DKW rebrands as Bryony Woods Literary Agency
thebookseller.com – Friday October 24, 2025
Diamond Kahn & Woods has rebranded to Bryony Woods Literary Agency (BWLA) following Bryony Woods taking over as sole owner and director of the company.
The agency will continue to work from its central London office at Salisbury House in Moorgate.
Bryony Woods represents authors including Catriona Silvey, Sarah Maria Griffin, Sylvia Bishop, Daisy May Johnson, Katharine Orton, Ellen Osborne, Rosie Fletcher, Jen Cownie and Caroline O’Donoghue.
After starting her career in libraries and bookshops, Woods began her career as an agent at the Caroline Sheldon Literary Agency in 2010, before co-founding DKW in 2012. She was named a Bookseller Rising Star, together with Ella Kahn, in 2013, and in 2016 was a winner of the London Book Fair Trailblazer Awards and the Young Stationers Prize.
Camille Burns launches Solas Literary Agency
thebookseller.com – Friday October 24, 2025
Camille Burns, most recently an agent at Diamond Kahn & Woods Literary Agency – which recently rebranded as the Bryony Woods Literary Agency – has launched Solas Literary Agency, a new independent agency representing fiction and non-fiction for adults, young adults and children.
Solas will focus on a selective list of authors across genres, with an emphasis on "strong storytelling, distinctive voice and long-term career development".
The name Solas, meaning “light” or “comfort” in Gaelic, aims to reflect the agency’s ethos of clarity, care and creative partnership.
Solas will operate in association with Apple Tree Literary, which will provide back-office and administrative support. Foreign rights for adult titles will be handled by Emily Randle at Randle Editorial & Literary Consultancy. The agency will also run a monthly editorial consultation programme designed to offer transparent, accessible feedback to emerging writers. Burns’ clients include Rebecca Orwin, Sarah Beth Durst and CBBC presenter Joe Tasker.
Hitchin teacher launches publishing company for children's fiction: Toller Press Ltd
hitchin.nub.news – Monday October 20, 2025
Alissa McDonald, who grew up in Hitchin, and moved back here with her family 12 years ago, has launched an independent publishing company of children's fiction: Toller Press Ltd.
Alissa's 20-year career as a literacy specialist – as a teacher, researcher and consultant – means she knows books and a good story when she finds one! Passionate about sparking a love of reading in all children, Toller Press was founded. (Follow Toller Press on Facebook and Instagram @tollerpress.)
What's special about Toller Press?
There are many incredible stories for children that have been published: Vashti Hardy, Piers Torday, and Darren Simpson to name but a few of the amazing authors writing today. But there are also many incredible stories waiting to be published and ignite that desire to read. We all love different books of course and that's part of the magic – finding the book that's right for you.
I want to create a platform for those undiscovered stories and authors who will get children excited about reading. Books which have stories at their heart, books which have diverse characters, and books which are reviewed by children.
Underlings: The Spark Engine by Murray Fisher is the first book to be published by Toller Press.
New Literary Agent Listing: Alexandra D'Amico
firstwriter.com – Monday October 20, 2025
Represents authors who write in the commercial and genre fiction spaces, as well as prescriptive and narrative non-fiction. Welcomes submissions in Horror, Cozy Horror, RomCom, Romance, Horroromance, Dark Romance, Cozy low-stakes Fantasy, Cozy Romatasy, Historical, Book Club, and Speculative fiction for adult audiences. In nonfiction, is interested in prescriptive and narrative projects focused on pop culture, lifestyle, spirituality, the occult, queer identity, ice hockey/PWHL, and expert-led historical topics. Not looking for YA fantasy, war stories, World War-centred historical fiction, or divisive narratives.
Certified organic and AI-free: New stamp for human-written books launches
theguardian.com – Thursday October 16, 2025
As machine-made books flood online marketplaces, a new UK initiative is introducing an Organic Literature stamp to help readers identify books created by real authors
A new UK start-up is taking aim at the growing wave of AI-generated books, launching an initiative to verify and label human-written works.
Books By People has launched an “Organic Literature” certification, partnering with an initial group of independent publishing houses.
The scheme will involve Organic Literature stamps being placed on books written by humans, with only limited AI use permitted for tasks such as formatting or idea generation.
The start-up, founded by rare books specialist Esme Dennys along with Conrad Young and Gavin Johnston, said it plans to expand globally in 2026.
The first certified title will be Telenovela by Gonzalo C Garcia, publishing this November by Galley Beggar Press, one of the founding publishing partners. Other partners include Bluemoose Books, Snowbooks, Scorpius Books and Bedford Square Publishers.
The World’s Largest Publishers, 2025
publishersweekly.com – Thursday October 16, 2025
After a seven-year run, the RELX Group has given up its title as the world’s largest book publisher, displaced by Thomson Reuters. The Canadian-based legal and professional publisher had a solid 2024, with revenue rising 6%, to $6.43 billion. After a flat 2023, sales at RELX slipped slightly in 2024, falling about 1%, to $6.2 billion for the STM and legal publisher.
This year’s top 10 publisher list also includes a new addition, as McGraw Hill returns. The educational and professional publisher had been excluded for a number of years when its private equity owners refused to provide any financial data. But in July, MH returned to the public markets and according to its prospectus, the company had total sales in the fiscal year ended March 31, 2025 of $2.10 billion, up 7% from fiscal 2024. The performance was good enough to put the publisher in seventh place on the ranking.
New Magazine Listing: The Lincoln Review
firstwriter.com – Thursday October 16, 2025
Welcomes original, unpublished work from both established and emerging contributors, with a particular interest in voices from marginalised and underrepresented communities including BAME, LGBTQIA+, neurodivergent, and disabled creatives. Submissions are invited annually between 1 September and 1 March and may include flash fiction, essays, creative nonfiction (each up to 2000 words), poetry (up to four poems), comics (up to seven pages), and portfolios of art or photography (up to six pieces). Book reviews and interviews are considered by prior query. Simultaneous submissions are accepted with notification upon acceptance elsewhere. Current students and staff of the university are ineligible, and alumni or former employees must observe a three-year embargo before submitting.
The inaugural Romance Writing Festival in Bournemouth
greatbritishlife.co.uk – Wednesday October 15, 2025
Dominic Wong, director of the Bournemouth Writing Festival, reveals the authors launching their books at the inaugural Romance Writing Festival in Bournemouth this month
Romance Writing Festival
Sunday Times bestselling authors Milly Johnson and Paige Toon will headline the inaugural Romance Writing Festival, taking place in Bournemouth on October 18. They join fellow Sunday Times bestseller Katie Fforde on an impressive programme featuring award-winning authors, editors, literary agents, and publishers.
This one-day event is dedicated to romance writing, offering a mix of panel discussions, workshops, and networking opportunities. Attendees can also book one-to-one sessions with agents and editors or take part in free activities designed to inspire writers at all stages of their journey.
Why trauma writers lie to us – The market wants uncomplicated stories
unherd.com – Tuesday October 14, 2025
As a longtime teacher of memoir writing who closely observes trends in the genre, I’ve recently been thinking of an episode involving a student I worked with in the late 2010s. “F.” had studied with me over several years. At one point, she took a long absence, confiding in me that she’d unearthed some childhood trauma and was taking the time to address it. Eventually, she sent me an essay she’d written during her leave. In it, F. described herself as a child in the care of indifferent adults who had been coerced into sexual acts with persons known to her. The essay contained disturbing details, cutting dialogue, and careful scene work. Overall, it was gripping, horrific — a good story, in narrative terms.
But I didn’t believe it at all. At most, I’d give it a 2% chance of being true.
I didn’t believe this student’s story was true because I’d read it before. A year or two earlier, a student in a workshop — a class in which F. was also enrolled — had written a nearly identical account of her own childhood assault. Her story was profoundly disturbing, a difficult story to get out of my mind. I wasn’t surprised it had affected F. in that way, too. But this was bizarre: F. had coopted her classmate’s story, one she knew I’d read, and claimed it as her own.
New Publisher Listing: Stanley/Barker
firstwriter.com – Tuesday October 14, 2025
Founded in London in 2014 with the intention of bringing a considered list of beautiful photobooks of substance and depth into the world. Each book is produced with the utmost care and craftsmanship by a host of renowned artisans: from designers, typographers, and illustrators to binders and printers all collaborating to actualise an artist's individual vision.
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