Newsletter: December 2006

Greetings from the UK. Here the book world is gearing up for its busiest time of year, and everyone is trying to guess what this year's Christmas bestseller will be. Traditionally something vaguely humorous and / or pretty facile ends up taking the top slot, although cookery books always do pretty well too. We'll see.

In the meantime, here's a round-up of books news from the UK over the last month...

Wendy Cooling was awarded the Eleanor Farjeon Award for a life spent promoting children's literature. Cooling ran the Children's Book Foundation and National Chidren's Book Week, but is probably best known for founding Bookstart, a national programme which gives free books to every child in the UK. 

Ian McEwan has been in the newspapers, denying that he plagiarised autobiographical work by the romance novelist Lucilla Andrews in his novel Atonement. McEwan wrote an article in The Guardian explaining that he'd already acknowledged his debt, and that his conscience was clear. 'But,' concluded the novelist, 'if people are now talking about Lucilla Andrews, I am glad. I have been talking about her for five years.'

It's also been quite a busy month for literary prizes. None were actually awarded, but lots of long- and shortlists have been announced, and the awards was formerly known as the Whitbread Prizes have been taken over by coffee chain Costa. Amid the swap of beer for coffee, commentators noted that all the candidates for the best novel were men (William Boyd, Neil Griffiths, Mark Haddon and David Mitchell) and that thrillers had done much better than in previous years. Up for the best first novel are Michael Cox, Marilyn Heward Mills, Stef Penney, and James Scudamore. For best biography, Maggie Fergusson, John Stubbs, Jo Tatchell and Brian Thompson are in the running. Vicki Feaver, John Haynes, Seamus Heaney, and Hugo Williams contend the poetry prize, while the best children's book will be fought out between David Almond, Julia Golding, Meg Rosoff and Linda Newbery. Phew.

While we're on shortlists though, I may as well add that the shortlisted contenders for this year's Guardian First Book Award are: A Thousand Years of Good Prayers by Yiyun Li, Everyman's Rules for Scientific Living by Carrie Tiffany, In the Country of Men by Hisham Matar, Harbor by Lorraine Adams, and Poppy Shakespeare by Clare Allan.

Still with me? Ok, then the shortlist for this year's John Llewellyn Rhys Prize, awarded annually to writers aged 35 or under, is: The State of the Prisons by Sinéad Morrissey, Newfoundland by Rebecca Ray, Tokyo Cancelled by Rana Dasgupta, Beasts of No Nation by Uzodinma Iweala, The Short Day Dying by Peter Hobbs, and Gem Squash Tokoloshe by Rachel Zadok.

The longlist for the Carnegie Medal, the prize awarded annually to the best children's book, has just been announed. There are too many titles to list here (you may be relieved to know), but they include books by Paul Magrs, Melvin Burgess, Anne Fine and Jeanette Winterson. If you're interested, you can check out the full list here. We'll have to wait until next April for the shortlist, and next June for the eventual winner!

Wherever you are, and whatever you're reading, enjoy the festive period.

Best wishes,

Susan Tranter

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