BTW News Briefs

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

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Private equity firm KKR is acquiring the OverDrive e-book and digital audio platform from Rakuten USA.

Simon & Schuster will distribute U.K. publisher Oneworld Publications, effective immediately.

Miami-based Mango Publishing has acquired Yellow Pear Press.

Sourcebooks has acquired award-winning nature publisher Dawn Publications.

The Experiment has acquired Appletree Press.

Sonny Mehta, editor in chief of Knopf and chairman of the Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, died on December 30 at the age of 77.

Boris Kachka is joining the LA Times to oversee books coverage.

The Book Industry Charitable Foundation will honor Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance Executive Director Wanda Jewell at a January 22 dinner during this year’s Winter Institute.

The office of the Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association (PNBA) is moving to 520 West 13th Ave. in Eugene, Oregon, 97401-3461.

Western Writers of America is inviting indie bookstores to participate in its Western Book Display Contest for a chance to win $500 and an invitation to the announcement ceremony in South Dakota in June.

Publishers Weekly and BookBrunch are launching the Selfies book awards for self-published authors in the U.S. The deadline for submissions is February 29; a juried shortlist will be announced May 29 and the winner in June.

The Romance Writers of America will not hold its annual RITA contest this year.  

The Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance has announced the 13 winners of the 2020 Winter Okra Picks.

The Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association has announced the recipients of the 2020 Pacific Northwest Book Awards.

The Otherwise Award (formerly called the Tiptree Award) has announced two new fellows: drag performer Devonix and writer/sound-and-media artist Martha Riva Palacio Obón.

Three translators of humanities texts have been awarded the Geisteswissenschaften International Nonfiction Translation (GINT) Prize.

The Costa Book Awards has announced this year’s category winners; the Costa Book of the Year winner will be announced at an awards ceremony on January 28.

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