Apple's iPad 'does not spell the end of the book'

The growing popularity of ebooks does not spell the end of the traditional novel, it has been claimed.

According to Pulitzer Prize-winning author Anna Quindlen, whose novels include Rise and Shine, Life with Beau and One True Thing, television didn't bring about the demise of live theatre and the iPad isn't about to dispatch the hardback book into history.

Speaking at Greenwich Library's Cole Auditorium, the writer claimed that people tend to have an 'either/or' attitude, but added that this is not the only way to live life.

'We act as though two things that are different delivery systems for the same thing can't coexist. And I think there's going to be a lot of coexistence here,' she said.

She also defended library budgets, claiming that cuts to library services would be an immensely damaging thing to readers.

Quindlen's latest book, Every Last One, which will be released in the UK in July, was described by USA Today as a story of shattering grief.