UK’s visa ban raises spectre of apartheid | Letters

Author Beverley Naidoo condemns the UK’s decision to deny an Iranian artist a visa to attend the Edinburgh festivalThe UK government’s denial of a visa to Ehsan Abdollahi (Iranian artist barred from Edinburgh festival after ‘Kafkaesque’ visa refusal, 21 July) suggests a game of snakes without ladders in a hall of mirrors. Being divorced, he was told that “no one is dependent on you” ie a bad mark for not having a pull factor to go back to Iran. Last year, however, the artist Marjan Vafaian was refused a visa despite her husband intending to stay in Tehran when she’d be travelling. Her bad mark was apparently for being too young. Making pots of money as an artist in the UK would be a pull factor to keep her here while, in Abdollahi’s case, his work as an illustrator and teacher in Tehran was insufficient explanation for the funds in his bank. This is the third year that the brave little indie children’s book publisher Tiny Owl has had artists’ visas turned down. I have a personal interest as Marjan Vafaian is illustrating my text of Cinderella on the Nile and I have been hoping that we can do some events together after our book is published next year. Apartheid South Africa banned people and books in order to stop dialogue and communication of ideas. These visa denials ban UK audiences, particularly young people, from engaging with these Iranian artists. Why?Beverley NaidooBournemouth Continue reading... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'

[ The Guardian | 2017-07-23 00:00:00 UTC ]
News tagged with: #indie children #personal interest

Other Publishing stories related to: 'UK’s visa ban raises spectre of apartheid | Letters'


Scribner UK signs American Housewife

The newly-launched Scribner UK is to publish a collection of stories by Helen Ellis, the creator of the ‘American Housewife’ parody Twitter account. Clare Hey, editorial director at Simon & Schuster UK, bought UK and Commonwealth rights to American Housewife from Sandy Hodgman of Hodgman... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2015-05-16 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #clare hey #bought uk


Hachette UK sales hit by VAT change

Sales at Hachette UK fell 4% year-on-year for the first quarter of 2015, partially due to an “unfavourable” VAT effect on ebooks, parent company Lagardere has said. Hachette UK said it had “steady sales in print and digital” in the first quarter of the year, with its performance “broadly in... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2015-05-13 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #steady sales #hachette uk


Facebook 'Filter Bubble' Study Raises More Questions Than It Answers

Facebook has been criticized for some time for its role in creating a “filter bubble” among its users, a term that comes from a book of the same name by Eli Pariser (who went on to help create viral-content site Upworthy). Continue reading at Editor & Publisher

[ Editor & Publisher | 2015-05-08 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this |


Combined Print, Digital Sales Down for UK Pubs in 2014

The combined print and ebook sales of U.K. publishers fell by 2% in 2014, to £3.3 billion, according to the new edition of the Publishers Association Statistics Yearbook. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2015-05-08 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #combined print #digital sales #ebook sales


Latest UK Book Publishing Statistics Show Stable Market

The Publishers Association released statistics about the UK book publishing industry that show a stable market and increased digital and export sales. The post Latest UK Book Publishing Statistics Show Stable Market appeared first on Publishing Perspectives. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives

[ Publishing Perspectives | 2015-05-08 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #stable market #export sales


Sales figures tell all about the UK's waning love for celebrity memoirs

Publishing industry data for 2014 spills the beans on decline in biography and cookbook sales, while children’s literature in print rises by 10%Publishers used to have a simple recipe for a bestseller: sign up a celebrity or a TV chef and get the book out for Christmas.Not any more. The latest... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2015-05-08 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #celebrity memoir #sales figures #tv chef #love affair


How one publisher is working around Facebook’s pre-roll ad ban

Publishers are ambivalent about uploading their video to Facebook’s native player, as the social network has yet to reveal how it will enable them to monetize that video. While most publishers are playing by the rules, one publisher isn’t waiting around, though. NewsBeat Social, a Portland,... Continue reading at Digiday

[ Digiday | 2015-04-30 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this |


Child’s Personal best in UK Top 50

Lee Child and Paula Hawkins gave Transworld two fiction number ones last week, with Child nabbing his 11th top spot on the Official UK Top 50 since records began.  Child’s 19th Jack Reacher book, Personal (Bantam), sold 31,994 copies through Nielsen BookScan’s Total Consumer Market, shifting... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2015-04-29 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #lee child #personal bantam #fiction number #records began #nielsen bookscan #train doubleday #bestselling book


Halt sales of Jonasson bestseller, court tells UK publisher

High court backs Hachette against Hesperus Press, British publisher of Jonas Jonasson’s The 100-Year-Old Man, after claims of missing royalty paymentsThe high court has ordered the British publisher of Jonas Jonasson’s smash-hit novel The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out of the Window and... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2015-04-27 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #british publisher #pay royalties #cease publishing #english translation #legal action #independent publisher


PRH UK partners with Hailo

Penguin Random House UK and taxi ordering app Hailo have partnered on a new scheme which will see free physical and audiobooks given away. Free books will be left in cabs which use the Hailo service, under the #BlackCabBooks scheme, while audiobook extracts will be available through the app... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2015-04-24 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #free books #launched today


Banned Books Week 2015 will center on young adult titles

'These are the books that speak most immediately to young people, dealing with many of the difficult issues that arise in their own lives, or in the lives of their friends,' Judith Platt, chair of the Banned Books Week national committee, said of challenged YA books. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor

[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2015-04-24 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this |


Mass redistribution of words: World Book Night prepares for UK-wide book giveaway

Over 7,000 people have volunteered to donate one of a shortlist of 20 books to the 35% of the population who are not regular readersA quarter of a million books are due to find new homes tonight, as thousands of book-lovers hit the streets to give away their favourite titles as part of World... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2015-04-23 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #million books #favourite titles #david almond


Random House Raises First Printing of New Dr. Seuss to 1 Million

Random House Children’s Books will increase the first printing for previously undiscovered Dr. Seuss title 'What Pet Should I Get?' to 1 million copies. The post Random House Raises First Printing of New Dr. Seuss to 1 Million appeared first on Publishing Perspectives. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives

[ Publishing Perspectives | 2015-04-21 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this |


Scarthin Books raises over £10,000 for repairs

Derbyshire bookshop Scarthin Books has raised more than £10,000 in an appeal to fund urgent structural repairs. Proprietor Dave Mitchell said an engineer has told him he needs to install four steel columns to support 1,000 feet of bookshelves, and has turned to Crowdfunder because he would... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2015-04-21 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this |


UK Publishing Giant Simon Master Remembered

A memorial service for Random House UK’s Simon Master, who died in January, provided a fitting PS to the London Book Fair which wrapped up last week. The post UK Publishing Giant Simon Master Remembered appeared first on Publishing Perspectives. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives

[ Publishing Perspectives | 2015-04-20 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #memorial service #simon master


Publishing Has Become a Civil War, says Prominent UK Editor

Traditional vs. self-publishing has become a Civil War, says Philip Gwyn Jones, who will the topic at today's London Book Fair. The post Publishing Has Become a Civil War, says Prominent UK Editor appeared first on Publishing Perspectives. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives

[ Publishing Perspectives | 2015-04-16 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #post publishing #civil war


More UK publisher deals for Bookmate

Russian ebook subscription service Bookmate has agreed a deal with Bloomsbury, Faber Factory and Harlequin, which will add more than 15,000 backlist titles to its library. Faber Factory will provide Bookmate’s users with access to books from publishers including Atlantic Books, Allison &... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2015-04-15 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #titan books #oldcastle books #short books #faber factory #allison busby #john blake #history press #pushkin press


Report finds UK books world has marginalised and pigeonholed ethnic minorities

Novelist Bernardine Evaristo fears ‘return to the literary invisibility of the past’ as research finds attempts to encourage diversity have stalledBlack and Asian authors in the UK say they are being shoehorned by a publishing industry which is almost blindingly white into writing fiction that... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2015-04-15 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #decades ago


S&S UK revives Scribner

Simon & Schuster UK is reviving 150-year-old imprint Scribner. After 10 years “lying dormant” in the UK, and 150 years after it first began, Scribner will relaunch in June.   Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2015-04-15 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this |


Authors sign protest letter against baseline tests

Authors including Philip Pullman, Michael Rosen, John Dougherty, and Alan Gibbons have signed a letter saying baseline assessment tests should not be brought in to primary schools. The tests, to be introduced in September 2015, will take place in the first few weeks after a child starts in... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2015-04-02 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #michael rosen #john dougherty #alan gibbons #primary schools