NEWS


Award launch


London Book Fair 2019 The headlines


£146.2m


Author James Paterson is launching a Young Bookseller Special


Achievement Award today (12th March) in association with the Booksellers Association. The £500 awards will be given to booksellers aged 25 and under who have worked in a bookshop for at least 12 months. Candidates may be nominated by their managers or colleagues, and nominees from all high street bookshops across Britain and Ireland will be eligible. In the past five years, Paterson has donated £500,000 to indie bookshops in the UK and Ireland, funding projects ranging from shop refurbishments to bedtime reading projects. The author, who has donated over $1m to US bookshops to use on similar schemes, said: “I’m overwhelmed by the passion and energy of so many young booksell- ers. I’m delighted to be launching


Sum earned by James Patterson’s titles through the UK TCM since records began


Patterson launches bookseller bursary


future of the bookselling industry.” Entries open today (12th March:


further information is available from the BA website), with the winners to be announced in July, ahead of Paterson’s appearance at the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival in Harrogate. BA president Nic Botomley said:


JAMES PATTERSON HAS PREVIOUSLY FUNDED INITIATIVES TO HELP BOOKSELLERS


James Paterson’s Young Bookseller Special Achievement Award to recognise the talent of these young people, who will help to shape the


“We are thrilled by the creativit of young booksellers across UK and Ireland, and I am very proud to be BA president at a point when a bestselling author is making such an unequivocal statement of confi- dence in the bookselling industry— and proud of the young booksellers who are proving him right.” Books by Paterson, and his co-authors, have earned £146.2m through Nielsen BookScan UK, making him the biggest selling adult fiction author since Nielsen records began. Reporting Heloise Wood


Blink has eyes for Tricky and trip-hop


Bonnier Books UK imprint Blink has bought the autobiography of British trip-hop legend Tricky, charting his rise from one of the UK’s most deprived areas to critically acclaimed success. Commissioning editor Kerri Sharp acquired world rights from K7 Music in Berlin. The untitled book will be published in hardback this October. Born in Bristol’s Knowle West, Tricky was part of the post-rave “trip-hop” scene in the 1990s. “Maxinquaye”, the first of 13 albums by the musician, sold 800,000 copies worldwide and was a 1995 Mercury Prize nominee. Written with music author Andrew Perry, Tricky speaks about


TRICKY PERFORMING AT THE FOR NOISE FESTIVAL


Legend Times moves into academic publishing with Buckingham Press buy


Te UK-based independent Legend Times has made its first foray into academic publishing, acquiring University of Buckingham Press (UBP). Te deal, concluded just prior to the London Book Fair, will see Legend own 75% of UBP, with the university retaining 25%. UBP m.d. Christopher Woodhead, who has


led the press since its foundation in 2005, will step aside after the handover. UBP is a department of the University of Buckingham,


06 12th March 2019


family members, including gangsters and bare-knuckle boxers, alongside his mother’s suicide and how it affected him. The book is billed as “a fascinating and moving slice of social and multicultural history packed with hair-raising anecdotes from inside and outside the music business”.


one of the UK’s five private universities. Te bulk of its list is in education, particularly its Teachitright 11+ study guides and workbooks, and it publishes five journals. Legend, launched in 2005 by Tom Chalmers


right, includes fiction imprint Legend Press; business list Legend Business; non-fiction arm Paperbooks; and self-publishing division New Generation Publishing. Chalmers said Legend would focus on growing UBP’s frontlist and look at “creating new opportunities for UBP’s strong backlist”. He added that Legend aims to increase its turnover by 50% each year over the next few years, both organically and with acquisitions and, regarding the latter, he is in “early-stage conversa- tions with several publishers”.


TOM CHALMERS FOUNDED LEGEND PRESS AGED 25


Wham! go-goes to PRH Penguin Random House has bought Andrew Ridgeley’s autobiography about life as one half of iconic pop band Wham!, and his lifelong friendship with George Michael. The book will focus on Wham!’s “roller- coaster of success” taking in “the scrapes, the laughs, the relationships, the good and the bad”. Michael Joseph m.d. Louise Moore and Dutton vice- president, executive editor Jill Schwartzman acquired world English-language rights to the book from Tim Bates at PFD.


Faber leaps at chance to acquire Dolphin tale Faber Children’s will publish the first YA novel by Irish writer and illustrator Marie-Louise Fitzpatrick. The Year the Dolphin Came follows a group of teen- agers in an Irish coastal town where a dolphin has swum into the bay; its appearance lures tourists from the neighbouring town, and a fierce rivalry ensues. Faber Children’s editorial direc- tor Annie Eaton, who acquired world rights from Eunice McMullen, called it “a poignant, action-filled tale of first love”.


Canongate puts Francis’ island tales on the map Canongate publishing director Francis Bickmore has acquired world rights, including audio, to Island Dreams by Gavin Francis from Jenny Brown at Jenny Brown Associates. Well-known for his medical writing, Francis’ Island Dreams is a “freeform investigation into the allure of islands”. Blending stories of his own travels with great journeys from literature and metaphysi- cal exploration, Francis “maps the place of islands in our collective consciousness”.


Rhyme and Dance return in Deaver short story bow Jeffery Deaver is to write his first short story collection for HarperCollins, which acquired UK and Commonwealth rights (excluding Canada) from Felicity Blunt at Curtis Brown. Misdirection includes original stories featuring Deaver’s estab- lished characters Lincoln Rhyme and Kathryn Dance, and also Colter Shaw, the new protago- nist of the author’s forthcoming The Never Game. Julia Wisdom, publisher of crime and thrillers at HarperCollins, struck the deal.


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