Book news: Prix Goncourt, book skills and ‘Julie of the Wolves’

Lydie Salvayre has won the Prix Goncourt for her novel “Pas Pluerer” (Don’t Cry), about the Spanish Civil War. Salvaire, a psychologist turned author, is the daughter of Spanish Republicans who fled to France. The Prix Goncourt is France’s leading literary prize.

Self-publishing company Blurb, which started out with an emphasis on photo books, has created a division that will function like a boutique publishing shop for hire. Calling it the Dream Team, it has vetted freelancers to provide all the services of a publisher on an a la carte basis. Need copy editing? Or illustrations for a children’s book? Photographs? Photographs from Spain? They’re all available. “The publishing industry’s loss is kind of self publishing’s gain,” Blurb founder and CEO Eileen Gittins told the site Talking New Media. “We have access to people who heretofore were completely booked, or even working full time at publishing houses.”

Another prize from across the sea: American writer Joshua Ferris has won the International Dylan Thomas Prize for his novel, “To Rise Again at a Decent Hour.” Created by Swansea University, the prize is open to writers in English aged 39 and younger. Famed writer Dylan Thomas, whose centenary has been celebrated this year, died at age 39.

Beloved children’s book “Julie of the Wolves” by Jean Craighead George was published as an e-book for the first time by Open Road Media. Open Road has made a business of publishing classic books in digital form. But the book’s original publisher, HarperCollins, said it didn’t have the rights to do so, according to language in a 1971 contract, and sued. Publishers Weekly reports that the judge who previously found in favor of HarperCollins has now awarded the company the statutory $30,000 maximum, plus $7,000 in damages -- almost all of the $39,000 in royalties the e-book has produced -- but told the company that it cannot have the $1 million it sought in attorney’s fees.

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