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Awards & News

The Inaugural Libby Award winners are announced. People has the exclusive. 

The Edgar Award finalists are announced.

The 2024 LA Times Festival of Books, which will be held on April 20–22, announces a lineup featuring RuPaul, Ariana Madix, Kerry Washington, Lauren Graham, and more. See the full schedule.

Publishing Perspectives reports from opening day of the London Book Fair. Publishers Weekly also has a recap.

The 2024 Tournament of Books opening round is underway; today’s match is Big Swiss by Jen Beagin (Scribner) vs. The Lost Journals of Sacajewea by Debra Magpie Earling (Milkweed Editions). 

Scholastic acquires 9 Story in $186 million deal, PW reports. Publishers Lunch also has coverage.

Reviews

USA Today reviews Watch Where They Hide by Tamron Hall (Morrow), giving it 2.5 out of 4 stars: “The mysteries are fun, sure, but I’m left wishing we could spend more time unraveling Jordan, learning why she feels called to her craft in this way, why the people who trust her or love her, do so. It’s just like a journalist to be right in front of us, telling us about someone else’s journey but not much of her own.”

Washington Post reviews Radiant: The Life and Line of Keith Haring by Brad Gooch (Harper): “Let’s be real: Merch is merch; it’s not a new medium. And if Gooch’s claim about conflating art and commerce is true, Haring, for all his vitality and exuberance, was in fact—among many more admirable things—a sellout.”

Slate reviews James by Percival Everett (Doubleday; LJ starred review): “Knowing Everett’s impish propensities, it’s impossible to read James—among other things, a litany of atrocities visited upon Black characters, set in the past—and not wonder if he’s still needling gullible white readers about what we expect from Black novelists. If he’s mocking us, well, he’s earned that right. Maybe he’ll even win a Pulitzer.” The Atlantic also weighs in: “James is best understood as a systematic dismantling of that shopworn staple, the Black man or woman who exists to rescue and morally enlighten a fallen but basically redeemable white protagonist. And Everett’s quarrel is not with this archetype alone.”

Autostraddle reviews Solidarity: The Past, Present, and Future of a World-Changing Idea by Leah Hunt-Hendrix & Astra Taylor (Pantheon; LJ starred review): “They then take the rare step of actually outlining a solution to a major global injustice, proposing an international ‘solidarity state’ as a better alternative to the ‘welfare state’ and laying out in engaging and thorough detail what that would entail. Finally, they argue for a spiritual, philosophical foundation for understanding solidarity as a lifestyle and worldview rather than just a political project.”

Briefly Noted

LibraryReads and Library Journal offer read-alikes for Still See You Everywhere by Lisa Gardner (Grand Central), the top holds title of the week. 

LJ has new prepub alerts.

Tennis star Björn Borg will publish a memoir in 2025, Publishers Lunch reports.

Oakland author Leila Mottley leads a literary tour through the San Francisco Bay Area, for NYT. 

Salon has an interview with Mark Kurlansky about his book, The Core of an Onion: Peeling the Rarest Common Food—Featuring More Than 100 Historical Recipes (Bloomsbury). 

Essence talks with Tamron Hall about her latest book, Watch Where They Hide (Morrow), and her popular character Jordan Manning. Hall also talks with USA Today about her writing process.

ElectricLit has a preview and cover reveal for Alexandra Teague’s forthcoming Ominous Music Intensifying (Persea), out October 1. 

Debbie Urbanski talks with The Rumpus about her book, After World (S. & S.), and “how memorizing the poetry of Sylvia Plath gave her permission to stray from the literal and venture into the surreal.”

Poet Zefyr Lisowski, Girl Work (Noemi Press), answers 10 questions at Poets & Writers.

Vogue talks with Cameron Russell about her new memoir, How To Make Herself Agreeable to Everyone (Random). 

Bustle highlights Emmeline Clein’s debut book, Dead Weight: Essays on Hunger and Harm (Knopf).

At Parade, Stephanie Harrison shares tips on happiness from her forthcoming book, New Happy: Getting Happiness Right in a World That’s Got It Wrong (TarcherPerigee), due out May 14th. 

Dorset History Centre launches a new Thomas Hardy archive project, BBC reports. 

CBC suggests 8 Canadian books for fans of Denison Avenue by Christina Wong & Daniel Innes (ECW). 

BookRiot highlights 24 new World War II historical fiction books.

“Marnia Lazreg, Scholar of Algeria and the Veil, Dies at 83.” NYT has an obituary.

Authors on Air

NPR’s Morning Edition discusses the growing number of sham AI books on Amazon.

Tommy Orange and Roxane Gay discuss “identity and writing, representation in literature, unexpected connections to other authors and more” on B&N's Poured Over podcast.

Michael Medico will direct a feature adaptation of Robbie Couch’s The Sky Blues (Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers), Deadline reports. 

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