BTW News Briefs

Here’s what’s happening this week in the book industry:

Penguin Random House Publisher Services (PRHPS) and Square Enix, Inc. (SEA) have signed a multi-year sales and distribution agreement to introduce a new line of English-language manga, novels, and art books. The worldwide agreement goes into effect in fall 2019.

McFarland & Co. has launched a new imprint called Toplight Books, which will focus on body, mind and spirit. The imprint’s first titles are planned for release in fall 2019.

Scotland’s Charco Press will be distributed in North America by Consortium starting this fall.

Chronicle Books has launched a new imprint called Chronicle Chroma, which will publish books on the visual arts and pop culture. The first four titles are set to release this fall.

Kate Scott will be joining the Midwest Independent Booksellers Association as program specialist.

Scott Hatfill has joined Independent Publishers Group as director, international sales. He was formerly director of international sales at Diamond Book Distributors.

Marla Koenigsknecht has been promoted to associate publicist at APA Publishing’s APA Books and Magination Press Children’s Books.

Crystal McCoy, formerly publicity manager at Scholastic, has joined Fabled Films Press as publicist and social media manager.

Mark Lee has been promoted to senior manager, communications and marketing at the National Book Foundation.

Booksellers can get a first look at the buzz-worthy Fall/Winter books before BookExpo with Buzz Books, a collection of pre-release samples of new work from bestselling authors.

Celestial Bodies by Jokha Alharthi, translated by Marilyn Booth from Arabic and published by Sandstone Press, has been announced as the winner of the Man Booker International Prize 2019.

The West Philadelphia Alliance for Children has won the National Book Foundation’s Innovations in Reading Prize, awarded annually to an organization or individual that has “developed an innovative project that creates and sustains a lifelong love of reading in the community they serve.”  Word Up Community Bookshop received an honorable mention.

The winners of the 100th annual O. Henry Prize have been announced.

The winners of the 2019 Nebula Awards have been announced.

Richard Ford has won the 2019 Library of Congress Prize for American Fiction, which honors an American literary writer “whose body of work is distinguished not only for its mastery of the art but also for its originality of thought and imagination.”

Guy Gunaratne has won the International Dylan Thomas Prize, which is sponsored by Swansea University and recognizes the “best published literary work in the English language, written by an author aged 39 or under.”

Lambda Literary announced that Karen Tongson has been named the winner of the 2019 Jeanne Córdova Prize for Lesbian/Queer Nonfiction.

David W. Blight’s Frederick Douglass won the Plutarch Award for the Best Biography.

The New England Society of the City of New York (NES) announced the winners for the 2019 New England Society Book Awards, which honors books of merit that celebrate New England and its culture.

The Strand Magazine has announced nominees for the 2019 Strand Critics Awards, which recognize excellence in the field of mystery fiction and publishing. In addition, Sourcebooks CEO and publisher Dominique Raccah is being honored with the Publisher of the Year Award.

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