Last week I attended a celebration for the late US publisher Steve Rubin, organised by his friend the agent Clare Alexander, and attended by other luminaries from publishing's recent past, including Gail Rebuck, Victoria Barnsley, Ursula Mackenzie, David Young and Patrick Janson-Smith. Speeches came from current Simon & Schuster UK c.e.o. Read more
Bestselling novelist Josephine Cox has passed away at the age of 82, her publisher HarperCollins has announced.
At HarperCollins she was a flagship brand author, dubbed "the nation's favourite storyteller". Her most recent book, Two Sisters, was published in February this year, and was a Top Ten Sunday Times bestseller. Read more
John le Carré has been named the latest recipient of the $100,000 (£76,000) Olof Palme prize, an award given for an "outstanding achievement" in the spirit of the assassinated Swedish prime minister.
Alongside familiar entertainment royalty - JK Rowling, Stephen King and George RR Martin - a new report from the Hollywood Reporter calculates that EL James, Paula Hawkins and Patrick Ness have become three of the most powerful writers in Hollywood.
In recent months, America's publishing giants have been up in arms about the predatory practices of Amazon.com. Their outrage would be less hypocritical if they weren't guilty of conduct that's just as bad. Read more
'I'm very reassuringly honest. It's a job as well as a calling. It's my living - I'm the chief breadwinner in my house. My husband is retired, he supported me through the two decades while I wasn't making enough to live on, and was doing all kinds of things to do with writing to survive - judging competitions, running workshops, appraising manuscripts.
‘My settings of Europe and English visitors weren't really doing it for them, so we decided Scotland would be good. I thought an island would be great, because it's a small community, and it's an opportunity for my main character to get away from it all. The team at HarperCollins have been so supportive and enthusiastic... Read more
For the past five years or so, I've read books on my phone. The practice started innocently enough. I write book reviews from time to time, and so publishers sometimes send me upcoming titles that fall roughly within my interests. Read more
The Guardian calls Irish-Indian poet Nikita Gill "Britain's most-followed poet on social media"-she has 780,000 Instagram followers and 180,000 TikTok followers, and her Instapoetry has been reshared by the likes of Khloe Kardashian, Alanis Morissette, and Sam Smith-and she has published seven volumes of poetry and two novels in the U.K. But she is far less known on this side of the pond. Read more
Nikkolas Smith knows a thing or two about book bans. The illustrator has created five picture books over the last three years-four of which have been yanked off library shelves. There's I am Ruby Bridges, about the civil rights icon; That Flag about the confederate flag; Born on the Water, which explores slavery; and The Artivist which features a child supporting trans kids.
Simon & Schuster has acquired the largest Dutch publishing group Veen Bosch & Keuning, including all of its publishers in the Netherlands and Belgium, as well as sister companies Thinium and Bookchoice.
The Publishers Association (PA) has criticised the government's response to a House of Lords report on AI, saying that it has failed to make "any tangible commitments to protect the creative industries against mass copyright infringement".
'The biggest mistake you can make as an author is to think while writing "What does the reader wants to hear"? Because unique worlds & characters are built inside an individual mind. And also your readers do not know what they want to read until they read it.'
'I'm very reassuringly honest'
‘My settings of Europe and English visitors weren't really doing it for them, so we decided Scotland would be good. I thought an island would be great, because it's a small community, and it's an opportunity for my main character to get away from it all. The team at HarperCollins have been so supportive and enthusiastic... Read more