Weekly book agenda: Books in Beijing, Franzen's 'Freedom'

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Glowing reviews and major worldwide publicity precede the August 31 release of Freedom, Jonathan Franzen's highly anticipated follow-up to The Corrections. And beginning August 30, the Beijing Book Fair is expected to draw 200,000 visitors from both the general public and the international publishing community.

Beijing International Book Fair
August 30 - September 3
Beijing, China

The Beijing Book Fair has been gaining in importance in recent years as publishers set their sights on the Chinese market - what some call the "final frontier" in publishing as it increasingly opens to the outside world. China has one of the largest publishing industries in the world and its demand for English-language titles is growing. The fair is back in Beijing in 2010, having moved outside the city in 2009 after the Olympic Games. An estimated 1,000 publishers and 200,000 visitors from 55 countries attended the 2009 event. The fourth day of the fair is open to the public.
http://www.bibf.net

Jonathan Franzen's 'Freedom'
August 31/September 23
USA/UK

Enjoying glowing advance reviews, Freedom is Jonathan Franzen's much-anticipated follow-up to 2001's The Corrections. Like his previous novel, Freedom focuses on the troubles of a family in American suburbia. Patty and Walter Berglund are the liberal-minded residents of a gentrified neighborhood for whom things go sour when their teenage son moves in with a Republican family next door; when Walter, an environmental lawyer, takes a job working with Big Coal; and in light of the frequent presence of Walter's college best friend and rival, once a budding rock star, in the couple's lives.

Man Booker Prize shortlist
September 7
London, UK

On July 27, 13 novels were chosen for the Man Booker Prize longlist, commonly referred to as the "Booker Dozen." Longlisted titles, which chair of the judges Andrew Motion called "wide-ranging in their geography and their concern," include Peter Carey's Parrot and Olivier in America, Andrea Levy's The Long Song, and David Mitchell's The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet. Debate for the presitigious UK prize is sure to follow the shortlist announcement, when the Booker Dozen is narrowed down to six finalists, and to continue leading up to the winner announcement on October 12.
http://www.themanbookerprize.com/prize/man-booker-prize

Sara Gruen's 'Ape House'
September 7
International

Sara Gruen's Ape House is the follow-up to her 2006 bestselling historical novel Water for Elephants, which became an international bestseller and is now being turned into a feature film starring Robert Pattinson and Reese Witherspoon. The new novel will continue the theme of the relationships between humans and animals, this time shifting its focus from the circus elephants of Water to a family of bonobo apes. The novel was one of the hottest titles at the 2010 edition of BookExpo America.

Stephen Hawking's 'The Grand Design'
September 7/9
USA/UK

Theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking is due to publish his first book since 2001's The Universe in a Nutshell. Co-written with Leonard Mlodinow, The Grand Design will "examine the evidence for the existence of a 'unified theory'-a single theory that can describe and explain all the forces of nature." It is being called Hawking's "ultimate book," set to tackle the key hows and whys of the universe. Especially known for his work on theories about the Big Bang and black holes, Hawking is the author of a handful of books written for the general public. His runaway international bestseller A Brief History of Time remained on bestseller lists for years and has sold ten million copies worldwide.

'Guinness World Records 2011'
September 14/16
USA/UK

Guinness World Records was first published in 1955 and is routinely a best-seller around the world. Available in more than 100 countries and in 25 languages, it sells nearly four million copies each year. New in 2011: focuses on television's 75th anniversary, 3D cinema, and the historic Space Shuttle, as well as a GPS World Tour that examines records broken in 270 cities around the globe.


'Noah Barleywater Runs Away'
September 30
International

Irish writer John Boyne, author of the internationally best-selling children's book The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas, is due to publish a second book for children. Illustrated by award-winning Irish artist Oliver Jeffers, Noah Barleywater Runs Away is, according to Boyne, "a very different book to The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas - more fairytale than fable - with a mystery at the centre and a surprise at the end." Boyne is the author of seven novels that have been published in 40 languages. The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas, the story of a young boy growing up in WWII Berlin, was Boyne's first book for children; written in 2006, it has sold more than 200 million copies worldwide, became a best-seller in the UK, the USA, Ireland, Australia, Spain, and many other countries, and was adapted into a 2008 film.