Single billboard heralds arrival of new Hilary Mantel novel
Earlier this week, a mysterious billboard appeared above an entrance to London’s Leicester Square Tube station. It read, simply, SO NOW GET UP. And it featured a Tudor Rose in the… Read more »
Sir David Attenborough turns 93; launches remix competition
Never one to stand still, the naturalist, broadcaster, and Genuine Living Legend, Sir David Attenborough, has launched an unusual competition to mark his 93rd birthday earlier this week. Mark Savage at… Read more »
Day of the shred: interactive PC game invites you to destroy a book
In a move that will prompt shocked-face emojis across the publishing world, Bristol-based indie game developer Alistair Aitcheson has released The Book Ritual, an “interactive art-piece played using a real-world book of… Read more »
‘More than lip service’: Round Table Books opens in Brixton
This week, Knights Of Publishing, the inclusive publisher set up in 2017 by Aimée Felone and David Stevens and committed to ensuring “the books we publish give windows into as many… Read more »
Bucharest opens Arcul de Triumf to visitors for World Book Night
Thousands of residents in Bucharest, Romania, were this week given the rare chance to see inside the city’s Arcul de Triumf for the country’s Open Books Night—part of this year’s World Book Night celebrations… Read more »
Why are we obsessed with reading books more quickly?
Let’s begin Friday with three questions that look a lot easier to answer than they actually are: How many books do you read in a year? Would you like to… Read more »
Beowulf authorship debate takes another turn; suggests a single author
Hwæt!* This week, the all-action, Grendel-battlin’, sea-voyagin’, crown-of-Geatland-wearin’ hero Beowulf was the subject of renewed debate. Authorship of the Scandinavian epic poem, which dates from between 1,200 and 1,300 years ago,… Read more »
The Netherlands swaps train tickets for books—for one day, at least
Not content with being world leaders in many of the finer things in life (art, architecture, cheese, beer, flowers, bicycles, chips with mayonnaise), last week was Boekenweek (“book week”) in the Netherlands.… Read more »
Waterstones booksellers’ petition for a living wage attracts thousands of signatures
This week, Alison Flood of The Guardian and others reported on the story that booksellers at Waterstones were campaigning for a living wage (in the UK, that’s £9 p/h; £10:55 p/h in London).… Read more »
Everyone we saw at the London Book Fair 2019
The London Book Fair can be a pretty overwhelming place. As one of the biggest trade fairs in the world, you can expect a LOT of people to show up—many… Read more »