BTW News Briefs

European and International Booksellers Federation Is Born

Full members of the European Booksellers Federation and the International Booksellers Federation, who gathered in London on April 9 in a joint General Assembly, have adopted new statutes for the creation of the European and International Booksellers Federation (EIBF).

The EIBF will be managed by a Joint Booksellers Board, made of EBF and IBF presidents and treasurers and the director. Both federations will keep their names and their websites. Presidents Inara Belinkaja for IBF and John McNamee for EBF saluted the decision, which allows booksellers to make the best of their resources at the European and International levels to promote the interests of the bookselling industry. ABA CEO Oren Teicher, who was in attendance at the meeting, expressed his full and enthusiastic support for the new EIBF.

ALA Names Top 10 Banned Books of 2010

The American Library Association’s Office for Intellectual Freedom this week revealed the 10 most frequently challenged books of 2010. Among the reasons given for attempts to remove the books from library shelves were insensitivity, offensive language, racism, sexism, sexually explicit, homosexuality, political viewpoint, religious viewpoint, and violence.

This year’s top 10 are:

1. And Tango Makes Three, by Peter Parnell and Justin Richardson
2. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, by Sherman Alexie
3. Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley
4. Crank, by Ellen Hopkins
5. The Hunger Games, by Suzanne Collins
6. Lush, by Natasha Friend
7. What My Mother Doesn't Know, by Sonya Sones
8. Nickel and Dimed, by Barbara Ehrenreich
9. Revolutionary Voices, edited by Amy Sonnie
10. Twilight, by Stephenie Meyer

Random House to Launch New Fiction Imprint

Random House has announced the launch of Hogarth Press, a new fiction imprint, scheduled for summer 2012. The new line, which honors Virginia and Leonard Woolf’s The Hogarth Press, will be part of the Crown Publishing Group in the U.S .and Chatto & Windus in the U.K.

Molly Stern, senior vice-president and publisher at Crown, who will lead the U.S. imprint, said that the new line “will be editorially distinct from, and complementary to, the kind of fiction that Crown has traditionally published.”

Hogarth Press will publish between eight and 10 books a year in the U.S.

Thomas Nelson Names New President/CEO

On Monday, April 11, Thomas Nelson, Inc. announced that Mark Schoenwald, its current president and chief operating officer, had been named president and chief executive officer. He assumes the CEO position from Michael Hyatt, who is stepping out of active management of the company but will continue to serve as chairman of the board.

Prior to joining Thomas Nelson in 2005, Schoenwald served as president of several home décor, garden, and gift companies, including New Creative Enterprises, One Coast Network, and Kennedy Group. Earlier in his career, he served in multiple roles with Lenox Brands.

Orange Prize Announces Shortlist

On Tuesday, April 12, in London, the Orange Prize for Fiction, the United Kingdom’s only annual book award for fiction written by a woman, announces its 2011 shortlist. The prize celebrates excellence, originality, and accessibility in women’s writing from around the world.

This year’s finalists are:

• Emma Donoghue (Irish) – Room; Picador; Seventh Novel
• Aminatta Forna (British/Sierra Leonean) – The Memory of Love; Bloomsbury; Second Novel
• Emma Henderson (British) – Grace Williams Says It Loud; Sceptre; First Novel
• Nicole Krauss (American) – Great House; Viking; Third Novel
• Téa Obreht (Serbian/American) – The Tiger’s Wife; Weidenfeld & Nicolson; First Novel
• Kathleen Winter (Canadian) – Annabel; Jonathan Cape; First Novel

The winner will be presented with a check for £30,000 and a limited edition bronze statue known as ‘the Bessie,’ created by artist Grizel Niven, which are both anonymously endowed.

The award ceremony will take place in London on June 8.