Looking for a present for a book lover?

As lots of friends and relatives can be difficult to buy a gift for, gift vouchers and gift cards are very useful. An number of ibooknet sellers offer gift cards on their own websites, available to purchase online and in a wide variety of denominations. They can be spent online on the dealer's website and most dealers ship books to most countries. Here are a few dealers who sell gift cards, with a brief outline of the dealer's specialism, so you can select the card most likely to delight your recipient.

Bagot Books carries a general stock with an emphasis on UK travel/topography/history.

Jane Badger Books carries a wide range of pony books: everything from Ruby Ferguson to the Pullein-Thompsons, with many interesting detours between.

C L Hawley carries literary criticism and literary biography including books on Jane Austen, the Brontes, Mrs Gaskell, Sylvia Plath, William Morris, the thirties poets etc., plus a general academic stock, and books on Yorkshire and Lancashire including dialect poetry.


Peakirk Books specialises in childrens books, has a good range of crime fiction and carries a general stock.

Stephen Foster carries rare books and fine bindings.

Amwell Book Company carries modern art, architecture and photography and has a shop in Central London. You can read more about their shop here.

East Riding Books carries books on all aspects of music.

Marchhouse Books carries Children's and illustrated books plus a very small general stock.

The pictured book is:

a first edition of Fire in the Punchbowl from the stock of Jane Badger Books





N.B. individual dealers have their own terms and conditions so do read the individual websites properly and email the dealer if you are unsure.

National Poetry Day

There's lots happening for National Poetry Day 2011. The National Poetry Day poet in residence for 2011 is Jo Shapcott and she's written a poem on the theme of games especially for the day. You can read Jo Shapcott's poem here.

Faber and Faber meanwhile tweeted about their YouTube channel of poetry readings including this one of Simon Armitage reads 'Aviators' from Seeing Stars

More poetry news includes the awarding of the Forward Prize for Poetry last night to the four times nominated John Burnside. Burnside has finally won the Forward Poetry Prize for best collection with Black Cat Bone.

And in a happy poetic coincidence the Nobel Prize for Literature went to Swedish poet Tomas Tranströmer.

Man Booker Prize 2011 Shortlist Announced

Two first time novelists and four independent publishers make the Man Booker Prize 2011 Shortlist of six:

Julian Barnes The Sense of an Ending (Jonathan Cape - Random House)

Carol Birch Jamrach’s Menagerie (Canongate Books)

Patrick deWitt The Sisters Brothers (Granta)

Esi Edugyan Half Blood Blues (Serpent’s Tail)

Stephen Kelman Pigeon English (Bloomsbury)

A.D. Miller Snowdrops (Atlantic)

The shortlist was announced by Chair of Judges, author and former Director-General of MI5 Dame Stella Rimington, at a press conference held at Man’s London headquarters. The winner of the 2011 Man Booker Prize for Fiction will be announced on Tuesday 18 October at a dinner at London’s Guildhall and will be broadcast on the BBC.

25% off Children's Collectable Books

From Peakirk Books: TODAY OUR SALE BEGINS. We are having a big 'July summer Madness' 25% off all our stock sale starting today. Of course it is only available for stock bought on our own site at Peakirk Books because we can't afford to take 25% off stock on the other sites where we have to pay so much commission as well - we would then be trading at such a big loss.

If you want to take advantage of buying our books at a 25% discount - between July 1st and July 31st 2011, simply go to our own site, and purchase, using the e code MAD007 in the coupon box at the checkout, and you will automatically get the discount. We specialise in children's collectable books, but there are lots of other books there too - 26,000 of them! It's worth a browse.

Orange Prize for Fiction 2011 shortlist

Now in its 16th year, The Orange Prize for Fiction, the UK’s only annual book award for fiction written by a woman, today announces the 2011 shortlist.

• Emma Donoghue (Irish) - Room; Picador; 7th Novel


• Aminatta Forna (British/Sierra Leonean) - The Memory of Love; Bloomsbury; 2nd Novel


• Emma Henderson (British) - Grace Williams Says it Loud; Sceptre; 1st Novel


• Nicole Krauss (American) - Great House; Viking; 3rd Novel


• Téa Obreht (Serbian/American) - The Tiger’s Wife; Weidenfeld & Nicolson; 1st Novel


• Kathleen Winter (Canadian) - Annabel; Jonathan Cape; 1st Novel

The judges for the 2011 Orange Prize for Fiction are: The 2011 judges are Bettany Hughes, (Chair), Liz Calder, Tracy Chevalier, Helen Lederer, Susanna Reid.

Peakirk Books at Children's and Crime Fiction Book Fair Bath

Ibooknet member's Peakirk Books will be at the PBFA - Specialist Childrens & Crime Fiction Book Fair

Bath Assembly Rooms 10.00 - 4.00 Saturday 9th April

The Boy Biggles pictured is from their stock; please contact Peakirk Books for details.

Authors for Japan

Authors for Japan is the brainchild of author Keris Stainton. She appealed on twitter for authors to donate signed books, signed proofs, or time and advice for aspiring authors and she has received 70 offers which are being auctioned for the IRC for Japan.

You can bid in GBP by leaving a message on the right blog post - all donations at the end of the auction will be made by the winner directly to the International Red Cross so it is an excellent cause.

Ibooknet sellers new to twitter and blogging

Stephen Foster has a blog Bookselling in Bell Street

and Stella and Rose's Books are now on twitter.

Around Ibooknet Members' blogs

Books, Mud and Compost is appalled by mummified frogs.

Bagotbooks's Blog is sorry, but he doesn't have a clue.

Juxtabook is scared and soggy but enchanted.

The Commonwealth Writers’ Prize 2011

The Commonwealth Writers’ Prize 2011 has announced four regional shortlists for the Best Book and Best First Book awards. The regional winners of the Best Book and Best First Book prizes will be announced on the 3rd March, with the final programme commencing on the 16th May at Sydney Writers’ Festival in Australia.

Regional shortlists:

Africa Best Book:
The Memory of Love by Aminatta Forna (Sierra Leone)
Men of the South by Sukiswa Wanner (South Africa)
The Unseen Leopard by Bridget Pitt (South Africa)
Oil on Water by Helon Habila (Nigeria)
Blood at Bay by Sue Rabie (South Africa)
Banquet at Brabazan by Patricia Schonstein (South Africa)

Africa Best First Book:
Happiness is a Four Letter Word by Cynthia Jele (South Africa)
Bitter Leaf by Chioma Okereke (Nigeria)
The Fossil Artist by Graeme Friedman (South Africa)
Colour Blind by Uzoma Uponi (Nigeria)
Voice of America by E. C. Osondu (Nigeria)
Wall of Days by Alastair Bruce (South Africa)

Canada and Caribbean Best Book:
The Sky is Falling by Caroline Adderson (Canada)
Room by Emma Donahue (Canada)
The Master of Happy Endings by Jack Hodgins (Canada)
In The Fabled East by Adam Lewis Schroeder (Canada)
The Death of Donna Whalen by Michael Winter (Canada)
Mr. Shakespeare’s Bastard by Richard B. Wright (Canada)

Canada and Caribbean Best First Book:
Bird Eat Bird by Katrina Best (Canada)
Doing Dangerously Well by Carole Enahoro (Canada)
Mennonites Don’t Dance by Darcie Friesen Hossack (Canada)
Light Lifting by Alexander MacLeod (Canada)
The Cake is for the Party by Sarah Selecky (Canada)
Illustrado by Miguel Syjuco (Canada)

South Asia and Europe Best Book:
Lyrics Alley by Leila Abouleila (UK)
The Betrayal by Helen Dunmore (UK)
The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet by David Mitchell (UK)
The Long Song by Andrea Levy (UK)
Sex and Stravinsky by Barbara Trapido (UK)
Union Atlantic by Adam Haslett (UK)

South Asia and Europe Best First Book:
Serious Men by Manu Joseph (India)
Saraswati Park by Anjali Joseph (India)
The House with the Blue Shutters by Lisa Hilton (UK)
Children of the Sun by Max Shaefer (UK)
Grace Williams says it Loud by Emma Henderson (UK)
Sabra Zoo by Mischa Hiller (UK)

South East Asia and Pacific Best Book:
Reading Madame Bovary by Amanda Lohrey (Australia)
That Deadman Dance by Kim Scott (Australia)
Time’s Long Ruin by Stephen Orr (Australia)
Hand Me Down World by Lloyd Jones (New Zealand)
Notorious by Roberta Lowing (Australia)
Gifted by Patrick Evans (New Zealand)

South East Asia and Pacific Best First Book:
21 Immortals by Rozlan Mohd Noor (Malaysia)
A Man Melting by Craig Cliff (New Zealand)
The Graphologist’s Apprentice by Whiti Hereaka (New Zealand)
The Body in the Clouds by Ashley Hay (Australia)
Traitor by Stephen Daisley (Australia/New Zealand)
A Few Right Thinking Men by Sulari Gentill (Australia)

Save our Libraries

Ibooknet seller Jane Badger is quoted in a piece in The Independent regarding the possible closure of Irchester library. I have my own piece on libraries at Juxtabook, which I was surprised and flattered to see translated into Spanish.

Dick King-Smith dies aged 88

Children's novelist Dick King-Smith has died aged 88. Born in 1922 Gloucestershire, Mr King-Smith fought in Italy with the Grenadier Guards in World War II, before returning to England where he was a farmer for 20 years beginning to publish books only in his 50s.

His first book, The Fox Busters, was published in 1978 and was followed by dozens of others. His best know is probably The Sheep-Pig after it was made into the hit film Babe. Other titles include the Sophie series, The Invisible Dog, Harriet the Hare and The Witch of Blackberry Bottom.

Dick King-Smith was made an OBE in December 2009.

Illustrated by a first edition of Sophie Hits Six by Dick King-Smith, from the stock of Stella & Roses Books.

Sales and Offers from Ibooknet booksellers

Lund Theological books. New Year 10% discount on all books on website. Put atwit11a in Promotional code box. Offer good till 10 January.

Jane Badger Books January Sale - Children's Books: For the whole of January, I'm doing 20% off all non-pony children's books.

Illustrated with one of Jane's sale books:

"BB" [Watkins-Pitchford, Denys] Manka the Sky Gipsy
London Methuen 1979 0416145809 / 9780416145809 Hard Cover VG++ VG++ Price: was 20.00 GBP now 16.00 GBP