
Revealed - Famous guests for Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival in Harrogate
harrogateadvertiser.co.uk – Thursday March 5, 2020

Crime writing royalty Martina Cole, Mark Billingham, Lisa Gardner, Kathy Reichs, Elly Griffiths, Mick Herron and Michael Connelly will be appearing as part of the killer line-up curated by this year’s Festival Programming Chair and Rebus author, Ian Rankin OBE.
From July 23-26, Harrogate’s Old Swan Hotel – the legendary scene of Agatha Christie’s mysterious disappearance in 1926 – will welcome more than 100 world famous authors for a celebration of the crime genre like no other.

London book fair cancelled over coronavirus fears, amid growing anger
theguardian.com – Wednesday March 4, 2020

One of the world’s biggest international literary events, the London book fair, has been cancelled over coronavirus fears, amid growing anger that the delay in calling it off was putting people’s health at risk and an unfair financial strain on publishers.
Organiser Reed Exhibitions announced on Wednesday that the escalation of the illness meant the fair, scheduled to run from 10 to 12 March, would be called off. Around 25,000 publishers, authors and agents from around the world had been due to attend the event, where deals for the hottest new books are struck.

Abrams Artists Agency Rebrands as A3 Artists Agency
variety.com – Tuesday March 3, 2020

Abrams Artists Agency, a prominent talent and literary agency, has officially rebranded as A3 Artists Agency.
The name change, announced over the weekend at the company’s annual retreat, comes 18 months after Robert Attermann, Brian Cho, and Adam Bold acquired the agency,
“When we purchased the agency in 2018, we set out to be the premium brand we now are,” Bold said. “We said we’d have diversity, and we do. We’re not only promising to be something different; we are something different. We’ve hired top-tier agents from diverse backgrounds, we were the first agency to launch a digital studio, and we recently expanded internationally with an office in the UK.”

Crime Story 2020: Innovative crime writing festival turns spotlight on contemporary crime
newsroom.northumbria.ac.uk – Saturday February 29, 2020

A series of events for crime fiction fans will take place at Alphabetti Theatre, Newcastle this spring, bringing together people from the two very different worlds of fact and fiction.
Across the three events, celebrated writers AA Dhand, Oliver Harris, Jessica Moor, Judith O’Reilly and Mim Skinner will be paired with experts who will offer unique insight into how contemporary issues are dealt with in real life.
Experts taking part in Crime Story include three Northumbria University academics - Dr Nicci MacLeod, a forensic linguist, who has written on women in the criminal justice system; Professor Mike Rowe, a criminologist who specialises in policing culture and reforms; and Professor Lars Holmquist, an internationally-leading researcher in human-computer interaction.

Publishers, Agents Scramble to Reschedule Bologna
publishersweekly.com – Wednesday February 26, 2020

The news on Monday that the Bologna Children’s Book Fair has been rescheduled to May 4–7 due to the spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus has left North American publishers and agents scrambling. Most are working to reschedule appointments, hoping that other attendees will agree to shift their existing appointments to the new dates.

Prize for short form writers launched in tribute to Dave Murray
thebookseller.com – Friday January 31, 2020

An award for new and emerging short-form writers has been launched in memory of Manchester-based writer and critic Dave Murray.
The QuietManDave Prize will be run by the Manchester Writing School at Manchester Metropolitan University, in conjunction with the Manchester School of Theatre.
Named in honour of Murray, a writer and theatre blogger, and lover of flash fiction and non-fiction, who died in 2019, the prize has been initiated and funded by Murray’s family, including his wife Vanda Murray OBE, who is a senior non-executive director with several organisations and chair of Manchester Metropolitan’s board of governors.

SUNY Cortland launches online literary magazine
www2.cortland.edu – Tuesday January 28, 2020

SUNY Cortland’s new online literary magazine, Hoxie Gorge Review, blends together innovative poetry, fiction and nonfiction from established national writers as well as emerging talents.
It was also a labor of love for the 12 students in an upper-level course on the publishing industry taught by instructor Heather Bartlett in the English Department. Those students served as editors, soliciting, selecting and editing submissions for the first issue published in December.
While there are many online literary magazines that feature the work of undergraduate writers, including Cortland’s own Crystallize Review, few are in the mold of Hoxie Gorge Review: a magazine run by undergraduates featuring the work of national writers.

Buchwald Adds Sola Fasehun and Tim Patricia As Literary Agents
deadline.com – Saturday January 25, 2020

Buchwald has hired Sola Fasehun and Tim Patricia to its motion picture and television literary departments, respectively.
Fasehun got her start working under Academy Award-winning producer Michael Phillips at Lighthouse Productions. She then spent six years as a film production, sales, and distribution consultant at Submarine Entertainment/Deluxe. She joins Buchwald from UTA, where, as a member of their team, she helped spearhead the agency’s Diversity initiative.

APA Agency Signs Agreement With The WGA – Update
deadline.com – Wednesday January 22, 2020

UPDATED with WGA and ATA statements and more details: Another full-service agency and Association of Talent Agents member, APA, has reached a deal with the WGA. The agency, which immediately will resume its representation of writers, also said it will bring the Television and Motion Picture Literary businesses together under the banner of APA Scripted Literary.
APA is the latest member of the Association of Talent Agents to break ranks and sign the guild’s new franchise agreement. Its deal comes just days after fellow full-service agency Gersh also signed with the WGA. The other four association members to make WGA deals are Buchwald, also a full-service agency; literary boutiques the Rothman Brecher Ehrich Livingston agency and the Kaplan Stahler Agency; and Pantheon. Non-ATA member Verve, also lit-focused, was the first mid-size agency to reach an agreement with the WGA last May.

22nd Annual Scriptapalooza Screenplay Competition
digitaljournal.com – Tuesday January 21, 2020

Is your script ready? Are you ready? Is it time to finally let your writing be shown to others?
Everyone has a story to tell and your screenplay can win $10,000 and be promoted for a year! The 22nd Annual Scriptapalooza Screenplay Competition is accepting screenplays.
Since all the judging is done, without knowing any details about the writer, it truly levels the playing field. There are over 90 judges (producers, managers, and literary agents) who read your script and don’t know if you are a wine grower in France, a stay at home mom, or a hot shot film student from NYU.
Get the free newsletter | Submit a news item or article | Get Writers' News for your website