Highlights from around the globe

The organisers of the York Literature Festival, which starts today (March 19th) and runs until Sunday, have hailed this year's event as the most successful yet,

The director general of the Malaysian National Library, Datuk Raslin Abu Bakar, is urging people across the south-east Asian country to make better use of the

As the popularity of online book retailers continues to rise, many people are predicting a bleak future for bricks-and-mortar bookstores, although recent

A number of first edition books which were smuggled out of Austria in 1938 have been brought back to the country and placed in the national library in

 A new literary prize has been launched with the intention of encouraging writers to push the boundaries of the art form and experiment with new and truly

With Dan Brown's latest book 'Inferno' set to be released on May 14th, publisher Doubleday has announced that for the duration of this week (March 17th to 24th)

Sebastian Faulks, who is best known for his 1993 novel 'Birdsong', has been commissioned to write a new 'Jeeves and Wooster' book by the estate of PG Wodehouse,

Indian author Amish Tripathi has been awarded a record advance for the South Asian rights to his next three books, following the success of his previous

Zambia-born author Wilbur Smith has announced that he has signed a deal to write six more books, despite turning 80 earlier this month. In an interview

Nickelodeon Global Publishing, the publisher of children’s titles based on the company’s popular television programmes, has announced that it is to release a

American author Philip Roth has been voted the greatest living writer in the US in a poll by New York Magazine's online portal, Vulture. According to the

Bestselling author E.L James, whose 'Fifty Shades' trilogy sold over 40 million copies worldwide and was the most successful e-book of last year, has revealed

James Renner's debut novel, 'The Man From Primrose Lane', is to be made into a film after Warner Brothers announced that it had bought the rights to the

Jane Austen's famous novel Pride & Prejudice is celebrating its 200th birthday today (January 28th), and the event could not have come at a better

A former UN aid worker has set up a mobile library service for children in Pakistan in an attempt to help raise the standards of education and help build a

Syfy has signed up to turn the Philip K Dick novel The Man in the High Castle into the latest in its portfolio of TV adaptations. Frank Spotnitz (The

Stephen King’s long-awaited sequel to his 1977 hair-raiser ‘The Shining’ is due to be released this year, and the famous author says he hopes to terrify readers

Today (February 13th) sees the launch of the inaugural 'Brazzaville' literary and film festival in Congo's Palais de Congres.   The event has been organised by

The rising popularity of graphic novels and comic books in India is acting as a major driving force in getting more young adults into reading, according to a

Researchers at the University of California's Berkeley campus are hoping to revolutionise the way e-books work in order to allow for greater collaboration

The popularity of e-books has been on the rise for the past few years thanks to the invention of digital readers and tablets, and now the craze could be set to

With the popularity of e-readers and e-books constantly on the rise, libraries around the world are beginning to feel the pinch as more and more people turn to

As booksellers around the world struggle to cope with the power of the large online retailers such as Amazon, collaboration between smaller companies and high

Susan Hill's popular horror story 'The Woman in Black' is to make a return this year with the release of a sequel entitled 'The Woman in Black: Angel of

Random House has made a number of modifications to its terms and conditions for digital imprints, with authors now given a choice of two payment models to

ITV Studios has creates a new executive position to oversee and develop its publishing interests. ITV Studios Global Entertainment (ITVS GE) has appointed

National Libraries Day, which took place this past Saturday (February 9th), has been hailed as a success by ministers and reading institutions across the

Despite the growing global popularity of e-books and other digital media formats, Russian literary experts are predicting paper books to remain popular in the

With budget cuts threatening the future of libraries in a number of counties across the UK, Brighton and Hove Council has come up with a new solution which

David Mitchell, whose bestselling novel 'Cloud Atlas' has recently been turned into a popular film, is to co-release a new book that he and his wife have

Helen Fielding fans will no doubt be pleased to hear that Knopf is to publish the third book in the popular ‘Bridget Jones’ series this November. While no

This week saw a non-fiction title finally make it into Amazon's self-published bestsellers list, with Guy Kawasaki's 'APE: Author, Publisher, Entrepreneur – How

Japanese author Haruki Murakami is known for his reluctance to give interviews or press conferences, which is why it comes as no surprise that he has chosen to

The winners of the National Book Critics Circle Award, one of the most prestigious awards for authors in the US, have been announced, with Ben Fountain walking

Katherine Applegate’s ‘The One and Only Ivan’ has been recognised as the top children’s book of the year by the American Library Association (ALA), after it was

Bestselling author William Boyd, whose previous works include award-winning titles such as 'A Good Man in Africa', 'An Ice Cream War' and 'Restless', is to pen

Scandinavian literature has been very much in fashion for the past few years, with a number of top crime fiction novels emerging from the region. Perhaps

Many great writers down the years have used a pen name. Take Mark Twain, for example, the famous author of classic books such as ‘The Adventures of Huckleberry

A north-east Lincolnshire school is the first to debut an interactive reading system to raise literacy levels among teenagers.  As the Grimsby Telegraph

The merger of publishing giants Penguin and Random House is set to go ahead after the move was given the green light by US government agencies. The deal

Following the success of Ang Lee's film adaptation of Yann Martel's 'The Life of Pi' at the Oscars last weekend, libraries across Norfolk will be attempting to

With libraries around the UK facing closure in the wake of government cuts to arts funding, the Society of Chief Librarians has teamed up with the Reading Agency

Simon & Schuster has teamed up with Author Solutions to launch a new self-publishing service to budding authors. Archway Publishing will offer a wide range of

A mystery sculptor who creates her pieces from pages of literary works will be coming out of hiding for the first ever Book Week Scotland.  Readers across

The Shanghai Literary Festival gets underway today (March 1st) and will feature a distinctly international flavour with 69 authors, artists and film producers

The British literary tradition has produced some of the world's best-loved authors, playwrights and poets down the years, and it looks as though that could well

A survey of volunteers working for the children's literacy charity Beanstalk has revealed that around a quarter believe the best way to encourage more children

The popular Visiting Writers Series at Lenoir-Rhyne University in North Carolina has added internationally-acclaimed novelist John Burnham Schwartz to its

The Folio Society is to sponsor a brand new annual literary award which aims to recognise English language fiction from around the world. Five judges will be

Libraries across the UK have been suffering in recent times as a result of funding cuts and decreasing visitor numbers, although a new trend appears to be

The chief executive of Barnes & Noble (B&N) has admitted paper books are not big on his agenda these days, with digital platforms more his thing.

Prize-winning novelist Jeanette Winterson has called for the government to remove libraries from council leisure budgets and put them into the education

School girl and controversial blogger Martha Payne has seen her story turned into print by Cargo publishing.  The ten-year-old hit headlines earlier this

A Scottish woman produced her debut novel on her Blackberry during her daily commute from Ayrshire and Glasgow.  As the Daily Record reports, Dr Sharon

Digital tablets like the iPad and Kindle help people with visual impairments to speed up their reading by an average of 15 words-per-minute, research presented

Bloomsbury Publishing has laid out plans to rename a number of its academic imprints over the coming months.  As The Bookseller reports, its Continuum

The multi-talented Canadian writer, explorer and filmmaker Wade Davis has picked up the £20,000 Samuel Johnson Prize for non-fiction.  UK minister for

An overwhelming book piracy culture in Zimbabwe is forcing publisher Edmund Masundire to reconsider releasing new titles under a series of well-received

A leading international firm that offers technological know-how to publishers and content providers has taken a new step into the educational publishing world.

With the movie release of Peter Jackson's highly-anticipated 'The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey' in December, it is little surprise HarperCollins is

Mainland readers interested in political figures are flocking to Hong Kong to invest in books that have been banned in China.  Director of People Book Cafe

Educational publishers are producing textbooks that are too heavily reliant on examination preparation, perhaps to the detriment of the quality of content.

The world's leading search engine Google is renowned for its series of 'doodles' that mark significant days or events and today (November 8th) it is Irish

The Commons Culture, Media and Sport Committee has highlighted the legal obligation local authorities are under to keep the nation's libraries up and running.