Submissions are now open for this year’s Polari First Book Prize, which celebrates the very best debut books that explore the LGBT experience, whether through poetry, prose, fiction or non-fiction. Deadline for submissions is 1 May, 2016.

Libreria, a new book shop, printing press, and interdisciplinary community space, will open at 65 Hanbury Street, London, this week (Thursday 25 February, 2016), merging state of the art design and technology with a fresh enthusiasm for physical bookselling.

On Thursday 3 March, Waterstones Leamington Spa will be hosting a special event to launch the debut novel from Caroline Lea: When the Sky Fell Apart.

Cathy Rentzenbrink, Director of Quick Reads, author of the critically acclaimed memoir The Last Act of Love and contributing editor at The Bookseller will chair an eminent panel of judges featuring authors, critics and leading lights from across the book industry for the newly expanded Books of the Year category at the revamped British Book Industry awards. 

Ruby Wax, the American comedian, mental health campaigner and author of recent Sunday Times number 1 bestseller A Mindfulness Guide for the Frazzled, was awarded her OBE yesterday at the Priory Hospital in south-west London.

Hay Festival 2016 is coming... Running 26 May – 5 June, the festival is one of the literary highlights of the UK’s cultural calendar, bringing together the greatest writers, thinkers and performers of the moment in a vibrant exchange of ideas for all ages.

This morning internationally bestselling novelist, Strictly and Bake Off obsessive and Twitterer extraordinaire, Marian Keyes, joined the sofa BBC Breakfast to talk about her new collection of essays, Making It Up As I Go Along, published yesterday by Penguin Books.

International bestselling novelist Marian Keyes knows more than most the dizzy highs and unexpected lows of a life that depends on making everything up. Which is why in 2016 Penguin Books is delighted to be publishing her third collection of essays – Making It Up As I Go Along – sharing some of Marian’s thoughts as well as experiences on the tricky, tricky business of being a woman in today’s demanding modern world.

Wellcome Book Prize, the annual £30,000 prize for literature that engages with the human experience of medicine and medical science, has unveiled this year’s winner trophy: a bespoke creation inspired by the nerve cells of the mind, from London-based artist, Kyle Bean.

Submissions are now open for The Sunday Times / Peters Fraser + Dunlop Young Writer of the Year Award 2016 with organisers issuing a broad call for entries from young writers across Britain and Ireland.