The big news from Arcadia is a remarkable first novel we've just bought from Anthony Goff at David Higham. It's entitled A Kind of Intimacy and is by Jenn Ashworth, who, in her own words, 'is Head Librarian in a prison in northern England, a mother to a feral daughter and collector of cacti'. Publication is scheduled for March 2009, in Arcadia's Bliss Books imprint. Unusually for Arcadia, the novel is being published directly in B format, because of what we feel is its strong commercial potential. Comments Daniela de Groote, Arcadia's associate publisher: 'It's the kind of sparkling and unusual novel that comes along once in a decade. It's our main contender for next year's Orange Prize and we also see it very much as Booker material.'

Arcadia is rushing out a study of Barack Obama that will examine his roots in a movement for justice and equal rights in which Martin Luther King and Robert Kennedy played key roles, as well as his vision for the future. Barack Obama: The Movement for Change, to which author Anthony Painter wrote the final chapter as votes were still being counted, will be published under Arcadia's BlackAmber imprint and will be the inaugural title in its Inspirations series, edited by Rosemarie Hudson.

Arts Council England has today announced the longlist for the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize 2009, in association with Champagne Taittinger.
The Independent Foreign Fiction Prize celebrates an exceptional work of fiction by a living author which has been translated into English from any other language and published in the United Kingdom in the last year.
A total of 16 contenders from 126 entries have been longlisted for the prize, worth £10,000.

They are:

My Father's Wives by Jose Eduardo Agualusa, translated by Daniel Hahn from the Portuguese, published by Arcadia Books

The Director by Alexander Ahndoril, translated by Sarah Death from the Swedish, published by Portobello Books

Voiceover by Celine Curiol, translated by Sam Richard from the French, published by Faber and Faber

The White King by Gyorgy Dragoman, translated by Paul Olchvary from the Hungarian, published by Doubleday

Night Work by Thomas Glavinic translated by John Brownjohn from the German, published by Canongate

Beijing Coma by Ma Jian, translated by Flora Drew from the Chinese, published by Chatto & Windus

The Siege by Ismail Kadare, translated by David Bellos from the Albanian, published by Canongate

Homesick by Eshkol Nevo, translated by Sondra Silverston from the Hebrew, published by Chatto & Windus

The Diving Pool by Yoko Ogawa, translated by Stephen Snyder from the Japanese, published by Harvill Secker

The Armies by Evelio Rosero, translated by Anne McLean from the Spanish, published by Maclehose Press

The Blue Fox by Sjon, translated by Victoria Cribb from the Icelandish, published by Telegram

Novel 11, Book 18 by Dag Solstad, translated by Sverre Lyngstad from the Norwegian, published by Harvill Secker

How the Soldier Repairs the Gramaphone by Sasa Stanisic, translated by Anthea Bell from the German, published by Weidenfeld & Nicolson

A Blessed Child by Linn Ullmann, translated by Sarah Death from the Norwegian, published by Picador

The Informers by Juan Gabriel Vasquez, translated by Anne McLean from the Spanish, published by Bloomsbury

Friendly Fire by A B Yehoshua, translated by Stuart Schoffman from the Hebrew, published by Halban

This year's longlist reflects the international scope of the prize and includes writers working in Hebrew, Chinese, Albanian, Japanese and Icelandish.

Antonia Byatt, Director, Literature Strategy, Arts Council England said: "This year's longlist is a fantastic demonstration of the rich range and quality of fiction in translation being published in Britain today. It's wonderful to see so many languages represented from all over the world: a feast for readers and a real challenge for the judges in making a decision!"

A shortlist of six books will be announced on Wednesday 1st April 2009 and the overall winner of the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize 2009 will be announced at an awards ceremony in central London on Thursday 14th May 2009 at Tate Britain. The winning author and translator will be awarded £5,000 each and a limited edition magnum of Champagne Taittinger.

The Independent Publishers Guild and its partners The Bookseller and London
Book Fair are proud to unveil the winners of the 2009 Independent Publishing
Awards.

Diversity Award: Arcadia Books
Arcadia Books took this award for the second successive time for another year of
passionate commitment to diverse literature. Judges admired Arcadia’s
outstanding programme of books and imaginative marketing, and applauded the
way it combined ambitious publishing with clear commercial focus. They noted in
particular its BlackAmber Inspirations series of titles, which began with a book
about Barack Obama. “Arcadia never rests on its laurels and is always striving to
do new things. It introduces readers to writers they would otherwise never
discover, and it is constantly thinking of ways to reach new, diverse audiences.”

Peter Burton and Joe Olshan have been shortlisted for this years Lambda Award in the United States. Burton is the editor of A Casualty of War and Olshan is the author of The Conversion

In an online contest Guardian readers voted A Kind of Intimacy their sixth favourite from a longlist of 46 books, selected by Guardian blogger Sam Jordison in collaboration with his readers as an alternative answer to the prestigious Booker Prize. The shortlisted books will be read and reviewed in his blog, beginning with A Kind of Intimacy.

The next round of Guardian\'s Not The Booker prize: after reviewing the shortlist the winner will be nominated. Here the review for Jenn:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/booksblog/2009/aug/28/not-booker-jenn-ashworth