BTW News Briefs

Awards Season in Full Swing

• The winners of the 2014 Edgar Awards, honoring the best in mystery fiction, nonfiction, and television from 2013, were announced on May 1. Aunt Agatha’s Bookstore in Ann Arbor, Michigan, was the recipient of the Raven Award winner for outstanding achievement in the mystery field outside the realm of creative writing. See the full list of winners and nominees here.
   
• The 2014 O. Henry Prize winners for excellence in short fiction were revealed on Monday. See the full list of winners here. Anchor Books will be publishing the 20 winning stories in The O. Henry Prize Stories 2014 trade paperback this September.
   
• The James Beard Foundation announced its 2014 book awards winners in the categories of cookbook of the year, cookbook hall of fame, American cooking, international, photography, and more. See the full list of award winners here.
   
• PEN American Center has announced the longlist and judges for the 2014 PEN Literary Awards, which recognize the most outstanding voices in literature across a diverse array of subjects. Eighteen awards, fellowships, grants, and prizes will be awarded in 2014 along with nearly $150,000. See the longlist for each prize and the participating judges here.
   
• The National Book Foundation has unveiled the winners of its 2014 Innovations in Reading Prize, awarded to organizations modeling creative approaches for sharing literature with diverse audiences. Each winner will receive $2,500 in cash. This year’s winners are Blue Star Families’ Books on Bases, Books for Kids, Chicago Books to Women in Prison, Hopa Mountain’s StoryMakers Program, and Las Comadres Las Americas. Learn more about the winners here.

News Corp. to Purchase Harlequin

Torstar Corp. is selling book publisher Harlequin to News Corp. for $455 million, reported The Toronto Star. Pending clearance under competition laws both in the U.S. and Canada, as well as approval under the Investment Canada Act and by Torstar’s Class A shareholders, the transaction should be completed by the end of September.

The publisher of books for women will become a division of HarperCollins, which is a subsidiary of News Corp. Harlequin was acquired by Torstar in 1975 and became fully owned in 1981; HarperCollins initiated discussions about the sale.

New Address for HarperCollins

HarperCollins is relocating from its current Midtown Manhattan offices and will be operating out of its new home at 195 Broadway, New York, New York, 10007, beginning May 19.

E-mail addresses and phone numbers will remain the same. General inquiries can be directed to (212) 207-7000.

BookCon Signs on Veronica Roth

Veronica Roth, author of the popular Divergent series, will be appearing at BookCon to discuss her upcoming book and to moderate a panel on science fiction alongside three prominent female authors.

Roth will be appearing in a conversation with author Alex London (Proxy) to discuss their respective upcoming titles on Saturday, May 31, at 11:00 a.m. in the Special Events Hall. She and London will act as moderators for the panel “Dystopian Futures: Are they Science-Fact or Fiction?” which will feature Alaya Dawn Johnson (The Summer Prince), Marie Lu (Legend series), and Danielle Paige (Dorothy Must Die), taking place on Saturday, May 31, at 4:15 p.m. in the Javits Convention Center’s Room 1E07.

BEA Staff Celebrate Reading in New Video

In anticipation of the upcoming BookExpo America trade show (May 29 – 31), BEA has released a video inspired by Pharrell Williams’ song Happy, featuring BEA team members rocking out with books in hand. See the video here and follow the BEA hashtag #beahappy2read on Twitter.