022-01-12 09:50:45 UTC ]
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"To Paradise," by Hanya Yanagihara, is the author's first novel since "A Little Life" became a major literary event in 2015. Continue reading at The Washington Post
[ The Washington Post | 2022-01-11 13:00:00 UTC ]
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Stefan Koldehoff and Tobias Timm detail the doings of a rogue’s gallery of art scammers, rascals and outright thieves. Continue reading at The Washington Post
[ The Washington Post | 2022-01-07 12:00:00 UTC ]
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Acquisition of 2016 startup and its 1.2 million subscribers puts newspaper on target for 10 million paid subscriptions The New York Times has agreed to buy subscription-based sports site the Athletic for $550m (£400m) in cash, as the 170-year-old newspaper adds more digital content to grab... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2022-01-06 23:27:19 UTC ]
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The Athletic, which quickly came to prominence for publishing exclusive reporting and high-quality sports journalism, is getting a new owner. As first reported by The Information, The New York Times has agreed to buy the subscription-based digital media company for $550 million. The deal is... Continue reading at Engadget
[ Engadget | 2022-01-06 17:05:15 UTC ]
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Three days before its anticipated physical opening, the big New Delhi World Book Fair has been postponed, new dates to be announced. The post New Delhi World Book Fair Announces Postponement appeared first on Publishing Perspectives. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2022-01-05 21:40:06 UTC ]
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The New York Times Book Review marked their anniversary by asking readers to nominate the best book of the past 125 years. Here's the result. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2022-01-03 15:52:45 UTC ]
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The author, who died Thursday, produced decades' worth of memorable work. Here's our guide to starting — or continuing — your Didion journey. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2021-12-23 21:24:38 UTC ]
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An interesting dispatch from prize world: as The Bookseller reported, a new international survey conducted by Nielsen Book shows publishers, writers, booksellers and media consider the Booker Prize the “most important” literary prize. The Booker’s status isn’t completely out of left field, but... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2021-12-23 20:28:47 UTC ]
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Unless an author is a household name or has a celebrity endorsement, the hardcover fiction list can be elusive for first-timers. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2021-12-23 10:00:01 UTC ]
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The classic adventure story mirrors the holiday season — weeks of madcap action and inner turmoil that usher in a morning of gladness and goodwill. Continue reading at The Washington Post
[ The Washington Post | 2021-12-22 13:00:00 UTC ]
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#eighty days