reviews

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.

There are announcements for the 35th Annual Lambda Awards finalists, the Jhalak Prize longlist, and the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books. Featured on the best-sellers lists are the debuts of Worthy Opponents by Danielle Steel, Pineapple Street by Jenny Jackson, The London Séance Society by Sarah Penner, and Saving Time: Discovering a Life Beyond the Clock by Jenny Odell. Author interviews highlight the experiences of writers such as Sabrina Orah Mark, Richard Nuila, Sarah Thankam Mathews, Alissa Quart, Meredith Broussard, and Patti McCracken. There is adaptation news for Josie Silver’s One Day in December and Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein.

This year’s Tournament of Books has begun, Oprah’s Book Club pick continues to buzz, and the Republic of Consciousness Prize for Small Presses announced its longlist. Author John Jakes has died at the age of 90. Leigh Bardugo inks a blockbuster deal with Macmillan, and Vulture profiles Kelly Link, whose new collection White Cat, Black Dog, publishes March 28. Oscar Isaac will play Kurt Vonnegut in a new crime series. 

Oprah makes her 100th book club pick with Ann Napolitano’s Hello Beautiful. The International Booker Prize longlist is announced. London Review Bookshop launches the Martha Mills prize. Becca Rothfeld is the new nonfiction book critic at The Washington Post. Interviews arrive with Benjamin Hall, Claire Jimenez, Margaret Atwood, Jenny Jackson, Ann Napolitano, Karen Fine, and Laurel Braitman. Booklists arrive for fans of HBO’s The Last of Us, which surpasses House of the Dragon in full-season viewers. Plus, NPR’s Short Wave celebrates National Pi Day with 𝝅 and pie. 

I Will Find You by Harlan Coben leads holds this week. Three LibraryReads and two Indie Next picks publish this week. People’s book of the week is Künstlers in Paradise by Cathleen Schine. The Oscars were awarded last night, including honors for the adaptations All Quiet on the Western Front, Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio, The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse, Women Talking, and Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. Simon Parkin wins the 2023 Wingate Literary Prize for The Island of Extraordinary Captives. The 2022 Aurealis Awards shortlist is announced. Horror Spotlight announces its picks for Best Books of 2022. The California Book Awards finalists are announced. And Nobel Prize–winning Japanese writer Kenzaburo Oe has died at the age of 88.

The Carol Shields Prize for Fiction longlist, the Baillie Gifford Prize Winner of Winners Prize shortlist, and the Jim Baen Memorial Short Story Award finalists are each announced. Illinois proposes anti–book ban legislation. Interviews feature conversations with Dina Nayeri, Michelle Dowd, Annalee Newitz, Roxanna Asgarian, Madelaine Lucas, Julia Bartz, and Thomas Mallon. Adaptations based on The Last Thing He Told Me by Laura Dave and Denise Mina’s “Morrow” series are in the works.

Beverly Gage, Kelly Lytle Hernández, and John Wood Sweet win the 2023 Bancroft Prize. The 58th Nebula Award Finalists are also announced. Debuting on the best-seller lists are Storm Watch by C.J. Box, A Day of Fallen Night by Samantha Shannon, The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi by Shannon Chakraborty, The Courage To Be Free: Florida’s Blueprint for America’s Revival by Ron DeSantis, and Enchantment: Awakening Wonder in an Anxious Age by Katherine May. There are some author interviews with journalist Benjamin Hall, thriller writer Christopher Bollen, and Sally Adee. There will be an adaptation of Cin Fabré’s memoir, Wolf Hustle: A Black Woman on Wall Street.

Toni Morrison is honored on USPS’s newest Forever Stamp. NYT Magazine offers a guide to “The New Black Canon: Books, Plays and Poems That Everyone Should Know.” The Women’s Prize for Fiction announces its longlist. The 2023 Joyce Carol Oates Prize finalists are announced. Laurie Halse Anderson wins the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award. LibraryReads and LJ offer read-alikes for Pineapple Street by Jenny Jackson. The March Loanstars list features I Will Find You by Harlan Coben, and April’s Indie Next List Preview features No. 1 pick, Yours Truly by Abby Jimenez. March’s EarlyWord GalleyChat spreadsheet arrives. The U.S. Book Show presented by Publisher’s Weekly opens registration in hybrid format. And Ian Falconer, author of the “Olivia” series, has died.

Pineapple Street by Jenny Jackson is the new GMA Book Club pick. The Aspen Words Literary Prize shortlist is announced. S. & S. halts publication of The Book of Animal Secrets by David B. Agus, due to accusations of plagiarism. The Bookseller previews a new book by E L James, due out in June. Nora Ephron’s Heartburn turns 40. Michelle Obama’s The Light We Carry book tour is now available as an Audible podcast. Margaret Atwood, Eleanor Catton, Donal Ryan, Joanna Schwartz, Rafael Frumkin, and Dan Kois discuss their new books. Hulu kills its adaptation of Erik Larson’s The Devil in the White City. Thriller writer Christopher Fowler has died at the age of 69.