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Fantasy news round-up, October 26, 2011

An image of Peter Dinklage, who plays Tyrion Lannister in Game of Thrones.

George RR Martin reveals his favourite ‘Game of Thrones’ actors New York Magazine’s Vulture asked Game of Thrones author George RR Martin to mention who were his favourite actors in the HBO series. “Certainly Peter Dinklage did an amazing job with Tyrion, who is one of my favorite characters in the books. We always wanted [...]

Fantasy news round-up: October 3, 2011

Here is a round-up of events in the fantasy-related literary world over the past week or so. JK Rowling honoured by Edinburgh University The Harry Potter author received the University Benefactor’s Award for her financial contribution to multiple sclerosis research at the Scottish institution. Rowling donated 10 million pounds ($16 million) to establish the Anne [...]

The World Book Night top 100 books to read, give and share

An image of the front cover of the Pullitzer Prize winning book, To Kill A Mockingbird

The folks over at World Book Night – www.worldbooknight.org – asked readers to nominate the 10 books they most love to read, give and share. Over 6,000 people nominated more than 8,000 titles and the top 100 are displayed below. I am pleased to say that I have read 22 of the listed titles and [...]

Keren David wins Lancashire Book of the Year Award with debut novel

The winner of the Lancashire Book of the Year Award has just been announced. Congratulations to Keren David who won for his debut novel When I was Joe, which beat 84 other nominees to the prestigious award. David received £1,000 from the Chairman of Lancashire County Council, Councillor Geoffrey Roper. In When I was Joe [...]

Philip Pullman named as finalist for the Hans Christian Andersen Award

Philip Pullman is one of 59 finalists selected for the prestigious Hans Christian Andersen Award, the highest international recognition given to an author of children’s books. The award is presented every two years by the International Board on Books for Young People (IBBY) to an author and illustrator whose complete works have made an important [...]

World Book Night announces stellar cast

Margaret Atwood, Alan Bennett, Nick Cave, John Le Carre, Rupert Everett, Mark Haddon, Hanif Kureishi, Edna O’Brien, DBC Pierre, Lemn Sissay, Derek Walcott and Philip Pullman have so far been confirmed to headline a World Book Night launch event compered by Graham Norton in Trafalgar Square on the eve of World Book Night. The event, [...]

Fantasy news round-up, January 20, 2011

Image: Christopher Lee playing Saruman in the Lord of the Rings film.

Lee and Holm in talks to reprise Lord of the Rings roles in The Hobbit Sir Christopher Lee is in talks to reprise his role as the wizard Saruman and that Ian Holm will appear as an older version of his beloved role, Bilbo Baggins. Peter Jackson already secured the return of Andy Serkis (Gollum), [...]

The top-selling 100 books, 1998-2010

Image: Harry Potter and the Hogwarts Express from the cover of The Philosopher's Stone

Nielsen Bookscan, the world’s largest book tracking service, recently supplied a leading newspaper with total transaction data, collected directly from the tills and dispatch systems of all major book retailers. This data covers over 90% of all retail book purchases in the UK. This data has enabled the creation of a listing of the 100 [...]

Philip Pullman: Library closures and book charity funding

Children’s fantasy author Philip Pullman has attacked proposals to save £2m over four years by scaling back the library service. Unless volunteers step in to run the 20 libraries, they will close next year under the Conservative-run council’s budget plans. “Closing 20 out of 43 libraries is an absolutely shameful number, and it is not [...]

Fantasy news round-up, December 23, 2010

Hay Festival 2011 headline guests announced The Telegraph Hay Festival has announced the first tranche of novelists, historians, actors and musicians that will be gracing this year’s event at Hay-on-Wye, the annual festival of literature and the arts which runs next year from May 26-June 6. Among the star names attending are the actor Simon [...]

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Books of the Month: May 2013

Four books - old and new alike - that were a joy to read are selected each month. See past winners.