The 2008 Books Alive campaign has commenced. You may have seen the ’50 books you can’t put down’ promotional material in the weekend press.
Well, Boomerang Books is happy to be a part of the campaign for the first time – buy one of the 50 books from us and you will receive a FREE copy of Michael Robotham’s explosive new thriller Bombproof.
You can see the full list of 50 books here…
Here’s some information about Bombproof and Michael Robotham…
The sisters of an Australian woman who committed suicide using the drug Nembutal, have called on Attorney-General Robert McClelland to ban Philip Nitschke’s book Killing Me Softly: Voluntary Euthanasia and the Road to the Peaceful Pill (written with Fiona Stewart, Penguin). However, Nitschke said his book does not encourage or direct a person to commit suicide. The woman in question had been refused membership to Nitschke’s organisation Exit International on psychiatric grounds, according to ABC Online. ‘If a person has got a clear psychiatric history we let them know that we think that they need to access appropriate services for that,’ said Nitschke. Another book by Nitschke, The Peaceful Pill Handbook, cannot be sold in retail shops in Australia, after being refused classification in 2007. However, it can be mail-ordered by individuals from Exit International in the US, is available on Amazon and, since May, is able to be sold in New Zealand if sealed and with an indication of censorship displayed.
The University of Warwick in the UK has launched a new writing prize for ‘an excellent and substantial piece of writing in the English language, in any genre or form’. Open to authors writing in English in any country, the £50,000 (A$102,000) prize will be awarded biennially, beginning in 2009. The theme for the inaugural prize is ‘complexity’. A panel of five judges including mathematician Ian Steward and literary blogger Stephen Mitchelmore will announce a longlist of 15 to 20 titles in October and a shortlist of six in January 2009 with the winner to be announced in February next year. ‘The winning submission will represent an intellectual, scientific and/or imaginative advance and be written with an energy and clarity that make it accessible and attractive to a wide audience,’ said a statement. In addition to the £50,000 monetary prize, the winning author will be awarded the opportunity to take up a short placement at the University. To find out more visit www.warwick.ac.uk/go/prizeforwriting.
Salman Rushdie was today (10 July) named winner of the Best of the Booker award for Midnight’s Children.
The shortlist of six books was selected by a panel of judges – the biographer, novelist and critic Victoria Glendinning (Chair), writer and broadcaster Mariella Frostrup, and John Mullan, Professor of English at University College, London. The decision then went to a public poll. Midnight’s Children won with 36% of the votes.
Victoria Glendinning commented, ‘The readers have spoken – in their thousands. And we do believe that they have made the right choice.’
Midnight’s Children won the Booker Prize in 1981. It was then chosen as the Booker of Bookers in 1993 – the only other time a celebratory prize has been awarded.
Meet the dedicated band of political and creative strategists who engineered Labor’s reversal of fortune.
See first-hand the birth of a new style of campaigning.
Discover who was responsible for Kevin07.
Due to intense media demand, Melbourne University Press will release August title Inside Kevin 07 a week early. The new in-store date is Monday, 21 July.
Inside Kevin 07 takes readers into the extraordinary campaign that put Kevin Rudd in the Lodge. Labor’s 2007 victory was historic, not only in numerical terms, but also in what it represents about the party itself, and its future.Among other things, the 2007 campaign showed the emergence of a new kind of Labor leader in Kevin Rudd, who had neither a factional powerbase nor close ties with the unions. It also showed the return of the positive campaign, and the ALP’s strategic use of modern media, from YouTube to the catchphrases that we heard during the course of 2007. ‘Working families’, anyone?Christine Jackman has had the full cooperation of all the key Labor players in the campaign, including Kevin Rudd and Tim Gatrell, and the book is written from her exclusive access to research and files from the Labor camp. Inside Kevin 07 is an unprecedented revelation of how a modern political party works – and succeeds.
Random House Australia wishes to express its deep sadness regarding the recent death of Jane McGrath. Our thoughts are with Glenn and his family at this very difficult time. Glenn McGrath: Line and Strength – The Complete Story by Glenn McGrath with Daniel Lane ISBN 9781741667196, went to print two weeks ago in accordance with Glenn McGrath’s management and is still on schedule for an 1 August publication date. Random House will be donating a percentage of each copy sold to the McGrath Foundation, which supports Australian women touched by breast cancer. Further donations to the McGrath Foundation can be made at any branch of the National Australia Bank or at http://www.mcgrathfoundation.com.au/.
Boomerang Books has just launched a support program for Australian publishers which is designed to assist them to sell more Australian books.
We are offering Aussie publishers a sub-site on the Boomerang Books website through which to promote their books, among a number of other benefits.
We have just opened a sub-site for Lonely Planet:
For further information, please click here:
The finalists in the Romance Writers of Australia’s 2008 Romantic Book of the Year awards have been announced.
The shortlisted titles in each category are:
Long work: Claiming the Courtesan (Anna Campbell, Harper Collins Australia); Duet (Kimberley Freeman, Hachette Livre Australia); Tomorrow’s Promises (Anna Jacobs, Hodder); Ashblane’s Lady (Sophia James, Harlequin Quill); Serendipity (Melanie La’ Brooy, Penguin); Lands Beyond the Sea (Tamara McKinley, Hodder & Staughton).
Short work: The Prince’s Forbidden Virgin (Robyn Donald, Harlequin Mills & Boon); Their Lost-and-Found Family (Marion Lennox, Harlequin Medical); The Single Dad’s Marriage Wish (Carol Marinelli, Harlequin Medical); Island Heat (Sarah Mayberry, Harlequin Blaze); One Night before Marriage (Anne Oliver, Harlequin Sexy Sensation); Outback Man Seeks Wife (Margaret Way, Harlequin Sweet).
The winners will be announced at the Romance Writers Association national annual conference in Melbourne on 23 August.
http://www.booksellerandpublisher.com.au/articles/2008/06/08569/
Original illustrations by Julie Vivas from the much-loved children’s classic Possum Magic (Mem Fox, Scholastic) will be on display to the public until 28 July at Walker Street Gallery in Dandenong in Melbourne, in an exhibition curated by Books Illustrated.
