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Frequently asked questions |
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Which author has an anniversary this/next year? |
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Some literary reference books include literary chronologies – The Oxford Companion to English Literature (edited by Margaret Drabble, Oxford University Press) available in bookshops or libraries. Some British Council offices will have a copy: There are a number of dictionaries of dates, e.g. Dent’s Dictionary of Dates, available in bookshops or libraries. The British and Irish authors website lists authors by date of birth and includes their death dates as well. |
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What books has an author written? |
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Look on the book selling web sites for books available in print:
British bookshops and libraries have access to the CD-ROMs Whitaker’s Books in Print or Bookwise both of which list all books currently in print, recently out of print or soon to be published. These CD-ROMs can also be searched for books about authors that will include bibliographies or critical works with bibliographies
Author biographies usually include bibliographies – see the next two questions for information on biographies
The British Library catalogue lists books published by British authors and includes books now out of print . This website also includes catalogues from other major libraries in the UK
For children’s authors contact the National Centre for Research in Children’s Literature
The second-hand book website Abebooks or the CD-ROM Whitaker’s Books Out of Print lists out-of-print books. UKBookworld.com, W. H. Smith, and Blackwells, all provide an out-of-print book search.
Contemporary authors – the British Council/Booktrust Contemporary Writer’s Database includes author bibliographies: http://www.contemporarywriters.com
Children’s Book Directory includes links to sites on authors, and illustrators
Northamptonshire County Council Learning Resources for Education has an A-Z of links to children’s author sites
Whichbook.net (not a bibliographic site but a book selection site) combines a selection of features you would like a book to contain and it will produce a list of books with a brief description of each.
EnCompassculture – the British Council book selection site based on our bibliographies and genre lists.
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What books have been written about an author? |
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British bookshops and libraries have access to the CD-ROMs Whitaker’s Books in Print or Bookwise both of which list all books currently in print, recently out of print or soon to be published. These CD-ROMs can be searched for books about authors.
Literary reference books include a list of major biographies under each author entry – The Oxford Companion to English Literature (edited by Margaret Drabble, Oxford University Press); The Cambridge Guide to Literature in English (edited by Ian Ousby, Cambridge University Press) available in British bookshops or libraries.
The British Council/Northcote House series Writers and Their Work includes biographies of many major British authors:
Internet bookshops list books with the author’s name in the title:
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I need brief biographical information about an author |
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I live overseas and would like to buy a British book. |
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To buy a British book contact a British exporting bookseller:
...or an internet bookseller:
To borrow a British book contact your local British Council office some of which have lending and/or reference libraries. The office can also advise you on borrowing a book from the British Library Lending Division (this service is not available to countries with which Britain does not have diplomatic relations). Books can be borrowed directly from the British Library through their site: http://blpc.bl.uk
To buy an out-of-print British book contact
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I live overseas can you send me some free books? |
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We do not supply books apart from our own publications (information directories, bibliographies and an annual anthology) - details of how to order these are available on our website:
To buy a British book contact a British exporting bookseller:
...or an internet bookseller:
To borrow a British book contact your local British Council office some of which have lending and/or reference libraries. The office can also advise you on borrowing a book from the British Library Lending Division (this service is not available to countries with which Britain does not have diplomatic relations). Books can be borrowed directly from the British Library through their site: http://blpc.bl.uk
To buy an out-of-print British book contact
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I am visiting the UK next month, can you provide me with a list of readings that I could attend? |
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Can you send me a list of all UK contemporary authors as I want to have their books in my library? |
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It isn’t possible for us to list all the UK contemporary authors with their books as there are so many. Our Contemporary Writers website provides information about UK authors: We publish a newsletter twice a year, Literature Matters, which includes a round up of UK fiction annually which you may find useful - it is also on our web site We also publish a book annually called New Writing that includes new authors as well as more established authors. Every year we produce bibliographies about an aspect of UK literature. The most recent are: |
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I want reviews of contemporary literature |
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Our Contemporary writers website includes critical reviews of authors:
Booktrust has contemporary literature reviews
For reviews of contemporary children’s literature visit:
The BBC books site includes reviews and interviews.
A number of UK newspapers have special books pages with reviews:
Book selling sites include book reviews:
Whichbook.net (not a reviewing site but a book selection site) – lets you combine a selection of features you would like a book to contain and it will produce a list of books with a brief description of each
EnCompassculture – the British Council book selection site based on our bibliographies and genre lists includes reader’s reviews.
Literary periodicals include reviews. We have a list on our site
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I want to read/hear interviews with contemporary authors |
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Author interviews can be found on a number of sites, for example:
Publishers’ sites often contain author interviews, such as, Virago and Penguin's Readers Group. A list of publisher's can be found using the following links:
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Can you give me the contact details for a particular author’s society? |
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I would like a list of arts festivals in the UK? I would like the contact details for …literary festival. Which authors will be attending the … literary festival? Do you have a list of all the poetry festivals in the UK? |
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We have a list of Literature Festivals and arts festivals with a literary content:
For general arts festivals, contact the British Arts Festivals
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Please send me a list of literary festivals around the world. |
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We do not have a list of literary festivals around the world only those in the UK. There are a number of websites that you can find some information about festivals in Europe:
Festivals that we deal with overseas include:
- Sydney Writers Festival, Australia - May
- Melbourne Writer’s Festival, Australia – August
- Children’s Literature Festival, Belgium - February
- Harbourfront International Festival of Authors, Toronto, Canada – October
- Montreal Blue Metropolis International Literary Festival, Canada - April
- Victoria Literary Arts Festival, Canada - May
- Ottawa International Writers Festival, Canada - September
- Banff-Calgary International Writers Festival (WordFest), Canada - October
- Festivale Internationale de la Poesie de Trois-Rivieres, Canada – September/October
- Vancouver International Writers and Readers Festival, Canada - October
- Medellin International Poetry Festival, Colombia - June
- Helsinki Festival, Finland - August
- Festival Franco-Anglais de Poesie, France – May
- Concrete Poetry Festival, Cologne, Germany - Autumn
- British Literature Festival, Germany – May
- International Storytelling Festival, Aachen, Germany - November
- International Children’s Literature Festival, Israel - June
- Lithuania Spring Festival, Lithuania - May
- Auckland Writers and Readers Festival, New Zealand - May
- Wordstruck, Dunedin, New Zealand – May
- Port Legnica Poetry Festival, Poland – September
- Poetry Lisbon Festival, Portugal – May
- Time of the Writer Festival, South Africa – March
- Stockholm International Poetry Festival, Sweden - November
- International Literature Festival, Leukerbad, Switzerland – June/July
If you know which country you are interested in you can contact our office in that country:
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I am interested in finding out about literary prizes and competitions in the UK for works in English. |
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A comprehensive guide to British literary prizes is available on the Booktrust site and in print (Book Trust Guide to Literary Prizes, 1999, £5.99, ISBN 0 85353 477 2).
Booktrust
45 East Hill
London SW18 2QZ
Telephone: +44 (0)20 8516 2977
Fax: +44 (0)20 8516 2978
Web site: http://www.booktrust.org.uk
Book Information is Booktrust’s database site.
For links about literary prizes go to our Prizes page.
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I want to publish a book by a British author in my country. I want to translate a book (or part of one) for use in my country. |
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Contact the Rights Department of the author’s publisher or contact their agent with an explanation of exactly which book, how much of the book you want to use and why you want to use it. If you have a copy of the book the publisher’s address is usually given on the reverse of the title page For publishers’ contact details: If it is a short story or an article published in a magazine then contact the publisher of the magazine to ask permission to use it. The magazine will include the publisher’s address; contact details for all literary magazines are listed in the Writers' and Artists’ Yearbook (A & C Black, annual publication); A list of literary periodicals with contact details is available on our website: |
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