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Banned Books Week, News & Awards

Banned Books Week coverage continues with a concerning report from PEN America, which illuminates a coordinated effort to remove books from schools. There is more coverage at USA Today, Elle, and Publishers Weekly, which reports on the unpopularity of book bans with voters. 

Rick Mercer wins the 2022 Stephen Leacock Medal. Quill & Quire reports.

Jung Hae Chae wins the Graywolf Press Nonfiction Prize for Pojangmacha People.  

The 2022 British Fantasy Awards winners are announced.

The 2022 McIlvanney Prize winners are announced. 

Polaris Music Prize finalists recommend their favorite books at CBC.

Spotify expands into audiobooks with a pay-per-book model. NYT reports. Variety also has coverage. 

Reviews

NYT reviews You've Been Played: How Corporations, Governments, and Schools Use Games to Control Us All by Adrian Hon (Basic Books): “Alongside excellent advice for designers hoping to use these techniques ethically are some pretty unsatisfying prescriptions for how the gamification of real life might be averted.” And, Lady Justice: Women, the Law, and the Battle to Save America by Dahlia Lithwick (Penguin Pr.): “As disturbing as it is inspiring, Lady Justice leaves this reader wondering if women can ever be achieve power in this system without being silenced into complicity.”

The Washington Post reviews The English Understand Wool by Helen DeWitt (New Directions: Norton): “DeWitt is one of our most ingenious writers, a master of the witty fable, and she pulls off her trick here through marvelous specificity of voice and a plot that hums like German machinery.”

NPR reviews The Divider: Trump in the White House, 2017-2021 by Peter Baker and Susan Glasser (Doubleday): “The Divider is a rushing torrent of anecdotes and recollections. A reader may plunge in at any point and pull up a pail of Trump at full tilt.”

Datebook reviews Stay True: A Memoir by Hua Hsu (Doubleday): “the title comes from a sign-off Ken sometimes used when he sent his friend letters — is about Hsu’s coming of age, and a bit of Ken’s. But at its core it’s about the nature of friendship, and how difficult it can be to maintain. And how important it is.” And, Bridge to the Sun: The Secret Role of the Japanese Americans Who Fought in the Pacific in World War II by Bruce Henderson (Knopf): “is all the stronger for its willingness to acknowledge the deep evils of war while simultaneously celebrating the bravery and valor of a group of soldiers that can only be classified as true American heroes.”

Autostraddle reviews Nona the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir (Tordotcom; LJ starred review): "This book is a narrative departure from the first two books, sure, but after Harrow the Ninth’s palimpsest of madness and grief, this book is less puzzle and more kaleidoscope."  

Briefly Noted

LJ’s Barbara Hoffert’s Prepub Alert: March 2023 complete list is out.

Time excerpts Joe Pompeo’s new book, Blood & Ink: The Scandalous Jazz Age Double Murder That Hooked America on True Crime (Morrow), highlighting “The Tabloid That Launched America's Obsession With True Crime.”

Silvia Moreno-Garcia writes about defying conventional advice and coming out on top, for LA Times. Her latest book, The Daughter of Doctor Moreau (Del Rey; LJ starred review), is the Times’s September book club pick.

CrimeReads has a Q&A with S. A. Cosby about his forthcoming thriller, All the Sinners Bleed (Flatiron), due out in June, 2023.

Seattle Times takes a closer look at what the city read during the pandemic.

Shondaland is running a series this month called The Power of Books, highlighting under the radar picks, book banning, BookTok, and more.

The Millions shares notable new releases for the week.

Esquire reveals “The 15 Best Memoirs of 2022.”

Gizmodo has "9 Books Featuring Queer Disaster Magicians.”

Buzzfeed proclaims “2022 Is The Year Of The Bisexual Book,” and gives recommendations.

OprahDaily recommends 18 books by LatinX authors for Hispanic Heritage Month.

Authors On Air

NPR’s Morning Edition chats with Malaka Gharib about her new graphic memoir, It Won't Always Be Like This (Ten Speed Pr.).

NPR's Morning Edition highlights a new cookbook from Brian Baumgartner (Kevin from The Office), called Seriously Good Chili Cookbook: 177 of the Best Recipes in the World (Fox Chapel Publishing).

Jenifer Lewis, Walking in My Joy: In These Streets (Amistad), will visit The View today and later, The Daily Show.

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