Five things we loved this week

1. Hear ye, hear ye – there are (Prize) announcements:

We love a literary award. It gets us booksellers all excited. For us, it’s a bit like watching Top of the Pops when you were 10 (sadly, that will be lost on some people). This week saw the announcement of two colossal literary prizes. Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s Half of A Yellow Sun won the Bailey’s ‘Best of the Best’, chosen from the last 10 winners of the annual Bailey’s Prize  for Women’s Fiction.  And Steve Silberman’s  Neurotribes, a sympathetic and comprehensive look at the autistic spectrum, has become the first Popular Science book to win the Samuel Johnson Prize for Non-Fiction. Both books are astonishingly good (clearly, hence the wins).

2. His Dark Materials on the small screen

It has been 20 years since the publication of Northern Lights, the first in Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials trilogy. So, that is 20 years that Lyra, Will, and Pullman’s epic, fantasy, parallel world have been enchanting readers, old and young. During this time, the books have been adapted for stage and screen. And news just in: it is going to be televised! You heard us – a TV series of His Dark Materials. On the BBC.   

3. Book – bought. Coffee…ah, yes please.

Gower Street Waterstones have a natty new café. That’s right, one of our beloved London stores now has a cosy place to sit and sip, while you read your copy of something fun and fascinating. It's called Dillons Coffee. Have a little look for yourself:

4. Children’s Fiction, anyone?

This week you may have spotted us on the television as a number of budding entrepreneurs turned their skills to the art of writing a children’s book. Two books were pitched to our booksellers in Waterstones Piccadilly, one more successfully than the other. Before you ask, no we didn’t get to meet Lord Sugar, no we don’t offer it in any of our other shops and yes, writing a children’s book in a day is not advised.

5. J.K. Rowling News

The Second Queen of England, J.K. Rowling, announced this week that she is writing a new children’s book. The world prepares to shift once again on its axis. Get ready.