BTW News Briefs

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince Paperback Coming in July

On January 18, Scholastic announced that it will release the paperback edition of J.K. Rowling's sixth Harry Potter novel, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, on July 25, 2006. With a first printing of two million copies, the paperback version brings the total number of all six Harry Potter books in print in the U.S. to over 120 million. The paperback edition will be 672 page and will have a suggested retail price of $9.99.

Oprah Chooses New Book Club Selection

On Monday, January 16, Oprah announced that the next title to be read by Oprah's Book Club is Night by Nobel Prize-winner Elie Wiesel (FSG). Night is Wiesel's memoir of his family's experiences in the Auschwitz concentration camp. Oprah is also hosting a national essay contest for high school students who have read, or are currently reading, the book. To participate, students must respond to the question "Why is Elie Wiesel's book Night relevant today?"

For more about Oprah's Book Club, go to www.oprah.com.

National Book Critics Circle Announces Award Finalists

On January 14, the National Book Critics Circle (NBCC) announced the finalists for the 2005 NBCC awards in the categories of fiction, general nonfiction, biography, autobiography, criticism, and poetry. The winners will be announced March 3 at the organization's 32nd annual awards ceremony, which will be held at the Tishman Auditorium of the New School in New York City.

Among this year's nominees in the Autobiography category is Joan Didion for The Year of Magical Thinking (Knopf), and in the Fiction category, E.L. Doctorow, for The March (Random House), and William Vollman for Europe Central (Viking). For a full list of nominees, go to www.bookcritics.org/.

Holtzbrinck Names Feiwel Senior Vice President and Publisher

On January 18, Holtzbrinck Publishers announced the hiring of Jean Feiwel as senior vice president and publisher. Feiwel will start a broadly defined children's publishing division. She will also create new lines for paperback and other secondary format books from the existing children's properties within the Holtzbrinck companies. In addition, she will guide the overall children's book strategy for Holtzbrinck. Feiwel has spent 22 years at Scholastic.