Shehan Karunatilaka, Jonathan Cape debut novelist, has won the $50,000 DSC Prize for South Asian Literature 2012 for his book Chinaman (Jonathan Cape, UK / Random House India).  The Prize was awarded at the Jaipur Festival.To coincide with the announcement the DSC will launch a special South Asian reading campaign with a number of independent bookstores in London (including Foyles) which will run between Jan 30th and Feb 5th promoting Chinaman heavily.A total of six authors were part of the shortlist for the DSC Prize 2012, announced at the closing ceremony of the DSC South Asian Literature Festival in London. Ira Pandel (Head of the  Judges) said: "Chinaman is a brilliant nar...

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RHCB and TWP have teamed up with Aurasma, the world's leading augmented reality platform, to bring bestselling authors Lauren Kate and Sophie Kinsella's book jackets to life.When fans download a free app on their Smartphone then hold their device over the front cover of the book, the jacket images will come to life. Special video messages from the author can also be viewed by 'scanning' the author photos on the book jackets. The app, which works on iPhone and Android Smartphones, as well as iPad 2 and iPod touch, uses Aurasma's 'virtual browser' to recognise trigger images through the phone's camera, which then generate video content directly onto the device's screen.Fans of Lauren Kate...

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  Transworld are thrilled to announce that the ground-breaking app of Richard Dawkins’ and Dave McKean’s The Magic of Reality for iPad has won the Publishing Innovation Award for best non-fiction book app at the Digital Book World Conference in New York.  It is the mission of the PIAs “to highlight excellent publishers and authors, encourage new thinking and improv...

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This year's Waterstones 11, the major initiative created to uncover the best in debut fiction from around the world, is dominated by female talent, including three Random House Group authors.Announced on Thursday at Waterstones' flagship store, the list is seen as an indicator of potential prize contenders and those expected to go on to achieve critical and commercial success.  On the list are Cornerstone author Jenni Fagan, Transworld author Rachel Joyce and Vintage author Grace McCleen.The list in full (in alphabetical order):1. The Panopticon by Jenni Fagan (William Heinemann)2. Absolution by Patrick Flanery (Atlantic)3. Shelter by Frances Greenslade (Virago)4. The Art of F...

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John Burnside has won the 2011 T S Eliot Prize for Poetry with Black Cat Bone (Cape). Burnside was chosen from a field of eight highly-regarded poets, including the Poet Laureate. Black Cat Bone also won the 2011 Forward Prize.  The Judges of this year's prize were Gillian Clarke (Chair), Stephen Knight and Dennis O'Driscoll. Gillian Clarke, Chair of the judges, said: "Amongst an unprecedentedly strong and unusually well-received shortlist, John Burnside's Black Cat Bone is a haunting book of great beauty, powered by love, childhood memory, human longing and loneliness. In an exceptional year, it is an outstanding book, one which the judges felt grew with every reading."

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Random House Children's Books has teamed up with Swapit and Readathon to promote the hilarious Donut Diaries series by Anthony McGowan and David Tazzyman. Swapit users can enter a competition to design their own donut flavour which Anthony will write into book 3! They can also submit their questions about the Donut Diaries to Anthony who will be filmed answering the best of the bunch, plus re...

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Random House Speakers - www.randomhousespeakers.co.uk  - is an exciting new service for authors, offering an opportunity for paid speaking engagements worldwide.  Launched in response to the growing demand for speakers in the corporate market, it will provide authors with a year-round promotional platform outside of the publication calendar. Random House Speakers will represent auth...

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Ten books, including two titles published by The Random House Group, are soon to become the titles everyone is talking about on TV's best known literary discussion forum The TV Book Club, when the series returns to More4 on Sunday 29th January.The ten-part series launches with international bestseller and debut Before I Go To Sleep by S. J. Watson published (Transworld).  Watson won a Cr...

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Richard and Judy have launched their eight new Spring Book Club titles which include two Random House Group books: S J Watson's Before I Go To Sleep (Transworld) and Rachel Simon's The Story of Beautiful Girl (Cornerstone)Each title has customised digital content, offering the ability to either scan the QR code to immediately download the podcast of their chosen title, or download the first chapter of any one of the additional seven Spring Book Club titles free via text.The other six titles on the list are:Midwinter Sacrifice by Mons Kallentoft (Hodder) My Dear I Wanted to Tell You by Louisa Young (HarperCollins) Me Before You by Jojo Moyes (Penguin) The Paris Wife by Pau...

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Chef Anna Hansen, poet and playwright Dannie Abse, and Picasso biographer and historian John Richardson were delighted to feature in the 2012 New Year's Honours list.Hansen, chef and author of The Modern Pantry published by Ebury was awarded an MBE for services to the Restaurant Industry.  A culinary prodigy with a fresh and contemporary take on food, her renowned restaura...

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