Kathleen DuVal’s Native Nations: A Millennium in North America wins the Cundill History Prize. NYT reports on librarian burnout in the face of the “crisis of violence and abuse” that libraries are encountering. Some Nobel and Pulitzer winners have signed an open letter denouncing cultural boycotts of Israel. Plus, new title bestsellers and interviews with Stanley Tucci, Scott Hawkins, Jane Hirshfield, and Jess Walter.
As Lorcan Dempsey, formerly with OCLC, observed in portal: Libraries and the Academy (2008), “discovery happens elsewhere”—that is, people are using internet search engines, recommendations from social media, or emails from friends and colleagues to discover content. Search can be a powerful tool, provided you know what you are looking for. Yet there are significant problems associated with the search process.
December’s Indie Next list features #1 pick The Serviceberry: Abundance and Reciprocity in the Natural World by Robin Wall Kimmerer. GMA's November book club pick is The Blue Hour by Paula Hawkins, and Reese Witherspoon’s pick is We Will Be Jaguars: A Memoir of My People by Nemonte Nenquimo & Mitch Anderson. Taylor Jenkins Reid previews her forthcoming novel Atmosphere. Tina Knowles announces her memoir, Matriarch, due out in April. LibraryReads and LJ offer read-alikes for Louise Penny’s buzzy book, The Grey Wolf. Alan Murrin’s The Coast Road will be adapted for TV. Plus, authors Joe Hill and Stephen Graham Jones recommend great horror books on the NYT Book Review podcast.
On October 24, the Association of College and Research Libraries announced the publication of its 2024 report for the Project Outcome for Academic Libraries (POAL) toolkit. Data in the report offers a snapshot of POAL’s use and impact in FY24, from September 1, 2023, to August 31 of this year. The report is available as a free download from the Project Outcome for Academic Libraries website.
Shortlists for the An Post Irish Book Awards and winners of the National Translation Awards and the World Fantasy Awards are announced. Jenna Bush Hager selects This Motherless Land by Nikki May for her November book club. Like Mother, Like Mother by Susan Rieger is B&N’s pick. Ingram’s Consortium adds seven new publishers for distribution. Nick Offerman joins the cast of Apple TV+’s Margo’s Got Money Troubles, based on the book by Rufi Thorpe. Novelist and poet Paul Bailey has died at the age of 87.
The Grey Wolf by Louise Penny leads holds this week. Also getting buzz are titles by Paula Hawkins, M.L. Wang, and Kerri Maniscalco. Publishers Weekly touts the best books of 2024. People’s book of the week is Roman Year: A Memoir by André Aciman. Winners of the Geffen Awards are announced. Plus, Earlyword’s October “GalleyChat” spreadsheet arrives.
A City on Mars: Can We Settle Space, Should We Settle Space, and Have We Really Thought This Through? by Kelly and Zach Weinersmith wins the Royal Society Trivedi Science Book Prize. The longlists for the 2025 Andrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence in Fiction and Nonfiction, the shortlist for the Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse Prize for Comic Fiction, and the finalists for the Kitschies are announced. Plus, Page to Screen and interviews with Danzy Senna, Frieda McFadden, and Ada Limón.
About 100 lawyers, library professionals, educators, students, and activists attended the Banned Books and Libraries Under Attack Conference at the Cleveland State University (CSU) College of Law, which featured more than a dozen speakers and panelists.
Melissa Lucashenko’s Edenglassie wins both the ARA Historical Novel Society Australasia Prize and the Margaret and Colin Roderick Literary Award. A Texas county library system has reversed its decision to classify a children’s Indigenous history book as fiction. Plus, interviews with Yael van der Wouden, Mosab Abu Toha, Ben Okri, and Richard McGuire and new title bestsellers.
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