LBF podcast line-up unveiled
The London Book Fair (LBF) has unveiled its 2020 live podcast programme, featuring authors including David Mitchell, Lynda La Plante, Cressida Cowell, Janne Teller and Abigail Dean.
Returning for the second time after launching last year, live podcasts will record on LBF’s Fireside Chat Stage across the event from 10th–12th March.
Kicking off the program, bestselling author David Mitchell will be in conversation with “The Waterstones Podcast” ahead of releasing his new novel, Utopia Avenue (Sceptre, June 2020), on Tuesday 10.30am to 11.15am. “The Waterstones Podcast” will return on the final day (Thursday), interviewing Childrens’ Laureate Cressida Cowell (How to Train your Dragon) in an invitation-only event on Thursday 12th March, 10.30am to 11.30am. Grazia contributing editor Hattie Crisell and former editor-in-chief of British Vogue Alexandra Shulman (Clothes and Other Things That Matter, Octopus April 2020) will also host “In Writing with Hattie Crisell and Alexandra Shulman” on Tuesday 1.15pm to 1.45pm about why writers write and “how to do it better” according to its synopsis.
Radio 4 Extra’s “Telling Tales” will interview Lynda La Plante ahead of releasing new novel, Buried (Zaffre, April 2020), on Wednesday 11th March from 2.30pm to 3.15pm. The Midas PR “Midas” podcast will also record its first-ever episode exploring book industry trends hosted by journalist and Sky producer Ben Munro-Davies from 11.45am to 12.45pm.
On the final day, “The Comma Press podcast” will talk to two contributors to its new anthology, Europa28: Writing by Women on the Future with Danish author Janne Teller and Irish actress, director and writer Lisa Dwan, in conversation with the collection’s co-editor, Sophie Hughes and translator Annie McDermott from 12.30pm to 1.30pm. Podcast about how to write a bestselling novel, “The Bestseller Experiment” will interview author Abigail Dean about her path to the nine-way auction of her debut novel. The Podcast Theatre will also host the UK Book Blog Awards @ LBF at 3.30pm and award Book Podcaster of the Year for the second time after the category was added last year.
LBF director Jacks Thomas said: “We’re thrilled to have such a fantastic range of talented podcasters and brilliant authors taking part in the Fireside Chats at The Podcast Theatre at LBF this year. This ever-growing channel is fundamental to the book industry, and we also look forward to celebrating the Book Podcaster of the Year at the UK Book Blog Awards.”
Waterstones booksellers given 6.2% pay rise
Waterstones booksellers will be given a 6.2% pay rise from 1st April.
The rise accompanies the government’s national living wage increase due in April, which will see the national living wage (for those over 25) increase 6.2% from £8.21 to £8.72. The Waterstones increase goes slightly further with booksellers above the national living wage also being given a 6.2% rise.
The increase applies to each of the firm’s bookselling bands—Bookseller, Senior Bookseller, Lead Bookseller and Expert Bookseller—reflecting the upcoming national living wage increase for entry-level booksellers and rewards more experienced booksellers throughout the ranks.
Waterstones recorded a profit of £22.7m last year, up 39% on 2018, as pretax profit rose by 33% to £26.5m, in its most recent accounts and has come under pressure from campaigners to give booksellers a pay rise.
In a letter to staff, chief operating officer Kate Skipper said: “As we approach the end of our financial year, it seems a good opportunity to pause to reflect and to say thank you. In a year of economic and political turmoil, accompanied by a barrage of catastrophic retail headlines, it is worth taking a moment to celebrate that our like- for-like sales continue to grow and our bookshops continue to improve. To fight against the retail tide so successfully is only achieved with effort and bookselling talent.
“We are therefore very pleased to confirm that to accompany the National Living Wage increase due in April, we will be paying a 6.2% increase to each of the bookselling bands, all of which will be effective from 1st April. Exceptions to this increase include employees whose pay is governed by historic contractual arrangements (both in the UK and in our shops outside the UK), and may not apply also to any employee paid above the national living wage who is subject to disciplinary or performance sanction.
“Once again, we have chosen to reward all bookselling bands rather than simply to raise the minimum, so that our most experienced booksellers benefit as much as a new starter. Salaries for bookshop managers and support roles will be reviewed in the autumn, following the same performance review cycle as this year. To take another step forward towards our goal to deliver rewarding bookselling careers is pleasing, particularly in such a hostile economic environment and we do so with thanks to you all.”
The rise comes after a 4.85% rise in April 2019, with an additional 4% bonus paid in 2019, with booksellers also awarded a 4.40% rise in April 2018 and a 4.17% rise in April 2017.
Earlier this week campaigners for the real living wage, which is different from the national living wage, sent nearly 1,000 emails directly to James Daunt urging the Waterstones m.d. to pay booksellers the real living wage, which is independently-calculated based on what people need to get by.
BBC follows Mantel for six months in new documentary
A BBC documentary on Hilary Mantel will air next week, following the author for six months in the run up to The Mirror & the Light (4th Estate) being published.
“Hilary Mantel—Return to Wolf Hall”, broadcast on BBC Two at 9pm on 7th March, promises “exclusive and extensive access to one of the world’s greatest living writers”.
The hour-long film will intertwine the themes of her trilogy with stories from the author’s own life while exploring “how the world of Thomas Cromwell reverberates in our world today”, the BBC said.
Mantel will also discuss how and why she embarked on the trilogy. The BBC said: “This is an artist’s biography in the characteristic style and voice of one of the most singular and brilliant minds of our age. We see Hilary Mantel—a writer at the peak of her powers—in both her real and imaginative worlds, led by the curiosity that has driven her from the beginning.”
The Mirror & the Light, currently receiving rave reviews, is released on 5th March and is being billed as the literary event of the year. Mantel will appear at Waterstones Piccadilly for a signing event the day before her book’s release and again at the Royal Festival Hall on 6th March.
The next post will be in the week beginning 16 March.