Newsletter: February 2007

Greetings and welcome to this month's round-up of news from the UK book world...

The big news over the last few days or so is that the British Library is fearful that it will have to make cuts of between 5% and 7% when the government announces its 2007 spending review. The library's management have outlined a 'worst case scenario' in which charges will be levied for those using the reading rooms, spending on books and jornals will be slashed, and two galleries will be closed. This grim prospect has outraged writers, academics, publishers and readers. Watch this space to see what happens.

Meanwhile publishers Penguin have announced plans to develop a 'wiki-novel' along the lines of the website phenomenon Wikipedia. Anyone will be able to contribute ideas, characters, plot twists and - wait for it - edit those of other writers. But a core editorial team at De Montfort University will hold the reins to make sure things don't get out of hand. 'To be honest, we don't know exactly what is going to happen or how this will turn out,' Penguin's digital publisher Jeremy Ettinghausen has said. No kidding. Find out more.

January may have been a strange mixture of gale force winds, cold snaps and unusually mild weather, but nothing stops the literary machine from grinding, and as usual, there are a few prizes to mention.

First up, the category winners of the Costa Book Awards (previously known as the Whitbread Prizes) were announced. They are:

John Haynes for Letter to Patience (poetry)
Brian Thompson for Keeping Mum (biography)
William Boyd for Restless (novel)
Stef Penney for The Tenderness of Wolves (first novel)
Linda Newbery for Set in Stone (children's).

Each writer won £5,000 and the chance to compete for the overall book of the year, with a prize of £50,000. The winner is to be announced at a glitzy ceremony on 7th February.

Seamus Heaney was awarded the T.S. Eliot prize for his poetry collection District and Circle (this month's Book of the Month choice on EnCompass). The £10,000 prize is one of the few which the Irish poet had yet to win in his illustrious career. Although unable to collect the award in person due to recovering from a minor stroke, Heaney was delighted to have won. Chair of the judges Sean O'Brien commented that 'In an outstandingly strong field, this was an exceptional collection of poems.' Find out more.

Just a couple more to give a quick mention to. Twenty-five-year-old first-time novelist Tom Becker won the 2007 Waterstone's children's book prize with his novel, Darkside. He received a cheque for £1,000 and, more potentially lucratively, the promise of prominent display in UK branches of the book chain. And playwright, poet, Nobel laureate and political activist Harold Pinter was awarded France's highest honour, the Legion d'Honneur, by the French prime minister Dominic de Villepin.

Don't forget - keep up to date with the literary news as it happens by visiting EnCompass.

Best wishes,

Susan Tranter

Reader in Residence

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