TV books programmes: if nobody watches them, make better ones

The novelist Robert Harris was right to call the BBC’s lack of a books show a ‘disgrace’. There’s plenty the corporation could do to make a popular literary programme on TVWith injury, there is always a little insult. When a BBC spokesperson, responding to Robert Harris’s complaints at the Costa book of the year ceremony about the absence of a dedicated book show on its television channels, pointed out that the corporation was responsible for introducing readers to books by way of adaptations such as Wolf Hall and The Casual Vacancy, one might feel that Harris’s comments – in which he called the absence of a BBC TV books show an ‘absolute disgrace’ – had been somewhat misunderstood.While Hilary Mantel and JK Rowling, their publishers, agents and the book industry doubtless benefit from book adaptations, the BBC’s motive in putting them on is not altruistic. It does not broadcast these adaptations to benefit poor, garret-bound writers, nor because it thinks the publishing industry is struggling to connect with potential readers, nor because it worries that amid the hubbub of rapid-fire entertainment opportunities, the novel is becoming marginalised. It does it because the best novels - whether classic or contemporary, comic or tragic, philosophical or political or romantic - are masterpieces of narrative and entertainment. The BBC is in the debt of writers of such novels as Parade’s End, Mapp and Lucia, South Riding, Death Comes to Pemberley and The Night Watch for... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'

[ The Guardian | 2015-01-29 00:00:00 UTC ]

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Rowling, Smith and Oliver make British Book Awards '30 from 30' shortlist

JK Rowling, Zadie Smith and Jamie Oliver have made the shortlist for the British Book Awards "30 from 30" trophy that will crown one book the “best” of the past three decades. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-03-18 13:31:41 UTC ]
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The Mirror and the Light shatters 100,000 mark

Hilary Mantel’s The Mirror and the Light (Fourth Estate) has claimed the UK Official Top 50 number one spot for a second week running.  Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-03-17 11:08:45 UTC ]
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How Working in Publishing Made Me Appreciate Books More

A reader explains why working in the publishing industry made him appreciate the value of a book more. Continue reading at Book Riot

[ Book Riot | 2020-03-17 10:35:25 UTC ]
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Digital Bestseller Lists: Marian holds the Keyes to the top

Eight new titles have flocked into the Bookstat E-Book top 10 for the week ending 7th March, with Daisy Pearce’s The Silence in the number one spot. Of course, Hilary Mantel’s The Mirror and the Light also broke into the chart, hitting fourth place with an estimated 20,114 units sold. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-03-13 05:16:17 UTC ]
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Coronavirus Impact Begins to Spread

The growing impact of the coronavirus pandemic on the publishing industry came into view this week as some independent bookstores reported slowing sales and the number of book festival and author tour cancellations rose. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2020-03-12 04:00:00 UTC ]
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10 Great Works of Historical Fiction to Ease Your Thomas Cromwell Withdrawal

It’s been a day since the publication of The Mirror and the Light—the final installment of Hilary Mantel’s celebrated trilogy about Tudor England, starring the enigmatic Thomas Cromwell—so you’ve already blazed through it, right? Well, whether you have already or you’re about to, once you’ve... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2020-03-11 08:55:24 UTC ]
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Amazon Charts: Mantel maintains Most-Sold number one

Hilary Mantel's The Mirror and the Light (Fourth Estate) has held the Amazon Charts' Most-Sold: Fiction top spot for a second week, the same week the eagerly awaited title sold 95,141 copies across all print editions through Nielsen BookScan's TCM. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-03-10 16:43:19 UTC ]
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‘The Mirror and the Light’ is a masterful finale to Hilary Mantel’s Cromwell trilogy

Mantel’s first two installments, “Wolf Hall” and “Bring Up the Bodies,” both won the Booker Prize. Continue reading at The Washington Post

[ The Washington Post | 2020-03-10 15:47:07 UTC ]
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Aging Media Network Serves Senior Care Professionals, But Its Business Model Is Young at Heart

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[ Folio Magazine | 2020-03-10 15:10:55 UTC ]
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The Mirror and the Light thunders into number one

Hilary Mantel’s The Mirror and the Light (Fourth Estate) has gone straight into the UK Official Top 50 number one spot in its first three days on sale, selling 95,141 copies for £1.55m across all editions. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-03-09 23:55:32 UTC ]
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Lit Hub Weekly: March 2 – 6, 2020

How J. Edgar Hoover used the power of libraries for (gasp!) evil. | Lit Hub History “Mechanical travel blunts our sense of the world.” On the reverie and detachment of the American road trip. | Lit Hub Travel On the magic sentences of Lauren Groff, creating action without verbs. | Lit... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2020-03-07 12:30:11 UTC ]
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Fourth Estate primed for Mantel mania as Wolf Hall trilogy draws to a close

After an eight-year wait, Hilary Mantel’s third Cromwell book finally hit bookshelves this week, hailed by critics as a triumphant finale to what Fourth Estate has called an “extraordinary journey” for both publisher and author. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-03-05 02:20:11 UTC ]
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Amazon Charts: The Mirror and the Light beams into the top spot

Hilary Mantel's The Mirror and the Light (Fourth Estate) has illuminated the Amazon Charts a week ahead of publication, with the final title in the Cromwell trilogy rising 10 places to claim the Most-Sold: Fiction number one. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-03-04 04:41:46 UTC ]
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Hilary Mantel: Royal women's bodies 'still perceived as public property'

Wolf Hall author Dame Hilary Mantel discussed the final book in her trilogy with the BBC's Rebecca Jones. Continue reading at BBC News

[ BBC News | 2020-03-02 17:51:43 UTC ]
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Mantel, Evaristo and Carty-Williams to compete for 2020 Women's Prize

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[ The Bookseller | 2020-03-02 00:51:10 UTC ]
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Indie bookshop pre-orders boom as Mantel publication nears

Indie bookshops are cashing in on a pre-order boom for Hilary Mantel’s new book and are hosting everything from midnight openings to silent discos this week. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-03-01 15:13:26 UTC ]
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Coronavirus is affecting the Italian publishing industry in a big way.

There’s no bigger global news story right now than the slow but intractable spread of coronavirus, which has been hobbling the normal ebb and flow of everything from the stock market to cruises, theme parks and tourism. The virus has affected the publishing industry as well, and there’s perhaps... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2020-02-26 17:39:37 UTC ]
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BBC follows Mantel for six months in new documentary

A BBC documentary on Hilary Mantel will air next week, following the author for six months in the run up to The Mirror & the Light (4th Estate) being published. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-02-26 12:50:21 UTC ]
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Book Deals: Week of February 24, 2020

Among this week’s notable deals is the seven-figure sale of a debut novel titled The Other Black Girl. The send-up of the publishing industry, by a former Knopf assistant editor, was pitched as Get Out meets Younger. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2020-02-21 05:00:00 UTC ]
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On #DignidadLiteraria and American Dirt, Old and New

Below is a collection of articles that respond to American Dirt, consider the injustices of the publishing industry’s Big Five, and highlight books by Chicanx and Latinx writers. ¤ A reading list assembled from these articles: The Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo Heart Like a Window, Mouth Like a... Continue reading at Los Angeles Review of Books

[ Los Angeles Review of Books | 2020-02-14 19:23:11 UTC ]
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