Daily Book News Monday, 19th January 2026

DAILY SUMMARY:

From multimillion‑dollar rights deals and worldwide festivals to quirky sentencing schemes, the weekend’s publishing news was anything but dull. Publishers locked horns with AI giants, bookstores fought back against ICE, and new partnerships promised to spread stories from Little Free Libraries to Vietnam’s picture‑book boom. Meanwhile, Julian Barnes bowed out, romance fans revelled in Heated Rivalry, and tech tales ranged from voice‑drafted manuscripts to an emoji‑breaking Kindle bug.

Publishing Industry News

Vietnamese children’s books break through international markets

Vietnam’s Slowbooks, founded by Nguyen Huu Quynh Huong, has sold picture‑book rights abroad, including to Korean publisher Seomdre, and plans an inaugural children’s picture‑book festival to capitalise on Asia‑Pacific market growth. The company credits storytelling rooted in local culture for attracting international partners and hopes to strengthen Vietnam’s place in the booming global picture‑book trade.

Frankfurt Book Fair rediscovers India

Frankfurt Book Fair’s vice‑president Claudia Kaiser promised to showcase Tamil literature and court India’s US $8.8‑billion market. The New Publishing Standard notes this renewed enthusiasm comes after years of “benign neglect” and questions whether the fair’s commercial motives will translate into genuine investment in India’s 24 000‑strong publishing sector.

ILP secures $100m funding

International Literary Properties has lined up a US $100 million credit facility—said to be the largest stand‑alone literary and theatrical IP financing to date—to fund further acquisitions of authors’ estates and dramatic rights. The funds will allow the IP investor to pursue more backlist properties in a fast‑consolidating rights market.

Maverick Arts launches production company

Children’s publisher Maverick Arts has created a production arm to adapt its titles for screen, starting with a TV fantasy series based on the Dragon Girl books. The move signals a growing trend among publishers to retain more control over audiovisual adaptations.

Faber buys ‘stunning Icelandic‑inspired’ Christmas book

Faber acquired a festive picture book by Katherine Woodfine and illustrator Lizzy Stewart that blends Icelandic folklore and cosy Christmas magic. The publisher hailed the story as a future classic and plans to launch it as a seasonal highlight.

Standard Chartered backs Business Book awards

Standard Chartered and the Financial Times have partnered to fund the Business Book of the Year Award and the Bracken Prize for Young Authors, bringing new corporate clout to the prestigious non‑fiction prizes.

IPA calls for nominations for Prix Voltaire 2026

The International Publishers Association opened nominations for the 2026 Prix Voltaire, honouring publishers who champion freedom of expression under authoritarian regimes. The prize aims to spotlight those who continue to publish despite threats to their safety.

Harriet Muncaster to headline Stepping Into Stories festival

“Isadora Moon” creator Harriet Muncaster will headline the Stepping Into Stories festival alongside authors Joseph Coelho, AM Dassu, Dapo Adeola and Ross Montgomery. The event, which celebrates children’s literature, is expected to draw young readers with interactive sessions and readings.

Huddersfield Literature Festival turns 20

Huddersfield Literature Festival announced a star‑studded line‑up—including comedians Ardal O’Hanlon and writers Val McDermid, Joanne Harris, Lemn Sissay and poet laureate Simon Armitage—to celebrate its twentieth anniversary, signalling the festival’s growing status on the UK literary calendar.

Publishers unite with authors in Google AI lawsuit

Hachette and Cengage joined authors in a US class‑action suit alleging Google’s Gemini AI illegally used books to train its model; the publishers argue they must be class representatives to ensure AI developers respect intellectual property. The case underscores rising tensions between tech platforms and rights‑holders.

Canelo acquires supernatural suspense by CD Major

Digital‑first publisher Canelo snapped up CD Major’s supernatural suspense novel, expanding its crime and thriller list. The acquisition illustrates continued demand for commercial genre fiction with high‑concept hooks.

Fourth Estate buys Min Jin Lee’s new epic

HarperCollins imprint Fourth Estate has obtained UK rights to Min Jin Lee’s forthcoming “breathtaking contemporary epic.” The highly anticipated novel marks the author’s first major work since the success of Pachinko and will be published simultaneously with the US edition.

Publishers move to join Google AI copyright lawsuit

The Association of American Publishers announced that Cengage Group and Hachette Book Group filed a motion to intervene as class representatives in a lawsuit accusing Google’s Gemini AI of training on pirated books. The publishers say AI companies must take responsibility for using copyrighted works.

Sharjah Festival of African Literature celebrates ‘The African Way’

The second Sharjah Festival of African Literature, held 14–18 January, brought together 20 African and nine Emirati authors to discuss cross‑cultural exchanges, with panels on Ethiopian, South African and Zanzibari literature. Zimbabwean novelist Tsitsi Dangarembga received a lifetime achievement award during the five‑day celebration.

USBBY releases 2026 Outstanding International Books list

The United States Board on Books for Young People unveiled its annual Outstanding International Books list, featuring 41 titles from 24 countries that explore themes of identity, hope, intergenerational bonds and migration. The list will be presented at the SCBWI Winter Conference to help librarians and educators broaden young readers’ horizons.

Book deals: Week of January 19 2026

Publishers Weekly’s weekly round‑up features a flurry of deals: HarperVia bought world rights to Ruth Graham’s true‑crime tale “Sons of God,” Phoebe Robinson sold her humorous self‑help book “Rich Auntie,” Alexandra Christo signed a YA fantasy series about a monster hunter, Reba McQueen landed a werewolf rom‑com and numerous other fiction and non‑fiction titles found homes across imprints.

Twin Cities bookstores contend with ICE

Independent bookstores in Minneapolis–St Paul described emotional toll and lost footfall after heightened immigration enforcement outside their shops. Owners handed out whistles, hosted activist meetings and said some authors cancelled events; they pledged to continue serving immigrant communities despite intimidation.

One World and Little Free Library partner on book‑sharing boxes

PRH imprint One World teamed with Little Free Library to install 12 book‑sharing boxes decorated with One World Essentials branding across the US. Each library receives 25 copies of titles such as “The Sun Does Shine,” and community organisations can apply to host them until mid‑February.

Ingram teams with Backstage to improve library service

Ingram Library Services partnered with Backstage Library Works to offer shelf‑ready processing and cataloguing; Backstage will ship prepared materials directly to libraries, allowing Ingram to expand supply capacity and streamline acquisitions.

Asterism’s Joshua Rothes on distribution growth

Asterism founder Joshua Rothes told Publishers Weekly that the distributor’s revenue jumped 87% after the collapse of Small Press Distribution, prompting new publishers to join. He plans to build a monthly catalogue, enhance e‑commerce features and seek investment to scale his scrappy operation.

Fighting book bans, coast to coast

Publishers Weekly surveyed nationwide legal battles against school book bans: the ACLU and several publishers are suing states like Utah, Iowa and Idaho over laws targeting “sensitive” materials, while Florida is defending restrictions on 1 600 titles. Advocates argue the bans infringe free‑speech rights and disproportionately target books about LGBTQ+ and Black experiences.

This week’s bestsellers: January 19 2026

Publishers Weekly’s latest list saw Reese Witherspoon’s book‑club pick “Queenie Ginger” surge to the top, while Benjamin Markovits’s novel “The Rest of Our Lives” debuted strongly and Tania James’s Booker long‑listed “To Die For” cracked the top 10. The report notes that self‑help and celebrity memoirs remain resilient sellers.

How ‘This Book Made Me Think of You’ was made

Author Libby Page, agent Hayley Steffens and editor Tara Singh reveal the genesis of Page’s new novel: a love letter to libraries about a young woman who pairs strangers’ books with friendship notes. They discuss how the idea grew from a TikTok meme and why the cover art evokes the warmth of bookish community.

Self‑Publishing & Independent Publishing News

Advice Podcast: Three trends for 2026

ALLi co‑founders Orna Ross and Joanna Penn discuss 2026 trends for indie authors, urging creators to embrace “agentic AI,” build permission‑based audiences, earn readers’ trust through authenticity and reconnect with real‑world communities. They argue that discoverability will depend on combining human values with technological tools.

From audiobooks to manuscripts: speech‑to‑text tools support book creation

Good e‑Reader highlights how modern voice‑recognition software lets authors start drafts orally, turning spoken words into text. The article notes that dictation captures the natural cadences of storytelling, bridges audio and print, helps writers edit by ear and eye, and empowers those with disabilities or busy schedules to write more easily.

HANNspree Lumo reading tablet launched

HANNspree unveiled the Lumo tablet, featuring a paper‑like ecoVISION display that offers 16.7 million colours at a 60 Hz refresh rate and low power consumption. Running Android 14 with an optional stylus, the device aims to marry e‑reader comfort with full tablet performance for eco‑conscious book lovers.

Amazon launches Digital Arabic Store

Amazon and Abu Dhabi’s Arabic Language Centre opened a digital storefront offering more than 33 000 Kindle e‑books, 5 000 audiobooks and 1 000 free titles in Arabic. The initiative addresses a long‑standing dearth of Arabic digital content and is billed as a bridge between global readers and Arab culture.

Emoji bug hits Amazon Kindle devices

Good e‑Reader reports that Kindle devices with emojis in their user‑assigned name suffer a home‑screen glitch that hides recommended reading and library functions. The fix is simple—remove the emoji—but the bug highlights unexpected pitfalls of personalisation.

Academic & Scholarly Publishing

The Scholarly Kitchen’s 2025 readership survey

The Scholarly Kitchen’s survey found that 75% of respondents see the blog as their main source of industry news, with most reading via email and LinkedIn rather than X/Twitter. Readers value strategic and trend analysis and want more perspectives from early‑career and non‑US voices; the editors plan to respond accordingly.

Guest editors accused of ‘academic narcissism’

A Times Higher Education analysis of 100 000 special issues found that some guest editors publish extensively in their own issues, with more than 1 000 annual cases where one‑third of the content is self‑authored. Scholars call for rules limiting such endogeny to prevent “publish in support of self” practices.

Springer Nature retracts ‘bizarre’ linguistics paper

Springer Nature withdrew a January paper that claimed ancient Greeks forbade referring to water as H₂O. Linguists criticised the article’s sloppy methodology and misuse of terms like “primitive languages”; the publisher apologised and promised tighter peer‑review processes for humanities journals.

Political pressure has no place in university hiring decisions

PEN America condemned the University of Arkansas for rescinding legal scholar Emily Suski’s job offer after state politicians objected to her critiques of gender‑equity policies. The organisation warned that such interference threatens academic freedom and cited similar cases at Harvard and the University of Pennsylvania.

Notable Book News & Book Reviews

‘Heated Rivalry’ feels the love

Sales of Rachel Reid’s queer hockey romance “Heated Rivalry” skyrocketed nearly 1 000% after HBO’s TV adaptation, propelling the book onto bestseller lists. Harlequin has rushed a reprint and commissioned a new companion novel, underscoring the power of streaming adaptations to breathe new life into backlist titles.

This week’s bestsellers: January 19 2026

Publishers Weekly’s bestseller report highlighted Reese Witherspoon’s pick “Queenie Ginger,” Benjamin Markovits’s novel “The Rest of Our Lives” and Booker‑long‑listed “To Die For,” noting continued strength for celebrity memoirs and feel‑good fiction. The list provides a snapshot of reader tastes heading into the new year.

Making of ‘This Book Made Me Think of You’

Libby Page and her team explain how a viral TikTok trend about leaving notes in library books inspired a novel about a woman who matches strangers through recommended reads. The process shows how social‑media quirks can spark traditional publishing projects.

Top paperback nonfiction bestsellers (Jan 4–10)

Quill & Quire’s list of Canada’s top-selling paperback nonfiction titles for early January features health memoirs, biography and true crime. The ranking reflects readers’ appetite for real‑life stories and practical advice.

Julian Barnes says his new novel will be his last

Booker‑winning author Julian Barnes revealed that his forthcoming novel “Departures” will mark his retirement from fiction, saying he has “played all his tunes” but will continue journalism. Approaching his 80th birthday, Barnes urged writers to stop publishing when they no longer have something new to say.

Weekend long‑read recommendations

The Guardian’s weekend round‑up highlighted six fascinating reads: essays on Greenland’s independence movement and US prison violence, a profile of pioneering artist Marlow Moss’s influence on Piet Mondrian, a piece on the science of friendship, an examination of the smash‑hit TV adaptation “Heated Rivalry” and an interview with short‑story master George Saunders.

Bolsonaro tries to cut sentence by reading books

Brazil’s former president Jair Bolsonaro is attempting to shave four days off his 27‑year sentence for a failed coup by reading books under a Brazilian law that rewards inmate literacy. Critics note that Bolsonaro has publicly admitted he rarely reads, casting doubt on the tactic’s sincerity.

Calls for healthcare reform after Adichie family tragedy

Outrage erupted after Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie and her husband alleged that medical negligence led to the death of their 21‑month‑old son. The tragedy has spurred calls to overhaul Nigeria’s healthcare system and sparked debate about accountability in private hospitals.

Fan‑fiction romance ‘Heated Rivalry’ becomes TV sensation

BBC News profiled author Rachel Reid, whose queer hockey romance “Heated Rivalry” began as anonymous fan‑fiction and is now a smash‑hit TV drama. Reid says the series stays true to her novels and has fostered a warm community of fans who celebrate the story’s representation and heart.

Review of Julian Barnes’s ‘Departures’

The Washington Post reviews Barnes’s final novel, a hybrid of memoir and fiction in which the author revisits a youthful romance, reflects on memory and mortality and blurs the line between fact and invention. The critic calls “Departures” a fitting farewell from a master stylist.

13 new paperbacks to read this month

The Post’s monthly paperback guide recommends titles ranging from a newly released edition of the Church Committee report and Michelle Adams’s study of school integration “The Containment” to Chris Hayes’s tech critique “The Sirens’ Call,” William Boyle’s noir novel “Saint of the Narrows Street” and other fiction and non‑fiction worth adding to your reading list.

‘Attention activists’ urge readers to put down their phones

In an interview about the book “Attensity!,” co‑authors Alyssa Loh, D. Graham Burnett and Peter Schmidt describe their movement to reclaim human attention from tech companies. They coin the term “attention‑fracking” and call for collective action to defend our mental bandwidth.

Books in the media this weekend, 17 – 18 January

Books+Publishing rounded up titles appearing in Australian media, from literary fiction reviews to cookbook shout‑outs. Though details sit behind a paywall, the piece signals which books are getting buzz Down Under.

The dirty truth about your clean‑energy car

In The New York Times Book Review, Siddharth Kara’s “Cobalt Red” exposes how the drive for electric vehicles relies on cobalt mined in unsafe Congolese conditions, including child labour. The review highlights Kara’s call for consumers and governments to demand ethical supply chains.

Love ‘Heated Rivalry’? Read these romance novels next

A New York Times recommendation list suggests romance novels—spanning queer sports love stories, cosy contemporary tales and historical sapphic dramas—to fans of “Heated Rivalry,” proving the TV adaptation has whetted appetites for diverse love stories.

Source & Discussion: View original thread