Week 49/20 – week ending 4 December

BBC Audio adapts The Sleeper and the Spindle               BBC Audio has announced a new adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s The Sleeper and the Spindle for BBC Radio 4. It will be broadcast on 26 December 2020, and released as an extended edition in digital download on 28 January 2021 followed…

Week 42/20 – week ending 16 October

Between the Covers airs on BBC2 The first episode of Between the Covers, Cactus TV’s new book programme, aired on BBC2 on Friday evening (9 October). In the popular style of Cactus’ previous productions, among them the influential Richard and Judy Book Club, Between the Covers was hosted by broadcaster Sara Cox (right), and featured…

Week 37/20 – week ending 11 September

ITV News to publish coronavirus reportage ITV News is to publish on 1 October Reporting Coronavirus: Personal Reflections on a Global Crisis (£18.99 hb and ebook). The book will include 59 essays by 56 ITV News journalists. The reports in the book will come from hotspots including Wuhan in China, care homes and intensive care…

Week 29/20 – week ending 17 July

Bertelsmann UK divisions join forces for podcasts Penguin Random House and fellow Bertelsmann UK content businesses DK, Fremantle and BMG have launched a podcast business, Storyglass. The business is a fruit of the partners’ recently formed Content Alliance initiative. Storyglass was previously a division of Fremantle’s Global Drama department. It now has a much broader…

Week 27/20 – week ending 3 July

ILP strikes BBC deal The deal allows BBC Studios Production and its portfolio of independent producers the opportunity to explore the intellectual property owned and managed by ILP. Set up late last year, ILP currently holds the rights for authors including Georges Simenon, Eric Ambler, Margery Allingham, Edmund Crispin, Dennis Wheatley, Robert Bolt, Richard Hull,…

Week 20/20 – week ending 15 May

BA launches fund to help booksellers reopen The Booksellers Association (BA) launched a £50,000 fund to help its independent members prepare to reopen their bookshops once lockdown restrictions have been lifted. A phased reopening of shops will begin on 1 June, but it is not known whether bookshops will be among them, and the BA…

Week 13/20 – week ending 27 March

Trade pledges support to indie bookshops during difficult period Publishers have said they are committed to working with independent booksellers to help them weather the economic fall-out from coronavirus, with financial support on the table on a case-by-case basis from some. Pan Macmillan confirmed it is offering “financial support”, as well as focusing on helping indies to engage with their…

Week 46/19 – week ending 15 November

BBC panel defend Cooper’s Riders on 100 Novels That Shaped Our World list The panel who picked a BBC list of 100 Novels That Shaped Our World have set out the reasons for their choices, including defending the appearance of Riders by Jilly Cooper. Revealed last week, the list is part of the BBC’s year-long celebration of…