Independent publisher Black & White Publishing has been bought by Bonnier Books. Black & White Publishing will remain in Edinburgh, run as a standalone imprint of Bonnier Books UK, and continue to be led by MD Campbell Brown and Publishing Director Alison McBride. For the full story, see Heloise Wood in The Bookseller 27 July 2021.

The Scottish crime writer is the recipient of this year's Theakston Old Peculier Outstanding Contribution to Crime Fiction Award.

Many congratulations to Jenny Brown of Jenny Brown Associates who has been elected as an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. In her video accompanying the announcement, Jenny mentioned that she is particularly thrilled as only a handful of literary agents have been elected and also there are relatively few Fellows from Scotland.

Literacy workshop and publisher the Super Power Agency are the winners of The Isobel Award 2021. The award champions those who have overcome adversity to make a positive contribution to their community.

Writer Helen Sedgwick has been appointed as the 2021 Dr Gavin Wallace Fellow, supported by the National Lottery through Creative Scotland.

The National Library of Scotland (NLS) has appointed Amina Shah as its new Chief Executive and National Librarian. Amina will join the Library on 4 October 2021 from the University of St Andrews Libraries and Museums and was previously Director of Programme at the Scottish Book Trust. The current National Librarian, Dr John Scally, retires on 1 October.

Jenny Niven has been appointed as the new Chair of Literature Alliance Scotland (LAS) and will begin her three-year term in the role from the beginning of August 2021. Jenny takes over from Peggy Hughes who has been in the role since May 2017.

Nyla Ahmad (Scottish Book Trust) and Jo Dingley (Canongate Books) have been named as Rising Stars in The Bookseller's 2021 list. Sasha de Buyl (now at Cúirt after many years working in the Scottish book world) is also on the list.

Three staff have been promoted: Alice Shortland to Marketing Director, Lucy Zhou to Senior Publicity Manager, and Katie Huckstep to Publicity Executive. There are also several new starts in July and August: Melissa Tombere started as Editorial and Rights Assistant in July and Caitriona Horne will join as Deputy Marketing Director in late July. New Campaigns and Sales Assistant Olivia-Savannah Roach starts in August, and Martin Brown will be joining as Severn House Brand Manager - relocating from Ingram US back home to Scotland. See Ruth Comerford in The Bookseller.

Former Marketing Director Vicki Watson took up a newly created position – Deputy Marketing Director - at HarperCollins imprint HQ in June. See Sian Bayley in The Bookseller.

Catriona Cox will join Aberdeen Performing Arts as the new Granite Noir programmer. Catriona has an extensive background in publishing and festivals and is Events Officer and Administrator at The Saltire Society. Granite Noir - Aberdeen’s International Crime Writing Festival - is scheduled to return in February 2022. See Danica Ollerova in The Press and Journal.

The Glasgow-based distributor BookSource has recently completed a trifecta of significant new business. In the last few weeks they have signed up: G2 Entertainment (one of the country's leading publishers of sports and special interest books), MMS (children's publishing sales agency) and Maverick (children's books publisher). Publishing Scotland is the majority owner of BookSource with the remainder of the shares being held by five client publishers.

There is no limit to the number of separate nominations you can make but make sure you do so by Thursday 26 August 2021. For full details and to nominate, see the Saltire Society website.

The Business of Books is the Edinburgh International Book Festival's programme of free events dedicated to all those interested in the business of the book world. The Scottish Publisher Showcase is a hybrid event and the others are online only:

Hachette has announced that its new Edinburgh office will open in September. It will be led by publisher Rosie Howie of Hodder Education which is relocating from Glasgow. The Edinburgh office (address to be announced when lease finalised) is the largest of the five new national offices with 23 staff. The other offices are Bristol and Manchester (July), Newcastle (August) and Sheffield (September). For more on this story, see Caroline Carpenter's article in The Bookseller of 23 July 2021. In a tweet of 23 July, Hachette's Katie Espiner, said they were actively recruiting into roles that can be based out of any of their offices.

The schools are out and it's holiday time. And when we think of holidays, we think of holiday reading. If you're having trouble deciding what books to pack, then let the Summer Reading Issue from BooksfromScotland recommend the latest in brilliant Scottish fiction, crime, children's books, poetry and memoir. Some of them pictured here on the right and on our banner. You might need a bigger suitcase!

Membership of the Booksellers Association of the UK and Ireland has risen to over 1000 from 875 pre-pandemic. See The Bookseller of 28 July 2021.

New bookshops that have come to our attention recently are Mount Florida Books in Glasgow and Rare Birds Books in Edinburgh. There's also a café/bookshop due to open in Inverleith Row in Edinburgh (former Colin Campbell sports shop) at the end of the summer.

And if you are in Edinburgh during the Edinburgh International Book Festival, its bookshop will be located in the old Fire Station building on Lauriston Place. The festival's online bookshop is open all year round.

All going well, we have some in person events to look forward to in August and later in the year as well as the opportunity to watch or catch later online. Two of the festivals will be visited by Storm the 10 metre tall goddess of the Sea (Fringe by the Sea 15 August and Nairn Festival of Book and Arts 12 September).

Filmed events were spread out over late spring and summer this year rather than taking in place in May. Ambrose Parry features on 28 July and Donald S Murray on 4 August. For details and to buy tickets, see the Ullapool Book Festival website.

The Fringe always has a variety of storytelling, spoken word, theatre and other bookish events. See the Fringe website.

Plenty to look forward here at the seaside including a Beano event, David Keenan, Brian Taylor's Blether with Denise Mina, Maggie O'Farrell, and Lemn Sissay. Lots of good music and other events too. See the Fringe by the Sea website.

Hundreds of the world’s best writers and thinkers will take part in live conversations this August, including events with Nobel Prize winners Amartya Sen and Kazuo Ishiguro, Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o, Booker Prize winners Salman Rushdie, Bernardine Evaristo, Richard Flanagan and Scotland's own Douglas Stuart (with First Minister Nicola Sturgeon) and many more. The festival will have hybrid events at Edinburgh College of Art (tickets on sale now) as well as online only events. See the festival website.

BIG LIT was due to celebrate its 10th Anniversary last year but Covid intervened so BIG LIT 2021 really is their 10th anniversary LIVE. Join them in this special year for all things literary - a digital programme, launches, book talks, an exhibition, history, biography, poetry, jazz, workshop, politics, music and a programme for young people. See the Big Lit website.

Early bird tickets are on sale now for this annual weekend-long event. The programme will include events with Lady Anne Glenconner, Allan Little, Jim Naughtie, Jonathan Powell, Sarah Helm, William Dalrymple, Barbara Dickson and Rab Noakes. See the Beyond Borders website for updates.

This bi-annual celebration of arts and literature takes place in the picturesque West Highlands of Scotland. In 2021 you can look forward to Crime, Coast and Comedy with Abir Mukherjee, Hannah Rarity, Mark Bridgeman, Alasdair Whyte, Hannah Kelly, Andrew MacKillop, Mark Avery, Colin Skeath, Ilona Munro, Sylvia Hehir, Annabel Lawrence, Sarah Davies, and more. See the Three Lochs website.

The festival opens on 4 September with an environmentally-themed ‘creative takeover’ of Nairn High Street. And the theme of being 'Close to Nature' is present throughout the festival. Highlights include several critically acclaimed authors, pop-up art exhibitions, beautiful folk music, and otherworldly dance performances. See the Nairn Book and Arts Festival website.

Events and projects take place year round but the main festival takes place in autumn. No programme details yet on the Wigtown Book Festival website but shouldn't be too long.

Lots of great events for children. As with last year’s festival, Bath Children’s Literature Festival has teamed up with festival partners in different parts of the world including Boswell Book Festival and Wigtown Book Festival in Scotland. For more information, see the Reading is Magic Festival website.

For more information, see the Publishing Scotland website.

The following prizes and grants are also open:

The recording of this free event from our Scottish Books Long Weekend is available to watch until 1 August 2021 on YouTube. It's for those interested in a behind-the-scenes peek at publishing and tips on entering the industry.

This series of free, virtual events from Hachette aims to demystify publishing. Check the Hachette website for dates and how to register.

The 2021 Gardners Trade Show and BA Conference will take place in Leicestershire.

Speakers and sessions will be announced throughout August. See The Bookseller website.

Donations will go towards a bench in memory of Brian, to local charities who support men struggling with mental health, and if enough is raised, to The Common Breath, the publishing company that Brian founded in October 2019, to help them continue the legacy that Brian started. See In Memory of Brian Hamill.

Bookspeed, the book wholesaler, was started in 1986 by Annie Rhodes and Kingsley Dawson. There's a great interview with them about how it all began just posted on the Bookspeed blog.

You have until 1 August 2021 to catch up on YouTube with the events from our June weekend (including talks with Estelle Maskame and Graeme Macrae Burnet, an illustration workshop with Kate Milner, and a panel talk on 'what next for Scotland at home and abroad?').

Dennis the Menace stamps! You don't have to be a philatelist to appreciate the excellent stamps issued in July by Royal Mail to celebrate 70 years of the famous comic character. For a potted history of Dennis, see the DC Thomson website.