News

Toni Morrison’s Beloved is being used in the Virginia governor’s race. Kudos to Bob Bender for receiving the 2021 Editorial Excellence Award from the Biographers International Organization. The Judge's List by John Grisham, The Pioneer Woman Cooks: Super Easy! by Ree Drummond, A Shadow in the Ember by Jennifer L. Armentrout, Not All Diamonds and Rosé: The Inside Story of The Real Housewives from the People Who Lived It by Dave Quinn, and The First 21: How I Became Nikki Sixx by Nikki Sixx all top the best sellers lists. New book news for Dani Shapiro with Signal Fires to come out in Fall 2022. Features consider the work of Natashia Deón, author of The Perishing and Dan Ozzi of Sellout: The Major-Label Feeding Frenzy That Swept Punk, Emo, and Hardcore (1994-2007).

Sujit Sivasundaram wins the British Academy Book Prize for Global Cultural Understanding for his book, Waves Across the South: A New History of Revolution and Empire. Toni Ann Johnson wins the Flannery O’Connor Award for Short Fiction. The Forward Prizes for Poetry winners are announced. The 2021 Prix Actusf De L’uchronie shortlist is announced. The 2020 and 2021 Writers & Illustrators of the Future Awards are announced. The LA Times Festival of Books announces live event for April. The NYT raves about Our Country Friends by Gary Shteyngart. Before the Coffee Gets Cold by Toshikazu Kawaguchi will be adapted as a series. Plus, Dune gets a sequel for 2023.

Partha Chatterjee wins the 2021 Columbia University Press Distinguished Book Award for I Am the People: Reflections on Popular Sovereignty Today. The Xingyun Awards Winners for Chinese science fiction were announced. Barack Obama and Bruce Springsteen continue to get coverage for their new book, Renegades: Born in the USA. Gary Shteyngart's new dystopian comedy, Our Country Friends, is featured. David Sedaris, A Carnival of Snackery: Diaries, goes on book tour. Interviews arrive with Lee Child & Andrew Child, Neal Stephenson, Nikki Sixx, and more. First lady of Iceland, Eliza Reid, writes a new book about gender equality. Luster by Raven Leilani and The Seminarian: Martin Luther King Jr. Comes of Age by Patrick Parr get TV adaptations. Plus, Mitzi Angel becomes the first woman to take the helm at Farrar, Straus and Giroux as president. 

Better Off Dead by Lee Child & Andrew Child leads holds this week. Three Indie Next picks publish this week. People's book of the week is The Memoirs of Stockholm Sven by Nathaniel Ian Miller. The NAIBA (New Atlantic Independent Booksellers Association) Book of the Year Awards were announced, with Libertie by Kaitlyn Greenidge winning for best fiction and Crying in H Mart by Michelle Zauner winning best nonfiction. Katie Couric's new memoir Going There, is buzzing along with Barack Obama and Bruce Springsteen's book, Renegades: Born in the USA. Alan Cumming's memoir, Baggage: Tales from a Fully Packed Life, gets coverage. Plus, spooky booklists arrive just in time for Halloween.

Lindsey Drager wins the 2021 Annual Bard Fiction Prize for The Archive of Alternate Endings. Michelle Good wins the 2021 Forest of Reading Evergreen Award for Five Little Indians. The Ursula K. La Guin Prize for fiction, newly created, will debut next year. Interviews explore the perspective of authors Billy Porter of Unprotected, Kalani Pickhart of I Will Die in a Foreign Land, Wendy J. Fox of What If We Were Somewhere Else, Ken Haigh of On Foot to Canterbury, Omar El Akkad of What Strange Paradise, Yvonne Orji of Bamboozled by Jesus: How God Tricked Me Into the Life of My Dreams, and Phoebe Robinson of Please Don't Sit On My Bed In Your Outside Clothes.

The 2021 Cundill History Prize Finalists are announced. State of Terror by Louise Penny and Hillary Rodham Clinton, To Rescue the Republic by Bret Baier with Catherine Whitney, and The Boys: A Memoir of Hollywood and Family by Ron Howard and Clint Howard top the bestsellers lists. News about upcoming releases including a book series by Henry Louis Gates Jr and Bad Mormon by Heather Gay. Interviews explore the experiences of Steve Shirripa of Woke Up This Morning: The Definitive Oral History of The Sopranos and Courtney Balestier of Red Comet: The Short Life and Blazing Art of Sylvia Plath.

The Brooklyn Public Library Literary Prize announces its shortlist, including honorees Kaitlyn Greenidge, Raven Leilani, Mia Birdsong, and more. The 2022 Andrew Carnegie Medals Longlist is announced. Lucy Caldwell wins the BBC National Short Story Award, for "All the People Were Mean and Bad." LibraryReads and LJ offer read-alikes for The Judge’s List, by John Grisham, this week’s buzziest book. Reviews continue for Orwell's Roses by Rebecca Solnit, Unprotected by Billy Porter, and Oh William! by Elizabeth Strout. Author Kate Mosse launches a new YouTube channel, featuring a monthly book club. The NYT considers how to suggest books, with librarian Joyce Saricks. Plus, a look at bringing Dune, based on the book by Frank Herbert, to the big screen.

The 2021 Aurora Awards are announced, with Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia winning the award for best fiction. Antje Rávik Strubel wins the 2021 German Book Prize. Rebecca Campbell Wins the 2020 Theodore Sturgeon Memorial Award for An Important Failure. A new Ursula K. Le Guin Prize for Fiction award will launch in 2022. Orwell's Roses by Rebecca Solnit and Oh William! by Elizabeth Strout get reviewed. Billy Porter's memoir, Unprotected continues to generate buzz. 

The Judge's List by John Grisham leads holds this week. Author and statesman Colin Powell dies at 84 of Covid-19. The shortlist is announced for The Baillie Gifford Prize. Female thriller writer Carmen Mola, is revealed to be three men, as they accept the €1m Planeta Prize, sparking controversy. Four LibraryReads and five Indie Next picks publish this week. The November LibraryReads list arrives, as does the November issue of Entertainment Weekly. People's book of the week is The Lincoln Highway by Amor Towles, and the cover feature highlights Katie Couric and her new memoir, Going There.