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 ]
Author David Nicholls is shortlisted for a Bafta for his work on the "Patrick Melrose” series, adapted from the novels by Edward St Aubyn. Nicholls was recognised for his role as a writer in the drama category for the series which is broadcast on Sky Atlantic. Aubyn’s semi-autobiographical... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2019-03-30 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Jeff Kinney’s £1 World Book Day title Diary of Greg Heffley’s Best Friend (Puffin) has swiped the UK Official Top 50 number one spot from David Walliams’ Fing (HarperCollins), shifting 72,782 copies through Nielsen BookScan’s Total Consumer Market. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2019-03-13 00:00:00 UTC ]
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David Walliams’ Fing (HarperCollins) has claimed the UK Official Top 50 number one for a second week, selling 76,340 copies in its first full week on sale through Nielsen BookScan’s Total Consumer Market. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2019-03-06 00:00:00 UTC ]
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David Walliams' Fing (HarperCollins), illustrated by Tony Ross, has barrelled into the UK Official Top 50 number one spot in its first three days on sale, selling 75,862 copies through Nielsen BookScan’s Total Consumer Market. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2019-02-27 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Jojo Moyes’ Still Me (Penguin) has held the UK Official Top 50 number one spot, selling 47,483 copies through Nielsen BookScan’s Total Consumer Market—the highest single-week volume for any title so far in 2019 and the biggest for a Mass Market Fiction title since Dan Brown’s Origin (Corgi) in... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2019-02-20 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Heather Morris’ The Tattooist of Auschwitz (Zaffre) has secured a fourth non-consecutive week in the UK Official Top 50 number one spot, selling 17,106 copies through Nielsen BookScan’s TCM—a bump of 11% in volume week on week. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2019-02-06 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The shortlist for the 2019 International Prize for Arabic Fiction was announced today at the El-Hakawati Palestinian National Theatre in East Jerusalem. The IPAF - often referred to as the ‘Arabic Booker’ - is an annual literary prize for prose fiction, which encourages the readership of... Continue reading at British Council global
[ British Council global | 2019-02-05 16:33:45 UTC ]
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Heather Morris’ The Tattooist of Auschwitz (Zaffre) has returned to the UK Official Top 50 number one spot for a third non-consecutive week, selling 15,369 copies through Nielsen BookScan’s Total Consumer Market. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2019-01-30 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Sales of the Man Booker Prize titles dropped at the longlist stage have signfiicantly outsold its shortlist, according to Nielsen Bookscan, with Belinda Bauer's Snap (Bantam) shifting almost three times the total of the entire shortlist's sales. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2018-10-17 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Heather Morris’ The Tattooist of Auschwitz (Zaffre) has swiped the UK Official Top 50 number one spot from Zoe Sugg’s Cordially Invited (Hodder & Stoughton), selling 25,567 copies through Nielsen BookScan’s Total Consumer Market. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2018-10-17 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Robert Galbraith has held the Official Top 50 number one spot for a second week running, with Lethal White (Sphere) selling 15,244 copies through Nielsen BookScan’s Total Consumer Market. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2018-10-03 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Robert Galbraith’s fourth Cormoran Strike title Lethal White (Sphere) has proved deadly to Bob Woodward’s Fear (S&S), striking the UK Official Top 50 number one spot in its first three days on sale through Nielsen BookScan’s Total Consumer Market. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2018-09-26 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Despite the heatwave and the World Cup in Russia, the UK print market sold 42 million books for £344.2m between the first week of June and the third week of August, via Nielsen BookScan's TCM. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2018-09-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Ella Mills' Deliciously Ella: The Plant-Based Cookbook (Yellow Kite) has ousted Dan Brown's Origin (Bantam) from the UK Official Top 50 number one spot, according to Nielsen BookScan's Total Consumer Market. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2018-08-30 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Wales and the West is emerging as the area with the fastest-growing book sales of 2018 so far, according to fresh statistics from Nielsen BookScan. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2018-08-22 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Dan Brown’s fifth Robert Langdon title Origin (Corgi) has spent a third week running at the UK Official Top 50 number one, selling 36,723 copies through Nielsen BookScan’s Total Consumer Market. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2018-08-01 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Solid but unspectacular growth in print value and volume has been posted through Nielsen BookScan in the first half of 2018, with range the key in the absence of a breakout trend. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2018-07-16 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Studio Press has bought three fiction titles from Casey Stoney MBE, based on the former England Women’s captain’s life "on and off the pitch". Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2018-07-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Sophie Kinsella’s Surprise Me (Black Swan) has elbowed John Grisham from the UK Official Top 50 number one spot, selling 19,104 copies in its first three days on sale through Nielsen BookScan’s Total Consumer Market. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2018-07-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
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David Walliams and Tony Ross’ The World’s Worst Children 3 (HarperCollins) has scored a third straight week in the UK Official Top 50 number one spot, selling 32,809 copies through Nielsen BookScan’s Total Consumer Market. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2018-06-20 00:00:00 UTC ]
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