BTW News Briefs

Scholastic Publishes Another Potter Update

Scholastic has announced that trade and library editions of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, which has a pub date of July 16, will both be 672 pages. The trade edition is priced at $29.99, and the reinforced library edition at $34.99. The deluxe edition price will be $60 and will be 704 pages, including a 32-page insert with black and white art from the book interior. For more information, go to www.scholastic.com/custsupport/booksellers/harrypotter.htm.

Newmarket to Pub Updated Rice Biography

On January 26, New York-based independent publisher Newmarket Press announced that in February it will publish a new, updated edition of Condi: The Condoleezza Rice Story, the only adult biography about the newly confirmed Secretary of State. The first edition of Condi, published in 2002, sold over 40,000 copies. The new hardcover book features two new chapters and new photos.

Condi is drawn from biographer Antonia Felix's interviews with dozens of Rice's relatives, colleagues, friends, and teachers, and from previously published interviews articles.

Newmarket Press books are distributed to the trade by W.W. Norton & Company.

2004 Whitbread Winner Announced

Andrea Levy has won the 2004 Whitbread Book of the Year Award for Small Island (to be published in the U.S. by Picador). The announcement was made at an awards ceremony on Tuesday, January 25, at The Brewery in Central London.

The Whitbread Book Awards celebrate "the most enjoyable books of the last year by writers based in the UK and Ireland," according to a Whitbread press release. Levy also won the U.K.'s 2004 Orange Prize for Fiction for Small Island.

National Book Critics Circle Chooses Awards Nominees

On January 22, the nominees for the National Book Critics Circle (NBCC) awards for the publishing year 2004 were announced. The winners will be announced this March at the organization's 31st annual awards ceremony, which will be held on Friday, March 18, at the auditorium of the New School.

Among this year's nominees in the Biography/Autobiography category is Bob Dylan, for his memoir Chronicles, Vol. 1 (Simon & Schuster), and in the Fiction category, Marilynne Robinson for Gilead (FSG), and Philip Roth for The Plot Against America (Houghton Mifflin). For a full list of nominees, go to www.bookcritics.org/.

17th Annual Lambda Literary Awards Finalists Announced

This year's finalists for the 17th Annual Lambda Literary Awards have been announced by the Lambda Literary Foundation and include two new categories: Gay Men's Debut Fiction and Lesbian Debut Fiction. The awards honor the best in lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender literature. The winners will be announced at a gala ceremony in New York City on Thursday, June 2, 2005, on the eve of BookExpo America. The event will be hosted by the Center for Lesbian Studies at the City University of New York and will take place at CUNY Graduate Center.

August 2004 Book Sense Pick A Son Called Gabriel by Damian McNicholl (CDS Books) is a finalist in the Gay Men's Debut Fiction category, and June 2004 Book Sense Pick Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim by David Sedaris (Little, Brown) is a finalist in the Humor category.

To see a list of all of the finalists, go to www.lambdalit.org/Lammy/finalists.