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Awards 

The Shirley Jackson Award nominees are announced.

Robert Macfarlane has won the inaugural Weston International Award. CBC reports.

The Orwell Prize goes to Peter Apps and Tom Crewe. The Guardian has details.

The Firecracker Awards are announced. 

Reviews

The Washington Post reviews two books at the middle of an Internet famous literary rivalry: Caroline Calloway’s Scammer (Dead Dad Press) and Natalie Beach’s Adult Drama: And Other Essays (Hanover Square Press). Of the former, “outrageous, turbulent and as raw as a wound, but good, the kind of book you read in a single shudder.” Of the later, “Eclectic essays about estate sales, abortion clinics and Abercrombie & Fitch are as trenchant as they are tender.” Also, Holding the Note: Profiles in Popular Music by David Remnick (Knopf): “detailed close-ups of aged heroes…By virtue of their subjects’ legacies and the scarcity of opportunities to read long features about any given pop musician these days, they are journalistic events…As events go, however, they’re a bit stiff.” And, David Gessner’s A Traveler's Guide to the End of the World: Tales of Fire, Wind, and Water (Torrey House Press): “replete with thought-provoking set pieces.”

The NYT reviews White House by the Sea: A Century of the Kennedys at Hyannis Port by Kate Storey (Scribner): “a revealing record of the costs and benefits of access journalism. On the asset side, we get revealing anecdotes…On the debit side, we get no sustained inquiry into the incredible privilege that made all those anecdotes and the Kennedy lifestyle possible.” Also, Tria Giovan: Loisaida: New York Street Work 1984–1990 by Tria Giovan (Damiani): “looks like stills from a documentary’s B-roll, the tones soft and dim, slants of sunlight bathing street corners in a sense of calm, and stasis.” There is a list of newly published titles, and a piece on children's books about divorce.

Book Marks picks the best reviewed books of the week.

Briefly Noted

Attica Locke writes about The Books Of My Life for The Guardian. 

Crime Reads rounds up “Five Riveting Thrillers Unfolding in Wooded Isolation” and writes about how Cormac McCarthy used genre tropes to make his novels.

Entertainment Weekly has a cover reveal and excerpt from Red String Theory by Lauren Kung Jessen (Forever). LJ interviewed Jessen upon the publication of her debut, Lunar Love.

A Maurice Sendak story is headed to the shelves. HarperCollins is publishing Ten Little Rabbits: A Counting Story with Mino the Magician in February 2024, after buying rights to the story from The Maurice Sendak Foundation. LitHub has the news.

Author Henry Petroski has died. The NYT has an obituary.

International affairs scholar and author David Calleo has died. The Washington Post has an obituary.

Page to Screen

June 23:

Love Gets A Room, based on the play by Jerzy Jurandot. Buffalo 8. Reviews | Trailer

Wonderwell, based on the short story "Drainhole Dreaming” by William Brookfield. Vertical. No Reviews | Trailer

Through My Window: Across the Sea, based on the book by Ariana Godoy. Netflix. No Reviews | Trailer

The Perfect Find, based on the book by Tia Williams. Netflix. Reviews | Trailer

Pokémon Ultimate Journeys: The Series, with assoc. titles. Netflix. No Reviews | Trailer

June 24:

Ōoku: The Inner Chambers, based on the manga by Fumi Yoshinaga. Netflix. No reviews | Trailer

Authors on Air

Deadline’s It Starts on the Page feature highlights Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story.

NPR’s Fresh Air talks about book bans, new laws, and self-censoring.

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