David Shields

Barnes & Noble and Simon & Schuster have finally reached an agreement after months of squabbling over book pricing and other matters, reports to Publishers Weekly, noting that "the issue was causing a noticeable cutback in the number of [Simon & Schuster] titles the bookseller had on its shelves." Publishers Weekly first reported in January that Barnes & Noble has reduced its order of Simon & Schuster titles over "perceived lack of support" from the publishing company. In March, a senior executive familiar with the negotiations

The Literary Consultancy's recent conference, Writing in a Digital Age, addressed many of the issues facing writers in our increasingly digital age and how writers can use this technology to their advantage. In his keynote talk, author Hari Kunzru suggested that we are in an unprecedented data-rich period of historya sublime excess as he termed it. This has led to the idea that a writer should abandon self-expression in favour of bricolage. This postmodern term has been around for 50 years so why, he asked, does the writing community still resist the idea in favour of the much older