From tales of alienation to comforting novels set in bookshops, Japanese authors have written nearly half of this year’s bestselling translated novels in the UK. What’s their secret?• Read an an exclusive Q&A with Haruki MurakamiAnyone who has been in a bookshop in the last few years will have noticed that Japanese fiction is experiencing an extraordinary boom. In 2022, figures from Nielsen BookScan showed that Japanese fiction represented 25% of all translated fiction sales in the UK. The dominance is even more striking this year: figures obtained by the Guardian show that, of the top 40 translated fiction titles for 2024 so far, 43% are Japanese, with Asako Yuzuki’s satirical, socially conscious crime novel Butter topping the list. Butter also won the breakthrough author award at this year’s Books Are My Bag readers awards, which are curated by booksellers and voted for by the public.The popularity of modern Japanese fiction is not a new phenomenon in the UK, of course. In the 1990s, two writers broke through and became cult hits in this country. Haruki Murakami, a worldwide literary phenomenon, took off in Britain when Harvill Press published The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle in 1998. Scott Pack, who ran Waterstones’ buying team in the early 2000s, is a big Murakami fan and remembers giving him “lots of attention. Whatever books of his came out, we got massively behind.” This week, Murakami publishes his 15th novel The City and Its Uncertain Walls, about a man who travels... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'
[ The Guardian | 2024-11-23 09:00:37 UTC ]
A Big Green Bookshop crowdfunder to get copy of climate activist Greta Thunberg's book into schools across the UK has raised more than £11,000 in a month, with Penguin Random House matching copies raised and creating an accompanying classroom pack. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2019-08-27 01:46:04 UTC ]
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Welcome back to the 90s. (And, I guess, the early 2000s.) As Variety reports, there is officially a fourth Matrix film in the works, with Keanu Reeves and Carrie-Anne Moss back in the saddle as Neo and Trinity. Lana Wachowski will direct; she also wrote the script with novelists Aleksandar Hemon... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2019-08-20 20:44:00 UTC ]
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Wood Green's co-operative bookshop, The All Good Bookshop, has secured temporary premises and plans to open this week. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2019-08-18 22:20:02 UTC ]
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Malorie Blackman laments the lack of BAME children’s characters. I know – it’s a real battle to get writers of colour publishedMy daughter, like me, is of mixed heritage. She has wildly curly hair, as have I. When she was born four years ago I was given five copies of the same kids’ picture book... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2019-08-17 07:00:41 UTC ]
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Tributes have been paid to Gay’s The Word bookshop co-founder Jonathan Cutbill, who has passed away aged 82 after a period of ill health. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2019-08-15 17:00:19 UTC ]
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David Walliams’ The World’s Worst Teachers (HarperCollins) has once again claimed the UK Official Top 50 number one spot, selling 16,713 copies through Nielsen BookScan’s TCM. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2019-08-13 17:45:11 UTC ]
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Hatchards’ new bookshop at London’s St Pancras Station will be officially opened tomorrow by children's author and illustrator Benji Davies. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2019-08-07 09:17:40 UTC ]
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A reader recalls a favorite independent bookstore in Southampton in the UK. Hear all about radical bookshop October Books. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2019-08-06 10:39:02 UTC ]
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David Walliams' The World's Worst Teachers (HarperCollins) has reigned atop the UK Official Top 50 for a sixth consecutive week, selling 20,553 copies for £154,839 through Nielsen BookScan's TCM. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2019-08-06 08:23:41 UTC ]
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W H Smith has opened a flagship branch of The Bookshop, the largest yet of its 12 standalone stores, at Gatwick Airport’s North Terminal. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2019-08-05 09:37:10 UTC ]
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This giveaway is sponsored by William Morrow. From the New York Times best-selling author of The Bookshop on the Corner comes this witty ... Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2019-08-02 10:31:10 UTC ]
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John Francisconi, the general manager of Bank Square Books in Mystic, Conn., is finishing up a three-week residency at Otherwise Bookshop in Rome and reflects on the experience for PW. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2019-08-02 04:00:00 UTC ]
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Edinburgh's latest indie The Portobello Bookshop has opened its doors to the public, with customers queuing to get in on its first day of trading. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2019-07-29 21:32:06 UTC ]
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Cultural Cross Sections Dipika Mukherjee A writer travels from Chicago to a residency in rural Malaysia, where part of her novel-in-progress is set. While encountering the many living creatures who surround her and making progress on her work, she... Continue reading at World Literature Today
[ World Literature Today | 2019-07-23 13:14:38 UTC ]
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Indie press Open Pen and Newham Bookshop are joining forces to host a fundraiser for the homeless in East London. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2019-07-22 07:47:05 UTC ]
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We talk to Galway institution Charlie Byrne’s Bookshop, which will celebrating its 30th birthday in October, and Nibbies Children’s Bookseller of the Year shortlistee, The Blessington Book Store. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2019-07-18 23:52:32 UTC ]
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Foyles bookshop has joined forces with indie publisher Jacaranda for its Twenty in 2020 initiative, celebrating black British writers. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2019-07-17 20:34:16 UTC ]
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Gardners Books has joined forces with ecommerce firm Monwell Ltd in a new partnership that will see the wholesalers take over the Guardian Bookshop account from Bertrams. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2019-07-16 23:50:20 UTC ]
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As publishers vie to persuade us to pack their titles for the holidays, we chart the evolution of the ’beach read’Summer reads, beach reads, holiday reads … at this time of year, the publishing world works itself into a sweat trying to force its novels into our carry-on luggage, or over the... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2019-07-14 07:00:23 UTC ]
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The owner of New York's Book Culture bookshops says the business's four stores are in danger of closing unless they receive help from the city. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2019-06-25 02:20:48 UTC ]
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