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 ]
News tagged with:
#casual vacancy
#hilary mantel
#jk rowling
#publishing industry
#potential readers
#night watch
This week, the town the American Dream forgot, the eye-opening effects of technology, and an evil nanny. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-04-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this |
HarperCollins Canada experiments with publishing a multimedia digital original fiction series with text, illustrations and soundtrack created by Bedouin Soundclash frontman. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-04-10 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this |
Wool author Hugh Howey, who has emerged in recent years as one of the poster boys for self-publishing, discussed his career path, and the perks of bring a hybrid author, at a panel during this week's London Book Fair. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-04-10 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#career path
#hybrid author
Is Kobo the anti-Amazon? On the floor of the London Book Fair, we caught up with Kobo's newly installed president and chief content officer Michael Tamblyn to talk about the value of partnerships. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-04-09 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this |
Publishers from Belorussia, Pakistan, India, Denmark, Australia, Malaysia, the U.S. and China were among the winners of the first London Book Fair International Book Industry Excellence Awards. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-04-09 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this |
A music publisher is venturing into religion/spirituality with a line of books about the spiritual thoughts of celebrities. Now the company just needs to figure out where it can sell them. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-04-09 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this |
A late addition to the hot books at the London Book Fair is a debut novel called "Hausfrau" that Random House's David Ebershoff preempted world rights to on Friday. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-04-09 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#hot books
#random house
You may know that the London Book Fair is moving for 2015 and beyond. But what you may not know is that its new home, the Olympia London, is pretty spectacular. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-04-09 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#olympia london
With day one of the London Book Fair not yet closed, another book is emerging as a hot title: a memoir by "New Yorker" contributor Lauren Collins which has the working title, "French Lessons." Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-04-08 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#major buy
#hot title
#working title
Tthe Swedish super-agency came out in a big way with its top title at the London Book Fair, a crime novel called "Made In Sweden." Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-04-08 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#top title
With the recent consolidation of Penguin Random House fresh in everyone’s minds, this year’s London Book Fair Great Debate argued the proposition: "It’s all about size, bigger is always better." Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-04-08 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this |
eBook Ninjas will provide professional development for ebook developers, managers, and publishing execs. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-04-08 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#publishing execs
“I’m for anything that gets you through the night – be it prayer, tranquilizers, or a bottle of Jack Daniel’s,” said the great American singer Frank Sinatra about one of the great American whiskeys. Or so say the ads on Jack Daniel’s new line of whiskey, Sinatra Select. And just as the American... Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-04-07 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this |
Hello, and welcome to your new 'Cooking the Books.' Beginning with this issue, we'll be landing in your inbox twice every month, bringing you even more news, interviews, deals, reviews, and forward-looking coverage of cookbooks and other writing from the world of food and drink. And as the newly... Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-04-07 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this |
A memoir for E! News co-anchor and reality star Giuliana Rancic, four new posthumous Robert B. Parker novels, and a multi-book deal for "the female Stephen King" are among this week's notable book deals. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-04-07 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#book deals
#multi-book deal
A new children's picture book imaginatively depicts Hildegard of Bingen; a Christian pastor welcomes the end of Christendom. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-04-07 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#forthcoming religion
#spirituality books
Read the complete 2014 London Book Fair Digital Spotlight in the Scribd reader below. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-04-07 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#scribd reader
Read the complete Day 1 coverage from the 2014 London Book Fair in this Scribd reader. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-04-07 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#scribd reader
Despite a string of lopsided losses in court, Apple attorneys press for a stay, noting that an appeal victory would "radically change" the legal landscape. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-04-06 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#apple moves
#e-book case
Like many people across the business world, publishers have a skeptical view of so-called Big Data, seeing it as “the next big hype.” Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-04-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#big data
#business world
#skeptical view
#big hype