Sebastian Faulks gave his former Sunday Telegraph boss, John Thompson, a warm send-off in his tribute yesterday, "A nurturing force in the final days of Fleet Street".It reinforced the picture drawn of Thompson in the more formal Daily Telegraph obituary following Thompson's death, aged 93, on 24 November.Thompson, who edited the Sunday Telegraph for 10 years from 1976, was mild of manner and ran a kindly regime but had "an inner steel", wrote Faulks. This characteristic was necessary, as both Faulks and the obituary pointed out, because of the difficulties he faced in producing a paper in Fleet Street's final days of continual union disputes.Faulks pointed out that it was difficult to know Thompson well because "he was a diffident man who did not invite intimacy." It reminded me of a description of him by Henry Porter as "retiring to the point of joining a trappist order." But Faulks and the Telegraph's obituarist overlooked Thompson's most extraordinary, and disastrous, decision as an editor. In 1978, the Sunday Telegraph negotiated the serialisation of an autobiography by a former Liberal MP, Peter Bessell, who was a chief prosecution witness in the trial of Jeremy Thorpe, his party's leader. Thorpe was accused of conspiring to murder a male model, Norman Scott, who was said to have blackmailed him over their alleged gay relationship.Two months after Thorpe was charged, Thompson agreed a contract with Bessell which stated that he would receive £50,000 for extracts... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'
[ The Guardian | 2013-12-02 00:00:00 UTC ]
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In March of this year, following a wonderful day of programming at TOC Bologna, I sat at dinner with a few of our speakers from the day—my friend and CONTEC Frankfurt speaker Paul Rhodes included—and the conversations at that table were simply absorbing. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2013-10-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Turning your innocent three–year–old into a tiny art snob has never been easier: Damien Hirst's new educational children's book, ABC, pairs 26 of his artworks with letters of the alphabet. Why not kill two birds with one stone and teach your kid about "The Physical Impossibility of Death in the... Continue reading at Fast Company
[ Fast Company | 2013-10-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The second of two previews of agents' hotlists on the eve of the Frankfurt Book Fair. WME... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2013-10-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
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TaeWoo Kim, CEO of Moglue — the Korean platform for book app development — reflects on the first year in business after launching his publishing-related startup. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2013-10-03 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Guardian Faber has signed a book on Edward Snowden by Guardian foreign correspondent Luke Harding... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2013-10-03 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Whether publishers want it or not, the Netflix model is coming to the book business.The San Francisco startup Scribd, best known as a site for posting PDFs of documents, announced Tuesday it is launching a multi-platform digital book subscription service that will provide access to a wide range... Continue reading at Crains New York
[ Crains New York | 2013-10-02 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Paper making a Book? That would follow logic. But the Paper we're referring to here is actually an iPad sketchbook app and the book? Why, that'd be a product of Moleskine. An update released today to Paper's popular app adds a new 'Make a Book' service which allows users to self-publish their... Continue reading at Engadget
[ Engadget | 2013-10-02 00:00:00 UTC ]
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If you'd like to combine your new iPhone and your wallet into a single device that looks like an old-fashioned mini datebook, Pad & Quill's Little Pocket Book is the case you want. Continue reading at Wired
[ Wired | 2013-10-02 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Spotify did it for music. Netflix did it for movies. And now, Trip Adler and Scribd are doing it for books. The 29-year-old entrepreneur and his six-year-old San Francisco startup just unveiled an online subscription service that gives you unlimited access to a large library of digital books for... Continue reading at Wired
[ Wired | 2013-10-01 00:00:00 UTC ]
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O'Reilly said his book on World War II will have 'brand-new information about some very, very fascinating things' and should be released in September 2014. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor
[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2013-10-01 00:00:00 UTC ]
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For a small monthly fee, consumers are used to getting unlimited access to all types of content: movies, TV shows, music, news, video games. Could that same model soon become popular in the world of publishing? Given the success of Netflix in video and Spotify in music, it's inevitable that... Continue reading at Fast Company
[ Fast Company | 2013-10-01 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Hodder & Stoughton has acquired UK and Commonwealth rights, excluding Canada, in The Reboot... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2013-10-01 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The good news: According to a new report from the National Endowment for the Arts, more than half of American adults read books for pleasure in 2012.The good news: According to a new report from the National Endowment for the Arts, more than half of American adults read books for pleasure in... Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2013-09-30 00:00:00 UTC ]
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If you're not already in a state of advanced excitement over the Breaking Bad finale, Francesco Francavilla's episodic images will put you over the edge. Continue reading at Wired
[ Wired | 2013-09-28 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Cornerstone has signed a six-figure deal for a début novel about a Mormon family in... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2013-09-27 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Retirement means a lot of different things to a lot of different people. For Steven Soderbergh, it has meant, turning his attention away from directing theatrical releases at a breakneck pace, and working on any number of other projects instead. One such project involved writing a novella on... Continue reading at Fast Company
[ Fast Company | 2013-09-26 00:00:00 UTC ]
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A new award, the Spark Award, has been created to recognise excellence in a children's book... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2013-09-26 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Jonathan Lethem’s latest novel Dissident Gardens at first appears more grounded than his other works, trading supernatural elements for a more realist view of the world. But in Part 2 of his interview with Slate’s Jacob Weisberg, Lethem says to look closer. In his unflinching—some would say... Continue reading at Slate
[ Slate | 2013-09-26 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The Royal Society Winton Prize for Science Books has more than doubled its prize fund this year.... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2013-09-25 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Scholastic has donated 1 million books to Reach Out and Read, a literacy charity that works to provide books to at-risk children via doctors and nurses. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2013-09-25 00:00:00 UTC ]
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