Shares of Pearson rose sharply this morning after the world's biggest publisher of school text books confirmed it still expects to at least match last year's profits.

The Reading Agency has hired Colman Getty to raise its profile in mainstream media. The charity's mission is to encourage people to read more. It runs a series of national initiatives (such as the Summer Reading Challenge and the Costa

Will The Hobbit make it to the big screen? Not if the heirs of J.R.R Tolkien have it their way. Tolkien's estate has filed a lawsuit in the Superior Court of Los Angeles that may block film production of the

An author whose bank account was frozen because he co-wrote a book with a former criminal is preparing for a legal battle that could have serious consequences for authors, journalists and media proprietors.

Iraq's Ministry of Culture has revived regulations forbidding the import of some books, prompting critics to accuse it of restoring Saddam-era censorship.

A specialist education supplier based in Trowbridge, Wiltshire, is producing eco-friendly school exercise books made from sugar cane waste.

Literary heavyweights in the form of AS Byatt, JM Coetzee and Colm Tóibín were today named on the 13-strong longlist for the Booker prize.

Second quarter revenue dropped 17.2% at McGraw-Hill Education, to $555.2 million, as sales in the school education group tumbled 22.7%, to $338.6 million. The higher education/professional/international group did better but revenue still declined, falling 6.9%, to $216.6 million. Operating profit

The U.K. online bookseller, BookDepository.co.uk, today opened a U.S. storefront at bookdepository.com. The company, which won Direct Bookseller of the Year at the British Book Awards, is looking to compete with the deeply entrenched Amazon.com (and behind it bn.com) on

The blood is up at The American Scene, as they single out the worst kids' writing. Who have they missed?

British Library buys 16th-century manuscript sought by US for £600,000

Cengage Learning, the provider of print and digital information services for the educational and library reference markets, has acquired publisher Marshall Cavendish's English Language Teaching (ELT) business. The acquired assets will be integrated with Cengage Learning's Heinle English-language-teaching business in

Peter Rigby, the chief executive of publisher and events group Informa, has warned that more cost cuts could come at the group and that there were no signs of a recovery. The news came as the group announced a 46pc

In a sign of the growing importance of e-books, HarperCollins Publishers has created what appears to be the first "editor in chief"-style role for the digital category at a major publishing house.

Electronic book and magazine distributor LibreDigital has raised $15 million in a second round of funding. New investor Triangle Peak Partners led the round, with participation from previous backer Adams Capital Management. The company previously raised funding from investors like

An avid reader in south west Scotland is on the brink of borrowing her 25,000th book from her local libraries.

The estate of Jack Kerouac - which includes journals and unpublished manuscripts and thousands of letters, all valued at $20 million - has been thrown into turmoil after a Florida judge ruled that the 1973 will controlling its disposition was

The Scribo Group yesterday announced the appointment of its sales and marketing team, in line with the recent announcement of the integrated warehousing operation in Adelaide.

Simon Fox, the chief executive of HMV credited with transforming the retailer, is on the short list to become the chief executive of ITV.

Ben Dunn is to join Random House as Publishing Director of Century. He will join from Hodder & Stoughton where he is Publisher of the Entertainment list. During his time at Hodder, Dunn published a number of bestselling non-fiction titles