Well this is sad:
It is a literary genre renowned for its simple morals and admirable heroes and heroines.
However, adult enthusiasts of childrens literature have forgotten their manners, it would seem.British publishers have expressed outrage at what they describe as the widespread “looting” from their stands by people attending the worlds leading childrens book exhibition.
Michael OMara Books, an independent publisher, found nearly three-quarters of its titles had vanished.
Irish company Management Briefs has successfully negotiated a new publishing partnership with two Chinese companies as part of the Taoiseach led Enterprise Ireland Trade & Investment Mission to China. An Taoiseach, Enda Kenny TD was present during the formal signing of the contract.
Managing Director Frank Scott-Lennon signed the contract which marks a collaboration between Management Briefs and Chinese companies Enterprise Management Publishing House and Pilot Marketing Management Consulting Co Ltd in Beijing. The contract was signed on March 27 and will result in the co-publication of their book Marketing Skills which is written by Garry Hynes & Ronan Morris and should have a significant impact on sales. The book will be the first of the already internationally established Management Briefs series to be translated and distributed in the Chinese market.
Commenting on the deal Frank Scott-Lennon, Managing Director of Management Briefs and President of Publishing Ireland, said, ‘This is our first commitment to China and it is our hope and that of our International Rights Agents in China – Big Apple – that this will be the first of many more connections between Management Briefs and Chinese publishers.’
The Irish Trade and Investment Mission to China is in collaboration with Enterprise Ireland. An Taoiseach Enda Kenny T.D. is undertaking an official visit to China commencing Sunday 25th March, 2012 accompanied by Minister Richard Bruton T.D. The dates of the mission are Sunday 25th – Wednesday 28th March 2012 and will see participants attend a number of events and meetings in both Shanghai and Beijing.
Wordlegs.com, an online journal for young Irish writers, has created two ebooks, wordlegs Presents: 30 Under 30 I and II. The ebooks were launched on the site on Monday 12th March 2012.
The team at wordlegs.com editor, Elizabeth Reapy, and artistic director, Cathal Sherlock, say the ebooks represent an extension of the website and feature a collection of 30 stories from 30 Irish writers, all aged 30 or younger. Each ebook is priced at 99c and can be downloaded from Amazon onto any smart phone device or e-reader.
According to the pair the collection ‘announces the arrival of the “next generation” of Irish literature’ and includes pieces by Stephen James Smith, Kerrie O’Brien, Andrew Fox and Shane Ward, amongst other new writers from both sides of the border.
Speaking at the launch, Reapy said ‘Electronic reading and publishing is about to explode in Ireland. Especially with the release of the Kindle app for iPhones and smart devices. Its quick access to edgy, entertaining literature is gaining huge popularity among my generation.’
Reapy says, ‘It’s exciting to be involved in an indie electronic publishing industry in Ireland. We have plenty of ideas and have built up a dedicated following from all around the world. The important thing is to encourage homegrown talent and bring young Irish writers to the fore.’
The website will publish its 10th issue this summer.
As noted by John Bowman in a welcoming address for the inaugural Edward Carson Lecture at Iveagh House, Dublin last night (Thursday 29th March 2012), the period between 1911-23 went as quickly for those living them as 2000-12 has gone for us. Yet that same period was packed with momentous events and movements the like of which seem to make our own times less impressive.
Irish publishers have not been slow to publish titles to take advantage of the upcoming centenaries. Mercier, Irish Academic Press and others have published Titanic related titles for instance and RIA published a beautiful book looking at 1911 only last year.
Two new series from Irish publishers are targeted more particularly at the 1916 Rising. The O’Brien Press offers the more structured series, 16 Lives, complete with attractive marketing materials and a high profile launch in the GPO in Dublin last night.
The major new biographical series aims to be informative, authoritative, accessible and is the first ever complete series of biographies of the sixteen men executed after the 1916 Easter Rising. 16 Lives is written by historians and, in some cases, by descendants of the sixteen leaders.
The First three titles in the series, those on James Connolly by Lorcan Collins, Joseph Plunkett by Honor O Brolchain and Michael Mallin by Brian Hughes have been published with more to follow each year up to 2016.
New Island’s series, 1916 In Focus had, in contrast, a less high-profile launch at The Distillery Building on Church street with the publication of Paul O’Brien’s, Crossfire: The Battle Of The Four Courts, 1916.. Perhaps that’s appropriate because the series, rather than looking at individuals or the grand strategy of 1916, puts the emphasis on ‘micro-histories of the Rising,’ in an effort to ‘make the macro picture that bit more textured, detailed and true to life.’
New Island plans several more titles in the series, including a second by O’Brien in September called Field Of Fire: The Battle Of Ashbourne, 1916.
With Mercier Press in the process of re-issuing both its Dan Breen & Ernie O’Malley classics and reissuing a number of biographies of leading republicans of the period under an Irish Revolutionaries series it seems Irish publishers are hoping commemoration is a good bet in the years ahead.
Issue 1 of THE SOUTH CIRCULAR (covered here last week), available to download from www.thesouthcircular.com for just €3.00, features four stories by emerging authors Eddie Stack, Eley Williams, Shane Hulgraine and Adrian Duncan. The cover jacket features the work of young Irish illustrator and designer, Fuchsia Macaree. THE SOUTH CIRCULAR is now taking submissions for issue 2, due in June 2012. Authors may submit their work to submissions@thesouthcircular.com between 26 March and 16 April 2012.
The O’Brien Press has teamed up with the One City One Book project to launch a special edition of Dubliners for 2012. 2012 will be the seventh year of the Dublin: One City, One Book project, designed to encourage everyone in the city to read the same book during the month of April each year. It is hoped that everyone will get involved and read Dubliners, which is more accessible and approachable than some of Joyce’s other works, such as Ulysses, which are traditionally seen as more challenging. The move comes in the year that James Joyce’s work moved into the public domain.
The deadline for submissions to the Irish jury for the European Prize for Literature 2012 is Friday, 30th March 2012 by 3pm. The prize if for emerging authors. The emerging author must have been published for the first time within the last five years. They need to have between 2 – 4 books published within this period, and the maximum number of translations of their work is 4. More for Publishing Ireland.
Easons ran a 24 hour sale on ebooks through their website from 10am Thursday, March 30th, through 9:59am Friday, March 31st. The bookseller offered Save 20% on 24 bestselling eBooks. The sale included fiction and non-fiction titles and customers could purchase titles like The Sealed Letter by Emma Donoghue, 10th Anniversary by James Patterson and How to be a Woman by Caitlin Moran as well as Solace by Belinda Mckeon.
Following on from the hugely successful and award winning Grimm’s Rapunzel comes Grimm’s Red Riding Hood powered by PopIris™. Ideal Binary has taken yet another Grimm Brothers classic and updated it with modern language, a host of dazzling, fully interactive pop-up scenes, wonderful music, narration and humorous sound effects.
Liberties Press is seeking a Rights Assistant to join its growing Dublin-based team. The successful candidate will maintain the company’s rights database, make appointments for the London and Frankfurt Book Fairs, send sales material and sample text to international publishers, and maintain contact with our network of rights agents. Relevant experience would be useful but is not essential, as full training will be given. Please apply by email with a CV and covering letter to sean@libertiespress.com by Monday 9 April.
Hachette UK has acquired worldwide rights in the Enid Blyton estate, excluding Noddy, from Chorion.
Hachette Children’s Books m.d. Marlene Johnson said: “I am absolutely delighted that we have acquired world rights to publish Enid Blyton. Hodder was her original publisher, so it is fitting that her whole portfolio has come home and will now be published and managed under one roof. We will be honouring existing contracts and will be in touch with licensees in due course.”
One TOC, four days of actual book fair, roughly 70 miles walked, approximately 30 pounds of catalogs gathered, and hundreds of exchanged business cards later, my first Bologna Children’s Book Festival is finito. It was a memorable, exhausting, and exhilarating week. I left Bologna with sore and tired feet, a couple of pounds heavier from all the gelato I managed to consume at La Sorbetteria Castiglione, and a renewed sense of optimism on publishing in general and children’s publishing in particular. Stuck at our desks back at home, it’s easy to see the world through blinders and to forget what a big, diverse, creative and interesting world of children’s books there is out there.
via 2012 Bologna Book Fair Review: “Confidence and Opportunity” | Publishing Perspectives.
New Island will launch Crossfire: The Battle of The Four Courts, 1916 on Wednesday 28th March at 6pm in the Distillery Building 145-151 Church Street.
The book is the first of a new Series entitle 1916 In Focus and is written by Paul O’Brien.
Blurb:
The exciting military history of one of the toughest fights of the 1916 Rising.
The 1916 Rising was about much, much more than the GPO. Around the city many volunteers and British soldiers were killed and wounded, fighting in vicious urban warfare. One of the many forgotten struggles centred on North King Street and the Four Courts and, in this brilliant new book, Paul O’Brien revisits that conflict.
Delving deep into the archives and the testimony of those involved, Crossfire brings to life a desperate struggle between mismatched forces, one that forced rebels to learn new ways of fighting on the cuff.
This gripping military history book is in turn exciting and tragic and does more than many books to expose the often forgotten stories of the 1916 Rising.
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