BTW News Briefs

Library of Congress Launches National Book Festival Young Readers' Online Toolkit

In conjunction with the 2008 National Book Festival, which will be held on Saturday, September 27, on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., the Library of Congress has launched a National Book Festival Young Readers' Online Toolkit.

The toolkit offers information about National Book Festival authors who write for children and teens, and offers podcasts of their readings along with teaching tools and activities for children. It also features a Hosting Guide, which provides an overview of the site and ideas for holding local book festivals; an Author Details section including biographies and a "scoop" area that tells the stories behind their stories; and the 2008 National Book Festival Poster.

Man Booker Prize Shortlist Announced

This week, the shortlist for the 2008 Man Booker Prize, honoring a full-length novel written by a citizen of the Commonwealth or the Republic of Ireland and published this year, was announced. The novel must be an original work in English (not a translation) and must not be self-published. Two first-time novelists -- Aravind Adiga and Steve Toltz -- are on the list. And Linda Grant, winner of the Orange Prize for Fiction in 2000 and longlisted for the Booker Prize in 2002, is the only female author to make the shortlist of six.

The Man Booker Prize 2008 shortlisted novels are:

• The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga
• The Secret Scripture by Sebastian Barry
• Sea of Poppies by Amitav Ghosh
• The Clothes on Their Backs by Linda Grant
• The Northern Clemency by Philip Hensher
• A Fraction of the Whole by Steve Toltz

A statement from the Penguin Group noted that A Fraction of the Whole, The Secret Scripture, and Sea of Poppies are all published by Penguin Group companies around the world. Additionally, The White Tiger and The Clothes on Their Backs are distributed by Penguin Group. The Northern Clemency is being published in the U.S. by Knopf.

NEIBA Names Book Award Winners

The New England Independent Booksellers Association (NEIBA) has announced the winners of its 2008 New England Book Awards:

Fiction: Alice Hoffman
Nonfiction: Nathaniel Philbrick
Children's Books: Tomie DePaola
Publishing: Down East Books

The NEIBA awards honor New England authors and publishers who have produced a body of work (not just a specific title) that stands as a significant contribution to New England's culture. The awards will be presented at a ceremony on Thursday, September 18, at the 35th Annual NEIBA Annual Meeting and Trade Show in Boston, Massachusetts. Each author award is accompanied by a $500 grant from NEIBA to a literacy or other charitable organization chosen by the winner.

J.K. Rowling Wins Lawsuit

This week, Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling won her legal challenge against RDR Books, which was planning to publish The Harry Potter Lexicon, an unofficial 400-page reference guide by Steve Vander Ark, as reported by Reuters. Judge Robert Patterson in U.S. District Court in Manhattan argued that RDR "failed to establish an affirmative defense of fair use" and ordered a stop to the publication, the article noted. Rowling argued that the lexicon constituted copyright infringement.

In a statement, Rowling said she was "delighted" with the judge's decision, Reuters noted. "The proposed book took an enormous amount of my work and added virtually no original commentary of its own. Many books have been published which offer original insights into the world of Harry Potter. The Lexicon just is not one of them."