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Awards & News

The James Beard 2023 Media Award nominees are announced. Winners will be announced on June 3. 

The 77th Edgar Awards, hosted by Mystery Writers of America, will be held tonight. CrimeReads hosted a roundtable with the nominees to discuss the state of the crime novel, community, and book bans. Part II of that conversation is here. 

Sarah Holland-Batt wins the 2023 Stella Prize for The Jaguar (Univ. of Queensland Pr.).

The 2023 RBC Bronwen Wallace Awards shortlist is announced. CBC has coverage. 

The 2023 Seiun Awards nominees are announced.

The Russell Prize for Humour Writing 2023 shortlists are announced.

The 2023 Roswell finalists are announced.

New Title Bestsellers

Links for the week: NYT Hardcover Fiction Best-Sellers |NYT Hardcover Nonfiction Best-Sellers

Fiction

Simply Lies by David Baldacci (Grand Central) spins to No. 1 on the NYT Hardcover Fiction Best-Sellers list.

City of Dreams by Don Winslow ( Morrow) drifts into No. 7 on the NYT Hardcover Fiction Best-Sellers list.

It Ends with Us by Colleen Hoover (Atria) enters at No. 8 on the NYT Hardcover Fiction Best-Sellers list.

Where Are the Children Now? by Mary Higgins Clark and Alafair Burke (S. & S.) finds No. 9 on the NYT Hardcover Fiction Best-Sellers list.

Nonfiction

The Wager by David Grann (Doubleday) debuts at No. 1 on the NYT Hardcover Nonfiction Best-Sellers list.

You Can’t Joke About That: Why Everything Is Funny, Nothing Is Sacred, and We’re All in This Together by Kat Timpf (Broadside) starts at No. 3 on the NYT Hardcover Nonfiction Best-Sellers list.

Reviews

The Washington Post reviews A Brutal Reckoning: Andrew Jackson, the Creek Indians, and the Epic War for the American South by Peter Cozzens (Knopf): “As has come to be expected from Cozzens’s work, A Brutal Reckoning masterfully blends important cultural and biographical details with expressive and engaging military history”; and Mott Street: A Chinese American Family’s Story of Exclusion and Homecoming by Ava Chin (Penguin Pr.): “Food is central to Chin’s narrative: the wasting of it, the ceremonial preparation of it, and, above all, its transporting power.”

NYT reviews three books on military history: Four Battlegrounds: Power in the Age of Artificial Intelligence by Paul Scharre (Norton; LJ starred review), Mercy: Humanity in War by Cathal J. Nolan (Oxford Univ. Pr.), and War and Conflict in the Middle Ages by Stephen Morillo (Polity). Plus there are short reviews of 4 books.

NPR reviews The Skin and Its Girl by Sarah Cypher (Ballantine): “Fiction, of course, is an attempt to move a set of sturdy words from the mind of a writer to that of a reader. So even though Betty has doubts, her author, Sarah Cypher, has nevertheless made a grand, imaginative, poetic, loving, and—at least for this reader—successful attempt.”

Autostraddle reviews Just as You Are by Camille Kellogg (Dial; LJ starred review): “Just as You Are is a full-on enemies-to-lovers romance that exudes queerness at every possible turn.”

Book Marks selects “5 Book Reviews You Need to Read This Week.”

Briefly Noted

Lucinda Williams talks about her memoir, Don’t Tell Anybody the Secrets I Told You (Crown), with Shondaland. Sarah Cypher discusses her new book, The Skin and Its Girl (Ballantine). And Sara Petersen talks about her book Momfluenced: Inside the Maddening, Picture-Perfect World of Mommy Influencer Culture (Beacon Pr.) and the “cultural impact of monetizing motherhood.” Wired also shares an essay on Sara Petersen’s book. 

ElectricLit talks with Claire Dederer about her book Monsters: A Fan’s Dilemma (Knopf), the “state of contemporary criticism, and the thorny intersections of fandom, capitalism, and love.”  Dederer also talks with Esquire about her book and “living in the contradictions.”

Terese Svoboda discusses her book, Dog on Fire (Univ. of Nebraska Pr.), and “wide ranging career,” with Jennifer Egan at The Millions.

Entertainment Weekly talks with Judy Blume about “feminine hygiene product accuracy, book bans, and all the Hollywood love.”

Abraham Verghese, The Covenant of Water (Grove; LJ starred review), answers NYT’s “By the Book” questionnaire. 

Laura Dern, Honey, Baby, Mine: A Mother and Daughter Talk Life, Death, Love (and Banana Pudding), written with Diane Ladd (Grand Central), opens up about her mother’s health at Parade. 

John Legend and Mike Jackson talk with Ebony about the first title from their new publishing imprint. Rosewater by Liv Little (Get Lifted) is out this week. 

NYPL highlights “Authors on the Importance of Public Libraries.”

NYT’s “Inside the Best-Seller List” features Jeff Benedict, LeBron (Avid Reader/S. & S.), who considers boundaries for biographers.

Tor has a preview and cover reveal for Fit for the Gods: Greek Mythology Reimagined by Jenn Northington and S. Zainab Williams (Vintage), due out August 1. 

BookRiot explains the reverse-harem romance. 

Esquire suggests the best horror books of 2023. 

LitHub shares April’s best book covers.

BookRiot has the 10 best books in translation for spring, wedding mysteries and thrillers, and read-alikes for The Expanse, based on the books by James S.A. Corey. 

Tor has “Five SFF Stories With Interesting Takes on Mass Media.”

Authors On Air

NPR’s Fresh Air talks with financial journalist Gretchen Morgenson about her new book, These Are the Plunderers: How Private Equity Runs—and Wrecks—America, written with Joshua Rosner (S. & S.).

NPR’s All Things Considered talks with photographer Matika Wilbur about her new book, Project 562: Changing the Way We See Native America (Ten Speed).

NPR’s Morning Edition speaks with Neil Gaiman about his debut studio album, Signs of Life.

David Grann discusses his book, The Wager (Doubleday), on B&N’s Poured Over podcast. 

Grady Hendrix’s How To Sell a Haunted House (Berkley; LJ starred review), will be adapted for film. Variety reports. 

Julia Hart will direct the adaptation of Samantha Downing’s My Lovely Wife (Berkley). Deadline reports. 

Gabrielle Union is set to star in a series adaptation of Darby Kane’s Pretty Little Wife (Morrow). Deadline reports. 

A Haunting in Venice, based on the novel Hallow’een Party by Agatha Christie, gets a trailer. Tor has a preview. 

Judy Blume will visit Watch What Happens Live and The Kelly Clarkson Show today. Blume will appear on The View tomorrow. 

Questlove and S.A. Cosby, The Rhythm of Time (Putnam), will visit The Tonight Show tomorrow. 

Michelle Figueroa, A Good Thing Happened Today (HarperCollins), will visit with Tamron Hall.

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