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Shakespeare can survive many liberties but an animated feature called Romeo and Juliet: Sealed with a Kiss may be a reinterpretation too far. It concerns “two star-cross (sic) seals (which) fall in love against their parents’ wishes”. The film-makers have had a few issues with the Bard’s plot — “with the help of their friends Friar Lawrence and Kissy, the kissing fish, the young lovers are reunited”.

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Mark Haddon’s new novel, A Spot of Bother, is out this autumn. He told The Bookseller that he will be glad of something else to talk about after the success of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time: “If you talk about any subject 500 times, it gets tiring.”

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A triumph for independence at the British Book Trade Awards as Faber took the Publisher of the Year prize. The Small Publisher of the Year was shared by Profile, publisher of Lynne Truss and Does Anything Eat Wasps?, and the enterprising Snowbooks. Bookselling Company of the Year? Now there was a tricky one. Waterstone’s and Ottakar’s are both reporting bad results, and one is likely to take over the other; while choosing W. H. Smith would have raised eyebrows. That left only Borders — which duly won.

NICHOLAS CLEE

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