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Buzzy Book News & Awards

The New York Times Magazine writes about “building a new canon of Black literature.”

The 2023 International Prize for Arabic Fiction shortlist is announced, awarding six novels from six different countries, as reported by Arablit & Arablit Quarterly.

The Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers Association announces that the 2023 Kate Wilhelm Solstice Awards will go to editor Cerece Rennie Murphy and posthumously to author Greg Bear.

The German Audiobook Prize is announced.

Women are now publishing about half of all the books coming out. Quartz explores how this is “good for business.”

Bustle profiles Zibby Owens, the woman behind Zibby Media, on how “she went from book world outsider to indie publisher in five short years.”

A report from the CIPFA shows that “library visits and loans recover post-pandemic but funding [is] still dropping.” The Bookseller shares the news.

Page to Screen

March 3:

Children of the Corn, based on the short story by Stephen King. RLJ Entertainment. Reviews | Trailer

Blueback, based on the book by Tim Winton. Quiver. Reviews | Trailer

A Little White Lie, based on the book Shriver by Chris Belden. Saban Films. No reviews | Trailer

Daisy Jones & The Six, based on the book by Taylor Jenkins Reid. Prime Video. No reviews | Trailer

March 4:

Divorce Attorney Shin, based on the webtoon by Kang Tae-kyung. Netflix. No reviews | Trailer

March 6:

Holding, based on the book by Graham Norton. Acorn TV. Reviews | Trailer

Perry Mason, based on the book series by Erle Stanley Gardner. HBO. Reviews | Trailer

March 9:

You, based on the books by Caroline Kepnes. Netflix. Reviews | Trailer

Lit Hub provides a list of “The Literary Film and TV You Need to Stream in March.”

Reviews

The Washington Post reviews Last Seen in Lapaz by Kwei Quartey (Soho Crime): “a thrilling mystery, a compulsively emotional novel that doesn’t turn away from either extreme violence or the necessity of hope;” Saving Time: Discovering a Life Beyond the Clock by Jenny Odell (Random): “is so steeped in the current moment that it’s hard to imagine it as a resource to the future. It’s never quite clear whether fixing our conception of time could help shape a radical social change, or whether we’re waiting for a social shift that can soothe our harried lives;” and, The Ship Beneath the Ice: The Discovery of Shackleton’s Endurance by Mensun Bound (Mariner): “sums up Shackleton’s management of the miraculous 1916 rescue as “arguably, the greatest story of human survival in recorded history” and the lost Endurance as “the Ultima Thule of shipwrecks.” By its end, “The Ship Beneath the Ice” has amply justified those superlatives.”

NYT reviews Pineapple Street by Jenny Jackson (Pamela Dorman): “an unabashedly old-fashioned story involving wills, trust funds, prenups and property — lots of property, and so much of it in a single refined corner of Brooklyn that family members (Chip and Tilda Stockton and their adult children: Cord, Darley and Georgiana) refer to the mother ship among their family holdings as “the limestone;" Old Babes in the Wood: Stories by Margaret Atwood (Doubleday): “the effect, even if unintended, of many stories here is that of wisdom from the advance guard. These are missives not from a speculative future, but from one we’re all headed for, if we’re lucky enough to survive. It’s a new kind of futurism from Atwood: calling back from just up the road, letting us know what lies in store."

Tor.com reviews Stone Blind by Natalie Haynes (Harper): “part argument with the classical construction of heroism, part commentary on the silences and absences of the classical mythological canon, and part a furious diatribe against Perseus. It’s piercing and poignant;" Our Share of Night by Mariana Enriquez, tr. by Megan McDowell, illus. by Pablo Gerardo Camacho (Hogarth): “isn’t just a novel that blends realism and the horrific—it’s a novel where the two can coexist without any dissonance. The result is an unpredictable novel of epic scope—both in this world and another beyond it;”

Autostraddle reviews Finding the Fool: A Tarot Journey to Radical Transformation by Meg Jones Wall (Weiser; LJ starred review): “abandons notions about tarot that make it inaccessible or blasphemous and make it so even I can understand it, and find something for myself, or about myself in the cards.”

Datebook reviews We Should Not Be Friends: The Story of a Friendship by Will Schwalbe (Knopf): “scrutinizes the two-way nature of friendship and the difficulty inherent in maintaining one despite the roadblocks of time and distance.”

Book Marks has “The Best Reviewed Books of the Month.”

Briefly Noted

Autostraddle interviews Omise’eke Tinsley about the inspiration that led to her book, The Color Pynk: Black Femme Art for Survival (University of Texas).

Rebecca Makkai talks to Electric Lit about what it was like to write her book, I Have Some Questions for You (Viking; LJ starred review), “what happens when she hits a writing wall, and how it feels to come face-to-face with your teenage self on a high school campus.”

Michael Schulman, author of Oscar Wars: A History of Hollywood in Gold, Sweat, and Tears (HarperCollins; LJ starred review), expounds upon “the surprising lesson from a century of Oscar scandals” in a conversation with Vox. 

NYT delves into “a fresh look at a pioneering Black voice of Revolutionary America” as considered in The Odyssey of Phillis Wheatley: A Poet's Journeys Through American Slavery and Independence, by David Waldstreicher (FSG).

Kim-Joy, of Great British Baking Show fame, will be coming out with Turtle Bread, a new graphic novel sharing recipes and exploring the topic of “overcoming social anxiety through baking.” Entertainment Weekly has a preview.

Tor.com has a cover reveal for Shigidi and the Brass Head of Obalufon by Wole Talabi (DAW).

Haruki Murakami will publish a new novel this spring In Japan, the first in six years since Killing Commendatore (Knopf), according to Lit Hub. Also, Zadie Smith will also release a new novel, The Fraud with Penguin Press.

Book Riot provides two all-time best lists of “The 25 Most Iconic Book Covers” and “The Bestselling Fantasy Books.”

Electric Lit shares “7 Novels About Immigrant Mothers Who Defy Societal Expectations.”

Time recommends 14 new books to read this March.

The Washington Post has “The best books from 2022 that we’ve read in 2023.”

NYT showcases 9 new books and 6 paperbacks.

Authors on Air

Kazuo Ishiguro, Klara and the Sun (Knopf: Random House; LJ starred review), discusses his Oscar-nominated film Living, and his “symbiotic relationship with cinema” with The Atlantic. 

NPR’s Fresh Air Terry Gross interviews Will Sommer about how “QAnon took hold of the GOP–and why it’s not going away” as detailed in his book, Trust the Plan: The Rise of QAnon and the Conspiracy That Unhinged America (Harper).

Ann Beattie, More To Say: Essays and Appreciations (Nonpareil), talks to the Fiction/Non/Fiction podcast about many topics including Donald Barthelme and the Chinese spy balloon.

Andrea Dunlop, author of the upcoming Women Are the Fiercest Creatures (Zibby), explains why “today is such a rage-inducing moment to be a woman” in an interview on the Keen On podcast.

Authors Roxanne Coady and Bill Goldstein chat about what they are reading on the Just the Right Book podcast.

Julianna Baggott, author of the upcoming book of stories I’d Really Prefer Not to Be Here with You (Blackstone), has started her own production banner, Mildred’s Moving Picture. The Hollywood Reporter has more. Also, director Jenny Mackenzie discusses teaming up with LeVar Burton for her documentary exploring “the underbelly of the American literacy crisis” and celebrating the work of Kareem Weaver, a children’s literacy advocate.

Baseball star Roberto Clemente will be highlighted in a biopic based on his family’s book, Clemente: The True Legacy of an Undying Hero (Celebra). Deadline reports. Also, Mona Awad’s 2019 novel, Bunny (Viking), has been acquired for film rights by Bad Robot.

Popsugar shares spoilers from Taylor Jenkins Reid’s book, Daisy Jones & The Six (Ballantine) ahead of the television adaptation.

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