Short news items from the world of book publishing:
11/30/2023
University Press of Kentucky Launches Imprint for Black Writers
Screen Door Press, edited by author and former Kentucky poet laureate Crystal Wilkinson, will publish up to two titles annually, with the first call for submissions opening February 1, 2024.11/30/2023
John Bohman to Retire from PRH
Longtime senior v-p of sales and customer operations John Bohman has accepted a voluntary separation offer at Penguin Random House. His last day will be December 15.11/30/2023
Podium Expands into Print Distribution
Digital publisher Podium has partnered with Two Rivers Distribution in an expansion into print books.11/30/2023
Canadian Orgs Request Meeting on Copyright Act
A group of book business organizations in Canada has requested an "urgent meeting" with the country's ministers of Canadian Heritage and Innovation on the country's Copyright Act following the release of a new report from the House of Commons.11/29/2023
Marianne DeLeón Named CEO of Texas Book Festival
DeLeón, previously chief revenue officer of Pease Park Conservancy, will take the helm of the Texas Book Festival on December 1.11/28/2023
Bookwire to Expand WAY Audiobook Production Service to Int'l Publishers
Frankfurt–based digital publishing company Bookwire will expand its audiobook production services to publishers in English, Spanish, and Brazilian markets.11/28/2023
2023 Sheikh Zayed Book Award Announces Longlists
The longlists for Abu Dhabi's 18th annual Sheikh Zayed Book Award include 84 authors and organizations from 20 countries.11/28/2023
Gabriela Baeza Ventura Up at Arte Público Press
The longtime executive editor of the oldest and largest publisher of Hispanic literature in the U.S. has been promoted to deputy director.11/27/2023
NYC Public Libraries Launch 'Giving Tuesday' Match Challenge
The New York Public Library, Brooklyn Public Library, and Queens Public Library will match all donations through Tuesday, November 28. The campaign comes in the wake of severe budget cuts announced last week.11/22/2023
London Book Fair 2024 to Feature S&S CEO Jonathan Karp
The 2024 London Book Fair, to be held next March 12–14, has announced its first roster of speakers, starting with Jonathan Karp, CEO of Simon & Schuster.11/21/2023
Blackstone Partners with Dreamscape to Distribute Physical Audiobooks
Blackstone Publishing will distribute Dreamscape Media's catalog of physical audiobooks in CD and MP3-CD formats.11/21/2023
Live Reading of 'A Christmas Carol' Returns to Housing Works
The AIDS and homelessness nonprofit's Soho bookstore will host its 14th annual live reading of Charles Dickens's Christmas classic on December 3.11/21/2023
Kwame Alexander Named Director of Literary Arts at Chautauqua Institution
Alexander will oversee all of Chautauqua Institution's literary arts programming, including the Writers' Center, Writers' Festival, and two annual literary prizes.11/20/2023
Vimbly Group Takes Stake in Perfect Bound
Manhattan-based, tech-focused venture capital fund Vimbly has acquired a stake in Perfect Bound, a book industry startup that runs an online marketplace matching publishers with printers.11/20/2023
Poets & Writers Board of Directors Elects New President, Members
Former Penguin Random House U.S. CEO Madeline McIntosh will helm the board of directors of Poets & Writers. Sanyu Dillon, Kimberly Jackson, and Sasha Quinton have joined as board members.11/17/2023
Samiya Bashir Resigns as Executive Director of Lambda Literary
Bashir, who was chosen to helm the LGBTQ writers organization in September 2022, has stepped down. Dolph Goldenburg will serve as interim executive director.11/16/2023
PW Launches Frederic G. Melcher Lifetime Achievement Award
The new award will be presented annually, starting in December 2023.11/15/2023
Amazon Names 'The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store' Best Book of the Year
The James McBride novel topped the list of the year's 100 best books, chosen by Amazon Books editors.11/15/2023
Inaugural American Battlefield Trust Prize for History Launches
The $50,000 prize, launched by the American Battlefield Trust, will be awarded annually to a work of military history or biography related to the Revolutionary War, the War of 1812, or the Civil War, starting in 2024.11/14/2023
Books Are Magic Author Calendar to Benefit Binc
Half of the proceeds from Books Are Magic's 2024 Authors Doing Stuff Calendar, featuring local authors including Jenny Jackson and Colson Whitehead, will go to the Book Industry Charitable Foundation.11/13/2023
'Of Cattle and Men' Wins Inaugural Cercador Prize
Zoë Perry's translation, from the Portuguese, of the book by Ana Paula Maia, published by Charco Press, has won the $1,000 prize, whose winners are selected by a committee of independent booksellers.11/13/2023
B&N Names 'The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store' Book of the Year
James McBride's novel 'The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store' is Barnes & Noble's 2023 Book of the Year. The bookseller also named David Grann as its inaugural Author of the Year.11/10/2023
Arte Público Press Receives $500K Grant from BANF
The nation's oldest and largest publisher of U.S. Hispanic literature has been named one of 11 Houston Cultural Treasures by the BIPOC Arts Network & Fund, an honor that comes with a two-year, $500,000 grant.11/09/2023
S&S to Distribute She Writes Press, SparkPress
Simon & Schuster will handle worldwide sales and distribution for the two SparkPoint Studio imprints, effective August 1, 2024.11/07/2023
WNDB Launches Site for Indigenous Books
Indigenous Reads Rising, a new website from We Need Diverse Books, provides educators, librarians, and readers resources to deepen their engagement with Native American children's literature.11/06/2023
Redesigned Naxos Spoken Word Library Launches
The redesigned Naxos Spoken Word Library streaming service is now available, with a new interface to enable quicker title discovery.11/06/2023
Binc Launches Read Love Support Campaign
The Book Industry Charitable Foundation has kicked off its annual Read Love Support campaign, with a goal of raising $150,000 in donations before December 31.11/06/2023
CCP Announces 50th Anniversary Celebration
Indie poetry publisher Copper Canyon Press will celebrate its 50th anniversary with a November 17 reading featuring Jericho Brown, Carl Phillips, and more.11/06/2023
B&N Book of the Year Finalists
Barnes & Noble has announced the 12 finalists for its annual Book of the Year award.11/02/2023
PRH UK to Trim Staff
Penguin Random House UK has begun the process of cutting 38 jobs from its workforce of about 2,060.11/02/2023
Interlink Donates Copies of Book on Palestinian-Israeli Conflict
Interlink Books recently donated 400 copies of Phyllis Bennis's 'Understanding the Palestinian-Israeli Conflict: A Primer' in response to the outbreak of the war between Israel and Hamas.10/31/2023
De Gruyter Launches Paradigm Publishing Services
The new division will offer publishing solutions for humanities and social sciences publishers, as well as scientific associations and library publishing programs.10/30/2023
Biden Issues Executive Order on AI
President Joseph R. Biden has issued an executive order establishing "new standards for AI safety and security."10/30/2023
ReadingGroupGuides.com's Virtual Book Group Speed Dating Returns
The organization's 12th annual Book Group Speed Dating event will be held virtually and will feature representatives from seven publishers.10/26/2023
NCAC to Host Inaugural Free Speech Comedy Benefit
All proceeds from ticket sales for Stand-Up for Free Speech, slated for November 6, will go to the National Coalition Against Censorship.10/26/2023
Firebrand Technologies Launches New Products Targeting Backlist, Workflow
Two new Firebrand products, Firebrand Flywheel and Title Management Lite, will debut in early 2024 and will target backlist title sales and workflow for small to mid-sized publishers, respectively.10/26/2023
Former RH Sales Rep Helen Dressner Dies at 91
Over the course of her 26-year tenure at Random House, Dressner held various sales and marketing positions, including national accounts sales manager. She died of a stroke on October 25.10/25/2023
Vandana Patel Joins Abrams as CFO
Patel, most recently CFO at Topix Media Lab, will join Abrams as its chief financial officer, effective October 30.10/25/2023
NVNR Announces 2024 Dates
New Voices New Rooms, the combined annual conference for NAIBA and SIBA, will return to Arlington, Va., on August 8–11, 2024.10/24/2023
NEA Big Read Opens Applications, Announces New Theme
Applications are now open for grants to support NEA Big Read projects between September 2024 and June 2025, the theme for which is "Where We Live."10/24/2023
Oprah's Book Club Picks Jesmyn Ward's 'Let Us Decend'
The new novel by two-time National Book Award winner Jesmyn Ward is Oprah's Book Club's latest selection.10/24/2023
Author Scott Blackwood Dies at 58
Blackwood, the author of the PEN Award-winning novel 'See How Small,' died of complications from ALS on October 4.10/23/2023
Consortium Announces New Publishers for Distribution
Neem Tree Press, Portage & Main Press, and Willsow will commence sales and distribution with Consortium on January 3, 2024.10/19/2023
Armenian Authors and Illustrators Launch Auction for Artsakh Refugees
The "Books for Artsakh Armenians" online silent auction, running October 20–29, features more than 100 items, including manuscript critiques, signed books, and virtual author visits.10/18/2023
Lerner to Distribute Flying Start
Lerner Publisher Services will be the exclusive distributor of Flying Start Books in the U.S. and Canada beginning February 1, 2024.10/18/2023
NEA Survey Finds Decline in Adult Reading
Data from the National Endowment for the Arts' Survey of Public Participation in the Arts indicates a sharp decline in adult reading over the last decade despite a rise in book sales during the pandemic.10/17/2023
Gibbs Smith, F. Ferguson Books Ink Copublishing Agreement
F. Ferguson will now publish books under the Gibbs Smith umbrella as a distinct imprint.10/16/2023
Leslie Zampetti Launches Literary Agency
Zampetti, previously of Odom Media Management, has launched Open Book Literary, an agency focused on underrepresented children’s authors and select authors of adult fiction.
10/13/2023
Binc Announces Winner of Bookseller-Activist Scholarship
Riley Gliseendorf of Stonecrest Book and Toy in Osage Beach, Mo., is the winner of this year's Carla Gray Memorial Scholarship for Emerging Bookseller-Activists, awarded by the Book Industry Charitable Foundation and the Friends of Carla Gray Committee.10/12/2023
OUP Launches Classical Chinese Literature Series
The five inaugural titles of the Hsu-Tang Library of Classical Chinese Literature, a bilingual series published by Oxford University Press, are slated for October 26.News Brief Archive
20232022
2021
2020
2019
2018
2017
2016
2015
2014
