Congratulations to the shortlist for the 2023 BBC Young Writers’ Award with Cambridge University, which has now been announced. Chair of judges Katie Thistleton revealed the five selected writers live on Radio 1, Life Hacks, on Sunday 17th September 2023.
The 2023 BBC Young Writers’ Award: Shortlist announced!, BBC
Entering a writing competition is a fantastic way to put your work in front of a publisher. We are therefore hugely excited to be working with Canelo, one of the largest independent digitally focused publishers in Europe and one of the largest UK fiction publishers by volume, to find the best, as yet unpublished, manuscripts.
Manuscripts entered into the I Am In Print Novel Award must be complete, written in English and be between 70,000 and 100,000 words. The award is open to writers globally and novels written for an adult audience in the following genres are welcome: Action thriller, Cosy mystery, Crime, Historical adventure, Horror, Psychological thriller, Romance, and Saga.
https://www.iaminprint.co.uk/novel-award-2023/
Inclusive Books for Children (IBC), a new charity, has launched a website that aims to make “sourcing high quality inclusive children’s books a seamless experience”, supporting parents and caregivers as they buy books. The site contains over 700 freely available expert book reviews and recommendations, and can be
Inclusive Books for Children launches website
navigated to find books “featuring protagonists with specific characteristics, browse booklists curated by
theme or types of representation and much more.”
Bonnier Books UK today announces the launch of Hatch Press, the home of creativity, inspiration and amazing adventures through history.
The newest imprint within the company’s thriving children’s division, Hatch Press will publish non-fiction, hands-on learning, and art and activity titles for fledgling readers between 3-12 years old – laying the foundations for a lifetime love of books.
Bonnier Books UK
This one is from slightly further afield – a list of good reading from Belfast.
From classic crime capers to historical retellings, Aine Toner has a varied list of new books this month.
What’s booking: September reads, Belfast Telegraph
Blue Peter has unveiled a new Book badge, designed by one of the UK’s best-known illustrators, Sir Quentin Blake.
The Blue Peter Book badge will be awarded to children aged 5-15 who send in their thoughts on a book, draw a character or scene and share which other books and writers they love.
Blue Peter reveals a new Book Badge, designed by Sir Quentin Blake, BBC Media Centre
In the United Kingdom in 2023, 28.7 percent of children and young people aged between eight and 18 years old reported having read print comics outside of school, the highest recorded since the 2017/2018 survey. Print was generally the preferred format for reading materials, with the exception of news and song lyrics, which more kids and teens chose to read on a screen.
Comic book reading by young people in the United Kingdom 2017-2023, by format; Published by Amy Watson, Sep 6, 2023, found via statista.com
This recent study shows that print comic reading is up for the first time in a while. Although the story lead here is the statista.com website (free account required), the source of the study can be found here.
Other findings include:
Hello and welcome to a new blog – outside news.
I started this blog because I wanted to share news about books that I see. I know Matt has helped other people set up feed groups to put headlines on the front page. That’s cool and I support it. This is for those cases where the news matters but there’s no feed to get the important headlines.
Posts here should be of the form “headline, outlet, and introductory quote with prominent links” to the full story. Images are good but not mandatory.
Anyone can share news here by joining the group but only mods and admins can publish them. That is just to protect against spam. Once we get to know you, we will make you a group mod so you can post freely.