News

Bernardine Evaristo will chair the judging panel for the Women’s Prize for Fiction 2021. Molly Stern, who was publisher of Crown before the shake-up at PRH, creates a new publishing company called Zando. Margaret Busby, an important voice in UK publishing, takes center stage. A Time for Mercy by John Grisham tops the bestseller list. Caste by Isabel Wilkerson soars to the top of the NYT nonfiction list. Suzanne Palmer wins the Theodore Sturgeon Award for “Waterlines.” There is a second trailer out for The Underground Railroad.

The Central Arkansas Library System, Georgia's Gwinnett County Library System, and South Carolina's Union County Library System demonstrate the focus on equity, social justice, and the health of their communities that has earned them Honorable Mention for the 2020  Jerry Kline Community Impact Prize.

It was once accepted practice to call married women by their husbands’ names, with the honorific “Mrs.” attached—for example, “Mrs. Franklin Delano Roosevelt.” During the library shutdown, archivists at Columbia University’s Rare Book and Manuscript Library began to remedy that issue in their finding aids.

Rhode Island's Cranston Public Library, promoting equity and cohesion in a rapidly changing city through its deep involvement in civic life, wins the 2020 Jerry Kline Community Impact Prize, developed in partnership with the Gerald M. Kline Family Foundation.

Lisa Janicke Hinchliffe and Christine Wolff-Eisenberg discuss the fourth and final analysis of their Academic Library Response to COVID-1 survey, “Indications of the New Normal,” looking at the current phases of academic library pandemic.

After initially exploring the donation of some of its library collections to nearby Wayne State University, Marygrove College ultimately decided to give its 70,000 books and 3,000 journal volumes to the Internet Archive, which digitized the collection and made it available via Controlled Digital Lending.

Vincent Brown, Camilla Townsend, and William Dalrymple are the 2020 finalists for the Cundill History Prize. The Millions selects “Must-Read Poetry” for October. Tor.com has a piece on Alternate History by Alaya Dawn Johnson and announces a new five-book contract with Tamsyn Muir. HBO is adapting Jo Nesbø’s The Son. The Game of Thrones TV sequel, House of the Dragon, has started casting.

The Anthony Awards and The Barry Awards are announced. The Zora Neale Hurston/Richard Wright Foundation announces the winners of its 2020 Legacy Awards. Michael Kleber-Diggs wins the 2020 Max Ritvo Poetry Prize. Bill Gates has a book forthcoming in February, How to Avoid a Climate Disaster: The Solutions We Have and the Breakthroughs We Need. Some copies of A Time for Mercy by John Grisham contain printing errors. On the Come Up by Angie Thomas is headed to the movies. A teaser trailer is out for The Underground Railroad.

The events of 2020 have sparked an awakening to long-standing inequalities in our society. As a result, students and researchers are looking to their libraries and universities for insights and information from a wider variety of perspectives, including those of people who have been historically marginalized.