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Lerner Publisher Services to Distribute Lorimer Children & Teens

Beginning August 2016, Lerner Publisher Services will be the exclusive U.S. distributor to the trade and to the school and public library markets for independent children’s publisher Lorimer Children & Teens.

The Minneapolis children’s book distributor, a division of Lerner Publishing Group, announced the agreement on May 26. The company will distribute 14 new Lorimer Children & Teens books for reluctant readers in both library-bound and paperback formats this fall, as well as the publisher’s backlist.

Customers can place orders for Lorimer titles with Lerner starting July 1, 2016.

Macmillan Buys E-Book Platform Pronoun

Macmillan has acquired e-book distribution platform Pronoun, formerly known as Vook, according to book and technology website Teleread.

Vook launched in 2009 as an e-publisher and in 2011 switched to running a digital publishing platform for others. In 2014, Vook acquired Booklr and Coliloquy and in 2015 changed its name to Pronoun.

Macmillan announced on May 25 that Pronoun will exist as a Macmillan subsidiary, with its CEO becoming president of Pronoun and its chief product officer becoming vice president of product for Macmillan.

According to Teleread, Macmillan COO Andrew Weber said Pronoun’s e-publishing and analytics technology will help Macmillan’s imprints, as well as independent authors.

2016 Children’s Choices List Announced

The 2016 Children’s Choices list, representing the best newly published children’s and young adult trade books as selected by children, was announced on June 1.

This year, more than 36,000 children from across the U.S. voted on their favorite books from a selection of 900 titles submitted by publishers. Submissions to the Children’s Choices program may also become finalists in the Children’s Choice Book Awards.

The Children’s Choices list is a joint project of the International Literacy Association and the Children’s Book Council (CBC) established 1976 to provide book recommendations for teachers, booksellers, librarians, parents, and caregivers. The CBC is accepting submissions for the 2017 Children’s Choices list through July 1.

Ostrovsky Receives 2016 Orwell Prize

Arkady Ostrovsky, Moscow bureau chief for The Economist, has won the 2016 Orwell Prize for his book The Invention of Russia: The Journey From Gorbachev’s Freedom to Putin’s War (Atlantic Books), about how a country that liberated itself from 70 years of Soviet rule ended up as one of the biggest threats to the West.

Through his original research and interviews as a foreign correspondent, Ostrovsky reveals the ideological conflicts, compromises, and temptations that plague modern-day Russia.

The Orwell Prize is a British prize for political writing of outstanding quality, offering awards in the categories of Book Prize, Journalism Prize, Blog Prize, Special Prize, and, since 2015, The Orwell Prize for Exposing Britain’s Social Evils.

Bernard Crick founded the prize in 1993, using money from the royalties of his biography of Orwell. The prize’s sponsors are Orwell’s adopted son Richard Blair, The Political Quarterly, and A.M. Heath & Company.

Suzanne Collins Wins Author’s Guild’s 2016 Award for Distinguished Service

The Authors Guild presented the 2016 Award for Distinguished Service to the Literary Community to Hunger Games author Suzanne Collins at the organization’s May 25 annual benefit dinner, the first time the award has gone to a Young Adult author.

Collins was honored for “exemplifying the unique power of young people’s literature to change lives and to create lifelong book lovers,” according to the Guild’s website.

The evening’s ceremonies, presided over by author and former Guild president Roy Blount, Jr., paid tribute to YA literature beginning with a performance of “The Hunger Games in 10 Minutes” by two students from the Bronx Prep charter school.

In her acceptance speech, Collins told the audience she writes for kids because, “I think the concepts of war — the realities, the politics, the ethical ambiguities — are introduced too late to children. These stories are written with the hope that if the whole idea of war were presented to people at an earlier age, we would have better dialogues going on about it.”

Collins’ speech was followed by three authors of books for young readers — Norton Juster, Rick Riordan, and Andrea Davis Pinkney — speaking on why they write for children.