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Gollancz wins the prestigious Yellow Pencil design awards

Orion Publishing has won a Yellow Pencil design award for the Gollancz Future Classics cover design. The prestigious Yellow Pencil awards are awarded to the best in the art and design world - the equivalent to the Oscars in status. The cover designs.

The judges look for highly original and inspiring ideas that are highly executed. Well done to the design team at Orion!

Orion marketing campaign wins at the British Book Awards

Orion Marketing Manager, Jessica Mead, has won the prestigious Guardian Marketing Campaign of the Year for her campaign to promote Young Stalin by Simon Sebag Montefiore, published by Weidenfeld & Nicolson. The award was announced at the British Book Awards gala dinner, held on the 13th May, where winners were announced in categories such as Campaign of the Year, Publisher of the Year and Editor of the Year.

JG Farrell shortlisted for The Best of the Booker

JG Farrell’s The Siege of Krishnapur was announced on Monday 12th May as a shortlisted title for The Best of the Booker - a one-off award to celebrate the 40th anniversary of The Booker Prize.

Polling is now open to the public to vote for their favourite out of the six shortlisted books chosen from the list of 41 Booker Prize and Man Booker Prize winners.

The overall winner of The Best of the Booker will be announced as part of the London Literature Festival at the Southbank Centre on 10 July where the winner will be awarded a custom-made trophy.

Votes can be registered via the Man Booker Prize website – www.themanbookerprize.com.

Alastair Reynolds book signings in Scandinavia

Alastair Reynolds recently held several book signings in Scandinavia for his new latest book House of Suns - a spectacular, large-scale space opera, the ultimate galaxy-spanning adventure. Check out our photos from the event below.

CREDIT: Robert Brown, SF-Bokhandeln, Stockholm, Sweden

Ilario & Rome Burning nominated for Sidewise Awards

Ilario by Mary Gentle and Rome Burning by Sophia McDougall have been shortlisted for the Sidewise Awards for Alernate History. The winners will be announced at Denvention 3, the 66th World Science Fiction Convention, the week of August 6-10 in Denver, USA.

Who Killed Nancy? Sid Vicious author directs documentary

A new documentary directed by Sid Vicious fan and author Alan Parker is set to be released in October this year. Exploring the truth behind who killed Nancy and where Sid was on the night of her death, the documentary will premiere at cinemas on the anniversary of Nancy’s death. Alan’s new book, Sid Vicious: No One is Innocent, will be released in September.

Black Man wins the 2008 Arthur C Clarke Award

Black Man by Richard Morgan, published by Gollancz, has won this year’s Arthur C Clarke Award. This was Richard’s second nomination for the award and fellow Gollancz author Stephen Baxter was also on the shortlist. This is the third year in succession Gollancz has scooped both major Science Fiction awards in this country – the Arthur C Clarke Award and the BSFA Award. Congratulations to Richard!

Eagle Annual drawings feature at the London Science Museum

Following the huge success of The Eagle Annual last Christmas, the Science Museum in London has opened a new exhibition called “Dan Dare and the Birth of High-Tech Britain”, which runs until October 2009.

The exhibition explores the birth of technology and how it shaped post-war Britain in all areas of society and features many of the famous ‘cutaway’ drawings that were a popular staple of the Eagle comic. These cutaways were featured in the Eagle Annual and in September 2008 will be reproduced in The Eagle Annual of The Cutaways, sure to induce a wave of nostalgia, even in a hard-hearted Mekon! Dan Dare fans are in for even more of a treat with the release of the first Dan Dare Audio CD “Voyage to Venus” in May 2008, complete with multi-voice cast and thrilling sound effects.

For more information on the “Dan Dare and the Birth of High-Tech Britain” exhibition, visit http://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk

Young Stalin Wins the Los Angeles Times Book Prize

Young Stalin by Simon Sebag Montefiore has won the Los Angeles Times Book Prize, one of America’s most prestigious prizes. Young Stalin has also been shortlisted for the biography section of The James Tait Black Memorial Prize, with the winner announced at the Edinburgh Book Festival in August 2008.

Young Stalin will be published in Phoenix paperback on 1 May 2008.

New Carlos Ruiz Zafón Novel to be published by W&N

Weidenfeld & Nicolson are delighted to announce the acquisition of Carlos Ruiz Zafón’s eagerly-awaited second novel, The Angel’s Game, a prequel to the bestseller The Shadow of the Wind, which was an international phenomenon in over forty countries, selling well over a million copies in the UK alone. It will be publishd in late Spring 2009, following the Spanish publication in April 2008

The Angel’s Game is set in Barcelona in the 1920s and 30s and follows a young writer who is approached by a mysterious figure to write a book. Carlos Ruiz Zafón has revealed it includes a return to The Cemetery of Forgotten Books, the mythical building nestling deep within Barcelona’s Raval district, as well as the Sempere & Sons bookshop.

Horrid Henry wins Children’s Book of the Year at the Galaxy British Book Awards

Congratulations to Francesca Simon, who has won Children’s Book of the Year at the Galaxy British Book Awards for her book Horrid Henry and the Abominable Snowman. The Galaxy British Book Awards are voted for by the public.

Saul Friedlander wins Pulitzer Prize

We are delighted to announce that Saul Friedlander has won the general non-fiction Pulitzer prize for his book The Years of Extermination: Nazi Germany and the Jews, 1939-1945.

The Pulitzers, created by the will of newspaper publisher Joseph Pulitzer, have occupied a prestigious place in American letters since the awards were first presented in 1917. They are judged by Columbia University on the recommendation of an 18-member board.

Orion authors Guests of Honour at CrimeFest

Orion is delighted to announce that Jeff Lindsay author of the acclaimed Dexter novels will be American Guest of Honour at CrimeFest 2008. CrimeFest will be taking place 5-8 June in Bristol and Jeff will be joining our own Ian Rankin (UK Guest of Honour) and Karin Fossum (European Guest of Honour) as well as a plethora of crimewriters and fans from across the UK.

Adam Foulds named Sunday Times Best Young Writer 2008!

Congratulations to Adam Foulds, author of The Truth About These Strange Times, who has won the Sunday Times Best Young Writer Award of 2008. The prize was announcd on April 6th at the Oxford Literary Festival. Past winners include Zadie Smith, Sarah Waters and William Dalrymple.

Linwood Barclay and Robert Crais nominated for ITW

Congratulations to Orion authors Linwood Barclay and Robert Crais who have both been nominated in the best novel category of the International Thriller Writers award. Linwood is nominated for No Time For Goodbye and Robert Crais is nominated for The Watchman. The winner will b announced at Thrillerfest in New York in July

Brasyl wins BSFA Best SF Novel of the Year

Gollancz swept the board at ‘Orbital’ – this year’s Easter SF Convention. Ian McDonald’s Brasyl won the British Science Fiction Award for Best SF Novel of the Year, and Brian Aldiss’s Non-Stop won the Retrospective Best SF Novel of 1958

Waterstone’s New Voices

Kei Miller, author of The Same Earth, has been chosen to take part in Waterstone’s ’New Voices’ promotion.

2007 Philip K. Dick Award

M. John Harrison’s Arthur C. Clarke Award-winning SF novel Nova Swing has won the 2007 Philip K. Dick Award

Best-selling authors auction new characters for autism charity

R. J. Ellory, author of A Quiet Belief in Angels, is among fifteen top-selling writers from across the globe taking part in this event titled ’Authors for Autism Research’.

British Army Military Book of the Year Award shortlist

Three Weidenfeld & Nicolson titles have been shortlisted for the first British Army Military Book of the Year Award.

Orion title short-listed for Orwell Prize 2008

BAD MEN by Clive Stafford Smith and FRIENDSHIP AND BETRAYAL by Graham Stewart have been included in the longlist for The Orwell Prize, the pre-eminent British prize for political writing. The prize is awarded to the book, and for the journalism, which is judged to have best achieved George Orwell’s aim to ‘make political writing into an art’.

Ghostwalk short-listed for Authors’ Club Award

Ghostwalk, the debut novel by Rebecca Stott, has been short-listed for the Authors’ Club Best First Novel Award 2008. The winner will be announced on the 2nd of April.

Basil Pao Exhibition at National Media Museum

An exhibition of the photography of Basil Pao, including images taken whilst accompanying Michael Palin on his many travels, can currently be seen in the Foyer of the National Media Museum in Bradford.

Young Stalin wins Biography Costa

Many congratulations to Simon Sebag Montefiore, whose Young Stalin was announced as the winner of the Costa Biography Award.

Gollancz titles sweep Gold, Silver and Bronze on Bookgasm list

Bookgasm.com has listed its top 5 SF titles of 2007, with Gollancz titles taking the top 3 slots! The bronze position was taken by Black Man by Richard Morgan, silver by 9Tail Fox by Jon Courtenay Grimwood and the gold by Ian McDonald for Brasyl

Young Stalin on the big screen!

Simon Sebag Montefiore, author of the Costa Biography of 2007, Young Stalin, has successfully concluded a deal with Miramax for the film rights to the book. The producer is going to be Alison Owen (who produced Elizabeth) and John Hodge is the screenwriter (of Shallow Grave and Trainspotting) with Pawel Pawlikowski (My Summer of Love) to direct.

Team England named BBC Sport’s Team of the Year

Team England were named as BBC Sport’s Team of the Year after their remarkable achievement in defying the odds at this year’s Rugby World Cup. The award was presented as part of the BBC Sports Personality of the Year Awards broadcast live on Sunday 9th December.

Young Stalin wins Bruno Kreisky Awards

Following its shortlisting for the 2007 Costa Biography Award, Young Stalin by Simon Sebag Montefiore has been awarded the Bruno Kreisky Award for the best Political Book of 2007, a prize given out every year since 1993 on behalf of the Karl Renner Institute in Austria. The prize is worth 7,000 Euros and will be awarded at a ceremony in Vienna in the spring of 2008.

Sepulchre launch

The crypt at St Martins-in-the-Field’s in London was the atmospheric setting for the Hallowe’en launch of Kate Mosse’s gripping new novel Sepulchre. See photographs.

Orion titles on CILIP Carnegie Medal long list

Four Orion titles have made it onto the long list for the prestigious CLIP Carnegie medal 2008. The titles nominated are: Gatty’s Tale by Kevin Crossley-Holland; Soul Eater by Michelle Paver; Blood Red, Snow White by Marcus Sedgwick and Dolphin Song by Lauren St John. The shortlist will be announced in January.

Gollancz titles in Amazon’s top 10 of 2007

Amazon.com have announced their top ten SF and Fantasy titles of 2007 and we’re proud to say that three out of ten are Gollancz titles! The list in full:

1. The Terror by Dan Simmons
2. Brasyl by Ian McDonald
3. Territory by Emma Bull
4. The Traitor by Michael Cisco
5. Spaceman Blues: A Lovesong by Brian Francis Slattery
6. Shelter by Susan Palwick
7. The Name of The Wind by Patrick Rothfuss
8. Black Man by Richard Morgan
9. Tin House: Fantastic Women by Aimee Bender
10. The Coyote Road edited by Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling

Marcus Sedgwick wins Booktrust Teenage Prize 2007

Marcus Sedgwick was today named as the winner of the Booktrust Teenage Prize 2007 for his gothic novel My Swordhand is Singing, published by Orion. Anthony McGowan, judge and winner of Booktrust Teenage Prize 2006: "My Swordhand is Singing hooks the reader from the opening sentence, and, like the Gypsy music at its core, resonates still in the imagination long after the last note is sounded.”

Laura Lippman wins Anthony Award

Congratulations to Orion author Laura Lippman, winner of a prestigious Anthony Award at this year’s Bouchercon Crime Book Convention in the States for No Good Deeds.

The Thirteenth Tale wins Yorkshire Book of the Year

Congratulations to Diane Setterfield, who has won the first annual Yorkshire Book of the Year Award for her debut novel, The Thirteenth Tale.

‘Pirates’ books to be made into an adventure film by Aardman Features

Aardman Features (who produced the film ‘Chicken Run’) will be producing a comedy adventure film based on Weidenfeld & Nicolson author Gideon Defoe’s series of ‘Pirates’ books

Nova Swing wins Arthur C. Clarke Award

Harrison’s much acclaimed novel of SF noir scooped the most prestigious prize in British science fiction literature at the award ceremony held on 2 May.

Boris Akunin novel to be filmed

Paul Verhoeven will begin shooting The Winter Queen (from the novel by Boris Akunin), to be called AZAZEL in summer, 2007.

Ian Rankin podcast guide to Edinburgh

Ian Rankin has recorded an exclusive podcast city guide for The Guardian.