The Penguin Random House construction has 47 per cent of the merged publisher owned by Penguin parent Pearson and the rest by Random House parent Bertelsmann. A few weeks ago, Pearson offloaded its venerable pink paper, The Financial Times, and followed that up with divesting itself of the 50 per cent share in had in The Economist. So it was no surprise that Bertelsmann chief executive Thomas Rabe​ said he could imagine raising the German company's stake in PRH. He was commenting on the Bertelsmann half-year results that saw earnings rise 10 per cent to 1.1 billion euros, partly due to the 4.5 million copies of Paula Hawkins' Girl on a Train and 3.5 million version of E.L. James' latest Fifty Shades of Grey instalment, Grey, that have been sold. Rabe said it was up to Pearson if it wanted to sell its Penguin stake, which is said to be worth about $US2.8 billion. The terms of the 2012 merger between the two publishers means they have to retain their percentage until next month.

Real Self expression

Will Self cut something of a swath through Melbourne last week, delighting people with his wit and intellect and disarming them with his frankness. His closing address at the Melbourne Writers Festival about his relationship with Australia was a case in point. If you missed him, you can catch his lugubrious self on ABC TV's The Book Club (I admit it; I'm a panellist too) on Sunday at 6pm. All goes smoothly until the brilliant Jon Ronson admits that rather than read one of the books discussed, Atticus Lish's Preparations for the Next Life, he listened to the audio version. Cue a Self explosion. Ronson, riddled with jetlag, was a bit miffed and said as much after the recording. Self duly apologised for going in a bit hard.

Moriarty's big little surprise

Liane Moriarty didn't know her most recent novel, Big Little Lies, was going to be a crime novel and it had never occurred to her that she would ever venture into the genre. But a dead body at a school trivia night in the opening chapter changed that and the book has sold more than 1 million copies in the US and was number 1 on the New York Times bestseller list. Last weekend it won Sisters in Crime's Davitt​ Award for best novel. Ellie Marney​ won the YA Davitt for Every Word, Caroline Overington the non-fiction prize for Last Woman Hanged, Judith Rossell​ the children's award for Withering-by-the Sea, and Christine Bongers​ the debut award for Intruder.

Hope for the Brotherhood

Cate Blanchett, Kate Grenville and Quentin Bryce are the judges for the Brotherhood of St Laurence short story award, the Hope Prize, which is calling for stories between 2000 and 5000 words. First prize is $5000, second $3000 and third $2000. The competition is accepting entries and deadline is January 31.