Newsletter: September 2007

I can hardly believe it's September already. The leaves will be dropping off the trees and the nights drawing in before we know it. Better start making my Christmas shopping list... In the meantime though, here's another quick round-up of what's been happening in the UK book world over the last few weeks. August is generally held to be a quiet month, but there have been a few items of interest...

We usually include a literary award or two, but here's one that's a bit unusual. The power of the reading group in generating word-of-mouth publicity and sales was demonstrated once again with the announcement of the Penguin / Orange Broadband Readers' Group prize. The group of the year were announced as Books on the Broad from Oxford, but more interesting was the revelation that reading groups generally have voted the same novel their favourite for a second year running. The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini was originally published three years ago, with little marketing hype, and word of mouth publicity generated through initiatives like reading groups has been credited with much of its subsequent slow-burning success. Three of the other titles in the top six were also previous favourites. Find out more.

From one end of the establishment to the other. One of the UK's oldest literary awards, the James Tait Black Memorial prize (worth £10,000), has been won by an American novelist in the classic 'hard-bitten' mould. Cormac McCarthy (one of my personal favourites) was recognised for his latest book, the bleak apocalyptic tale The Road.

And while we're on the subject of prizes, I may as well mention that The Guardian First Book Award longlist has been announced. Established in 1999, the prize rewards 'the finest new literary talent with a £10,000 prize for an author's first book', and is, unusually, open to writing across all genres. In the running for this year's award are:
 

A Golden Age by Tahmima Anam
Imperial Life in the Emerald City by Rajiv Chandrasekaran
A Guinea Pig's History of Biology by Jim Endersby
Then We Came to the End by Joshua Ferris
God's Architect by Rosemary Hill
Live Working or Die Fighting by Paul Mason
Children of the Revolution by Dinaw Mengestu
Look! We Have Coming to Dover! by Daljit Nagra
What was Lost by Catherine O'Flynn
St Lucy's Home for Girls Raised by Wolves by Karen Russell.

The shortlist will be announced in the first week of November, and the winner on December 2nd 2007.

Moving away from trophies now, to two moves which show there's no author like a classic author. Earlier last month Harper Collins revealed that they're planning to relaunch Agatha Christie's novels. No great surprise you might think, despite the number of rebrandings and relaunches they regularly get. But this time the publishers are aiming for a new market altogether, by creating graphic versions of some of Christie's best-loved mysteries. Find out more and see some of the pictures.

Do you remember The Famous Five? Those crime-fighting youngsters Julian, Dick, Anne, George and Timmy the dog? Enid Blyton's best-loved creation had their last adventure in 1963. But, The Times reports, 'the characters are scheduled to return to the screen as middle-aged men and women in a drama authorised by Enid Blyton’s estate.' That's enough to set the imagination wandering... Will there be lashings of ginger beer though? While you're waiting for the programme to hit a screen near you, find out more.

And just time to mention a couple of new things on EnCompass, if you haven't already come across them. Our latest Author Interview is with acclaimed writer Mal Peet (they classify his books as 'Young Adult', but I think they're great and I don't think they'd classify me as a 'Young Adult'). And if you're feeling light-hearted and a little swoony, why not try our Readers' Quiz on Romantic Fiction? You don't have to be a 'chick' to read 'Chick Lit' you know...

Susan Tranter

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