BTW News Briefs

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BookExpo Audio Publishers Association Author Tea Lineup Announced

On Tuesday, ReedPOP announced the four bestselling authors who will take the stage at the Audio Publishers Association (APA) Author Tea on Friday, June 1, at BookExpo 2018.

The event will feature Laini Taylor, author of Strange the Dreamer (Little, Brown Books for Young Readers); Gayle Forman, author of If I Stay (Viking Books for Young Readers); Jason Fry, author of Star Wars: The Last Jedi (Del Rey); and actress Kathryn Hahn, author of My Wish for You (Orchard Books), who will discuss their craft, creativity, and inspiration with a focus on the growth of audiobooks in publishing.

BookExpo will take place at the Jacob Javits Convention Center in New York City from May 30 to June 1. The APA Author Tea is a separately ticketed event. For more information and to register, visit the BookExpo website.

Tina Jordan Leaves AAP

Tina Jordan, vice president of the Association of American Publishers (AAP), has left the organization after 12 years, Publishers Weekly reported.

At AAP, Jordan directed the association’s trade publishing activity, the statistics operation, and literacy efforts. She had joined the association after nine years at Reed Exhibitions, where she served as the public relations and events director of BookExpo America.

Before deciding her next move, Jordan will take some time off, predominantly for skiing and surfing. She can now be reached at [email protected].

Whitney Hu Joins National Book Foundation

Whitney Hu, previously the communications director for New York City’s Strand Book Store and New York City Council member Brad Lander, has joined the National Book Foundation as director of public programs.

In her new role at the National Book Foundation, Hu’s focus will be on building the organization’s public programming in New York City and across the country, and developing programming to help build new and diverse audiences for books and literature.

Distribution Changes Announced at Hay House, Rutgers University Press

Starting in August, Penguin Random House Publisher Services (PRHPS) will sell and distribute Hay House’s frontlist and backlist in the U.S. and Canada across all sales channels, Shelf Awareness reported. Previously, Hay House, which publishes books on self-help, New Age, personal growth, and health, self-distributed its titles in North America.

Shelf Awareness also reported that the University of Chicago Press’ Chicago Distribution Center (CDC) will distribute the print books of Rutgers University Press starting July 1. The University of Chicago Press’ CDC and BiblioVault provide print and digital services to over 130 publishers.

Free Speech Advocacy Groups Publish Comic Book

The Comic Book Legal Defense Fund (CBLD) and National Coalition Against Censorship (NCAC) have released Be Heard!, a new comic book to help students protect their First Amendment rights.

The comic by cartoonist Kai Texel outlines best practices to help kids assert their rights to speech, protest, assembly, and petition; warns about risks; and provides resources to get more help.

Be Heard! is available to download for free at CBLDF.org and NCAC.org, and via both organizations’ social media channels. Both groups encouraged students to share the comic widely in advance of the National School Walkout on March 14 and the March for Our Lives on March 24.

Download the comic book here.

2018 Man Booker International Prize Longlist Announced

The longlist for the 2018 Man Booker International Prize, which celebrates the finest works of translated fiction from around the world, has been announced.

The ‘Man Booker Dozen’ — the 13 novels that will compete for the prize — and their authors and translators are:

  • Laurent Binet (France), Sam Taylor, The 7th Function of Language (Harvill Secker)
  • Javier Cercas (Spain), Frank Wynne, The Impostor (MacLehose Press) 
  • Virginie Despentes (France), Frank Wynne, Vernon Subutex 1 (MacLehose Press)
  • Jenny Erpenbeck (Germany), Susan Bernofsky, Go, Went, Gone (Portobello Books)
  • Han Kang (South Korea), Deborah Smith, The White Book (Portobello Books)
  • Ariana Harwicz (Argentina), Sarah Moses and Carolina Orloff, Die, My Love (Charco Press)
  • László Krasznahorkai (Hungary), John Batki, Ottilie Mulzet, and George Szirtes, The World Goes On (Tuskar Rock Press)
  • Antonio Muñoz Molina (Spain), Camilo A. Ramirez, Like a Fading Shadow (Tuskar Rock Press)
  • Christoph Ransmayr (Austria), Simon Pare, The Flying Mountain (Seagull Books)
  • Ahmed Saadawi (Iraq), Jonathan Wright, Frankenstein in Baghdad (Oneworld)
  • Olga Tokarczuk (Poland), Jennifer Croft, Flights (Fitzcarraldo Editions)
  • Wu Ming-Yi (Taiwan), Darryl Sterk, The Stolen Bicycle (Text Publishing)
  • Gabriela Ybarra (Spain), Natasha Wimmer, The Dinner Guest (Harvill Secker)

The prize is awarded every year for a single novel or short story collection translated into English and published in the U.K. The £50,000 prize is divided between the winning author and translator, while each shortlisted author and translator receive £1,000 each.

The longlist was selected by a panel of five judges, who considered 108 books. The shortlist will be announced on April 12, and the winner announcement will take place on May 22.

2017 Publishing Triangle Award Finalists Announced

The Publishing Triangle, an association of LGBTQ people in publishing, has announced the finalists for the 30th annual Triangle Awards.

The awards, honoring the best LGBTQ fiction, nonfiction, and poetry published in 2017 and the year’s best trans and gender-variant literature, will be presented on April 26 at a free and public ceremony at the Tishman Auditorium of the New School in New York City.

See all 2017 finalists here.

2017 Tiptree Award Winner Announced

Virginia Bergin has been named the winner of the 2017 Tiptree Award for her young adult novel Who Runs the World? (Macmillan, U.K., 2017). The novel is scheduled to be published in the U.S. in September 2018 by Sourcebooks as The XY.

The James Tiptree, Jr. Award is presented annually by the James Tiptree, Jr. Award Council to works of science fiction or fantasy that explore and expand our understanding of gender and gender roles.

For more about the winning title and to see the titles that made the longlist, visit the James Tiptree, Jr. Literary Council website.