Anita Mechler & Kate Merlene

The 2023 Ignyte Awards finalists are announced. Starting their runs at the top of best seller lists are Only the Dead by Jack Carr, Yellowface by R.F. Kuang, King: A Life by Jonathan Eig, and The Shadow Docket: How the Supreme Court Uses Stealth Rulings To Amass Power and Undermine the Republic by Stephen Vladeck. There are author interviews with Gene Luen Yang, Luis Alberto Urrea, Laura Tillman, and Suzannah Lessard.

There are announcements for the 2023 Mythopoeic Awards finalists and Eisner Awards nominees. Walter Isaacson’s forthcoming biography of Elon Musk will arrive September 12. Author interviews feature conversations with the likes of Nicole Cuffy, Emma Cline, Brittany Snow, R.F. Kuang, Jenny Fran Davis, Julia Quinn, and Samantha Irby. Benedict Cumberbatch will star in the adaptation of Max Porter’s Grief Is the Thing With Feathers.

PEN America and Penguin Random House sue a Florida school district over book bans. Debuting at the top of the best-seller lists are The Making of Another Major Motion Picture Masterpiece by Tom Hanks, Queen Charlotte by Julia Quinn, written with Shonda Rhimes, The Daddy Diaries: The Year I Grew Up by Andy Cohen, and Walking with Sam: A Father, a Son, and Five Hundred Miles Across Spain by Andrew McCarthy. There are conversations with authors Alex Pappademas, Polly Stewart, Andrea Bartz, Matthew Dallek, Juliet and Kelly Starrett, Stephen Vladeck, and David Fleming. There is adaptation news for Ernest Hemingway’s Across the River and into the Trees.

Arinze Ifeakandu wins the 2023 Dylan Thomas Prize with God’s Children Are Little Broken Things: Stories. The Women’s Prize for Fiction shortlist is announced. Chris Turner wins the 2023 Shaughnessy Cohen Prize for Political Writing with How To Be a Climate Optimist: Blueprints for a Better World. Other awards announcements include the 2023 Wilbur Smith Adventure Writing Prize longlist and the 2023 Orwell Prizes shortlists. Urban historian Fred Siegel is remembered upon his death at 78. Interviews feature Rachel Cargle, Tembe Denton-Hurst, Sunny Hostin, Carl Sferrazza Anthony, Lisa Brideau, Christina Sharpe, Judy Blume, Kerri Arsenault, Isabella Hammad, Stephen Marche, and Felix Salmon. Plus, adaptation news for Chelene Knight’s Junie and Juan Rulfo’s Pedro Páramo.

The Christian Book Awards winners are announced. Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros, The 23rd Midnight by James Patterson & Maxine Paetro, The Covenant of Water by Abraham Verghese, Look for Me There: Grieving My Father, Finding Myself by Luke Russert, and Lessons Learned and Cherished: The Teacher Who Changed My Life by Deborah Roberts are new to the bestseller lists. Interviews arrive with Mona Gables, Edan Lepucki, Julia Argy, James C. Jackson, Mariana Alessandri, Emma Nadler, Landon Jones, and Dave Eggers.

The June 2023 Indie Next List Preview is out, featuring #1 pick Yellowface by R.F. Kuang. The Sheikh Zayed Book Award 2023 winners are announced. Multiple sources cover the targeting of journalists worldwide and the repercussions of Writers Guild of America’s strike. Starting their run as best sellers are Happy Place by Emily Henry, In the Lives of Puppets by TJ Klune, Small Mercies by Dennis Lehane, Don't Tell Anybody the Secrets I Told You by Lucinda Williams, and Honey, Baby, Mine: A Mother and Daughter Talk Life, Death, Love (and Banana Pudding) by Laura Dern and Diane Ladd. 

Ling Ma has won the Story Prize for Bliss Montage. Other awards announcements include the New York Public Library’s 36th annual Helen Bernstein Book Award for Excellence in Journalism and the V S Pritchett Short Story Prize shortlist. Conversations delve into the experiences and processes of authors such as Richard Mirabella, Elizabeth McKenzie, Vibhuti Jain Jenny Jackson, Nazli Koca, Nita Prose, Gina Frangello, and Ghaith Abdul-Ahad. There is adaptation news for Leigh Bardugo’s “Six of Crows” book series. 

The Kirkus Prize winners are announced, including Trust by Hernan Diaz for fiction, and In Sensorium: Notes for My People by Tanaïs for nonfiction. The shortlist for the Waterstones Book of the Year is announced. PRH Audio expands partnership with Peachtree Publishing. Bob Dylan’s The Philosophy of Modern Song gets early reviews. Vogue analyzes the title of Prince Harry’s memoir, Spare. Aldis Hodge will play Alex Cross in new Amazon series. Plus, Elon Musk closes deal to buy Twitter.

Sabba Khan wins the Jhalak prize for best book by a writer of color for The Roles We Play. Dan Breznitz wins the 2021 Donner Prize. The 2022 Indie Reader Discovery Award winners are announced. At the top of the best selling book lists are Nightwork by Nora Roberts, Clive Cussler's Dark Vector by Graham Brown, and Here's the Deal by Kellyanne Conway. Library Reads and LJ share read-alikes for John Grisham's Sparring Partners. There are author interviews with Holly Black, Colton Haynes, Casey McQuiston and Jessamine Chan. Plus, Judith Viorst’s Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day turns 50.