The Canongate Books boss on the success of Letters Live, performances of notable correspondence by leading lights of stage and screenJamie Byng, 46, son of the 8th Earl of Strafford, grew up in Hampshire and studied at the University of Edinburgh. After graduating he joined Canongate Books as an intern and bought out the struggling Edinburgh publishing house two years later, aged just 25. His successes include the UK publication of Yann Martel’s Life of Pi, which won the Man Booker prize in 2002 and sold more than 3m copies. In 2013 he set up Letters Live, “a celebration of the enduring power of literary correspondence” based in part on Shaun Usher’s Letters of Note books. Letters Live returns to London’s Freemasons’ Hall on Thursday 10 March.How did Letters Live come about?In 2013 we published two books about letters on the same day. One was Simon Garfield’s To the Letter, which is a history of letter-writing. The other, Letters of Note, grew out of Shaun Usher’s website, which compiles great correspondence throughout history. We decided to promote both books by getting people to read out letters in a live setting. Nick Cave had a letter in Shaun’s book and he’s a good friend, so it was very straightforward to call him up and say “How’s about it?” Gillian Anderson went totally nuts for a Katharine Hepburn letter to Spencer Tracy. Everyone I asked who was around – Benedict Cumberbatch, Matt Berry, Neil Gaiman, Bruce Robinson – said yes. Continue reading... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'
[ The Guardian | 2016-03-06 00:00:00 UTC ]
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A young adult novel about a dramatic journey that transforms an East Coast boy has taken out this year's New Zealand Post Children's Book Awards tonight. Continue reading at Stuff
[ Stuff | 2013-06-24 00:00:00 UTC ]
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A visit to the Seoul Book Fair reveals publishers are still wary of ebooks and blame smart devices for the decline in reading, even as Korean culture has become hip abroad. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2013-06-24 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Through First to Read, members will have the chance to get advance reading copies of Penguin Books before they are published. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor
[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2013-06-19 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The free online library created for the Read for My School made children "excited" to... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2013-06-18 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Nearly half the titles read by children in a national reading competition were consumed online, according to the charity Booktrust. Continue reading at BBC News
[ BBC News | 2013-06-18 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Craig Chappelow has written about how leaders can be more successful. But he'd crack One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest before the latest business book any day. Here's why he thinks you should, too. Read any good leadership books lately? Me either. It seems like popular books about leadership... Continue reading at Fast Company
[ Fast Company | 2013-06-17 00:00:00 UTC ]
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In order to better gauge social media success, and help usher foot traffic into bookstores, SIBA has launched the marketing initiative, "Code Read.” Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2013-06-10 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Bestselling crime writer Peter James is fundraising for The Reading Agency as he publicises his... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2013-06-07 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Celebrities including actor Rupert Everett [pictured] will read to children in London’s... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2013-06-06 00:00:00 UTC ]
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England footballer Frank Lampard has become a champion of The Reading Agency’s Summer... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2013-05-31 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Penguin and W H Smith have partnered for a new summer reading campaign, which will raise money... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2013-05-23 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The growth in children’s digital reading is an “opportunity for publishers rather... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2013-05-16 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Dotdotdot imagines its users as one big book discussion group, with everyone wielding the same highlighter. Instapaper and Readability have both found success offering a simple, core interaction: save an article online to read somewhere else later. With both you can also follow what friends... Continue reading at Fast Company
[ Fast Company | 2013-05-13 00:00:00 UTC ]
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More than half of the pupils taking part in the National Literacy Trust's Premier League... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2013-05-07 00:00:00 UTC ]
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If you're still balking at the cost of download-to-own ebooks, and would rather stick to the tried-and-true library lending system, then this Hachette news is for you. Come next Wednesday, the entirety of Hachette's ebook catalog -- over 5,000 titles -- will be made available to nonprofit... Continue reading at Engadget
[ Engadget | 2013-05-02 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The New York Times is one of the initial major publishers to unveil a Google Glass app, which will allow the currently scant number of users of the wearable device to access stories on the go. The app's audio component reads headlines and story summaries aloud and provides breaking news alerts. ... Continue reading at AdWeek
[ AdWeek | 2013-04-27 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Egyptian journalist and bestselling author Ibrahim Issa believes the Arab Spring has added religious oppression to the existing political hardships of the region. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2013-04-26 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Based on the pre-college reading lists, freshmen syllabi, and core programs of more than 100 US colleges and universities, here are 60 books the experts believe that you should have read by sophomore year of college. How does your own literary experience stack up? Take our quiz and find... Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor
[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2013-04-26 00:00:00 UTC ]
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It has become a truism that “men don’t read women.” The assertion is taken as self-evident by feminist publications like Salon (“while women read books written by men, men do not tend to reciprocate”) and shown anecdotally by blogs. It is also perpetuated by male bastions like Esquire, which... Continue reading at Slate
[ Slate | 2013-04-25 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Parents struggle to create time to read at home and view reading largely as a skill rather than... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2013-04-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
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