PRH and Amanda Gorman Launch Creative Writing Award for Poetry
publishersweekly.com – Saturday August 14, 2021
Penguin Random House has announced its partnership with Amanda Gorman, the youngest inaugural poet in U.S. history, to launch the Amanda Gorman Award for Poetry, a new creative writing award focused on poetry for public high school students. With a first-place prize of $10,000, the award will recognize a student for an original literary composition in English for poetry. Submissions for the award open on October 1, 2021, and close on February 1, 2022.
Abbott, Peace and Cha headline Noirwich Crime Writing Festival
thebookseller.com – Saturday July 31, 2021
Megan Abbott will deliver this year's Noirwich Crime Writing Festival Lecture, focusing on adaptation and crime writing in the era of Netflix and HBO.
The festival is now in its eighth year and will run from 9th–12th September, delivered by the National Centre for Writing and the University of East Anglia (UEA). This year's festival will be a hybrid programme with in-person creative writing workshops at Dragon Hall, as well as free online events to extend the reach to international audiences.
Joining Abbott in topping the bill are David Peace and Korean-American novelist Steph Cha, who won the Los Angeles Times Book Award for her crime fiction novel Your House Will Pay (Faber). The programme will also include a showcase of new voices in crime writing from UEA’s MA programme and a celebration of over 50 years of creative writing at the university. Further programme announcements will be made in the coming weeks.
Conservative children’s publisher Brave Books debuts with ‘Elephants Are Not Birds’
nypost.com – Sunday July 25, 2021
A new conservative publishing house wants to get the “wokeness” out of bedtime.
Launching this week, Brave Books will focus exclusively on stories for kids, and offers parents “a conservative alternative to the current cultural activism that our children are being taught in schools, in the entertainment they watch and the books they read,” according to their website.
Company CEO Trent Talbot, who had his first child a little more than a year ago, conceived of Brave Books when, he said, he started to notice “that there is a real war going on for the hearts and minds of our kids. And everywhere I looked was propaganda,” the Montgomery, Texas-based dad told The Post.
Why Ireland’s literary journals are brilliant stepping stones for emerging writers
independent.ie – Monday July 12, 2021
None of us foresaw how long lockdown would last or what the outcome would be. One unexpected result has been an increase in the number of people who have used the time to tap into their creativity and get writing. And to cater for the increase in output, there has been a surge in new literary journals and online publications.
Tolka, Beir Bua, Strukturiss, Riverbed Review and Sonder are just some of the new titles being created to publish, in a variety of forms, writers’ experiences.
Bergstrom unveils publishing consultancy and agency
thebookseller.com – Monday June 28, 2021
Abigail Bergstrom has launched a publishing consultancy and literary agency, Bergstrom Studio, “to break down the barrier between aspiring writers and the industry”.
Bergstrom Studio is a "360° publishing consultancy" which aims to help “emerging writers find their voice, turning good ideas into published books and writers into published authors", Bergstrom said. The announcement comes three months after she left Gleam Titles following five years with the company.
Her new venture will offer a range of services to help authors and build their brands. “The studio will offer an exciting range of bespoke editorial services and creative consultations, to help writers develop a commercially viable idea, finish their novel or realise a non-fiction proposal,” Bergstrom said. “The packages on offer also include IP development offerings for content formats – such as digital bookclubs, podcasts, newsletters – Bergstrom Studio will work with authors directly to help them cultivate an author brand and reach their readers.”
Writers’ conference will be held via Zoom
times-standard.com – Saturday June 26, 2021
The Mendocino Coast Writers’ Conference will hold its 32nd conference online via Zoom from Aug. 5 to 7.
This year’s conference faculty includes keynote speaker Wendy C. Ortiz, workshop leaders Lillian Li, Alaya Dawn Johnson, Saretta Morgan, Chris Dennis, Alex Sanchez, Suzanne Rivecca, Krys Malcolm Belc and Sam Krowchenko, and literary agents Elise Capron and Tricia Skinner, along with other special guests, writers and publishing experts. View the complete schedule by visiting http://mcwc.org.
Imprints: Quarto and Bonnier UK’s New Lines
lunch.publishersmarketplace.com – Monday June 21, 2021
As previewed previously, Quarto will launch a new children’s imprint, Happy Yak, led by associate publisher Rhiannon Findlay. First titles will debut this summer, and the list will include board books, picture books, and more for children up to seven.
Imprints
lunch.publishersmarketplace.com – Monday June 14, 2021
Astra Publishing House is launching an imprint dedicated to publishing illustrated books for children, to be led by Jill Davis. She was most recently executive editor at Harper Children’s. She will report to coo Ben Schrank and president Leying Jiang. Davis says, “My focus at Astra will be developing authors and illustrators from all over and helping them create unforgettable stories with sparkle, soul, and lots of surprises. The majority of my list will be illustrated books for ages 0–12, with an occasional teen title.”
Pan Mac and bks Agency host free demystifying publishing event
thebookseller.com – Thursday June 10, 2021
Pan Macmillan and The bks Agency are running a free online event all week to demystify publishing for those curious about entering the industry.
Running from 5 p.m. to 6 p.m. until 11th June, it has been organised by ERIC, an organisation which hosts immersive career festivals and an app for Generation Z creatives. Pan Mac has received more than 250 sign-ups across a range of ages and backgrounds.
The Get a Job in Publishing event series covers the publishing ecosystem and how it works, as well as providing an introduction to each of the main career paths available. Pan Mac experts include Sara Lloyd, communications director and executive sponsor for diversity, publishing director Kris Doyle, Bluebird publisher Carole Tonkinson, adult publishing m.d. Jeremy Trevathan and Belinda Rasmussen, m.d. of Macmillan Children’s Books.
Trade campaign warns of 'potentially devastating' change to UK copyright laws
thebookseller.com – Monday June 7, 2021
An alliance of organisations including the Publishers Association and Society of Authors has launched a new campaign warning of a “potentially devastating” change to the UK’s copyright laws.
The Save Our Books campaign, also backed by the Association of Authors’ Agents and the Authors’ Licensing & Collecting Society, says government plans to reconsider the UK’s approach to copyright and trade following Brexit could lead to fewer books and fewer authors.
The Intellectual Property Office launched a consultation on 7th June which considers a weakening of copyright rules used for exporting books around the world. Changing the way these rules, known as copyright exhaustion, work would present “serious dangers for the health of the books industry”, the campaign argues.
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