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Supporting the AAPI Community

Library groups, authors, bookstores, and more have been speaking out against a recent rise in anti-Asian hate crimes and the recent murders in Atlanta. Earlier this month, the Asian Pacific American Librarians Association (APALA) issued a statement that says in part: "We urge our library community to stand with us by publicly condemning anti-AAPI racism through visible actions, which we encourage you to share here. We offer to our communities, educators and library workers our 2021 COVID-19 anti-xenophobia and anti-racist information resources and COVID-19 Anti-Asian Racism Resources for K-12." The ALA's Executive Board issued a statement in support of this statement.

The Asian American Writers' Workshop also released a statement: "We call on our nation’s leaders to commit to concrete steps to put a long-needed end to racist attacks and discrimination against the AAPI community."

At Gen, Alexander Chee and Cathy Park Hong have a conversation about the impact the pandemic has had on discrimination against Asian Americans.

Cathy Park Hong is also interviewed by The Atlantic: "If we want to fix the structural inequities, reform the criminal-justice system and the police, and have health care for all, it’s very important to also talk about our racial identity, because people feel intimately close to that."

"The system they serve wasn’t built for us. It was built for white people. Which is why we should be suspicious whenever we’re summoned into the halls of power," writes Steph Cha, Your House Will Pay (Ecco: Harper; LJ starred review), at the L.A. Times. 

"It requires an enormous act of will to force others not even to care but merely to see your reality," Sanjena Sathian, whose forthcoming novel Gold Diggers (Penguin) takes place in part in Georgia, writes in a piece for the L.A. Times.

"This rise in anti-Asian violence has to stop, the same way police brutality against black and brown people has to stop," writes Roxanne Gay in her newsletter. "But saying that will not make it so. It is up to our elected leaders to do more than offer their absolutely useless thoughts and prayers and tepid directives. There have to be consequences for racism. We need more than hashtags."

Vox offers "A reading list to understand anti-Asian racism in America."

Feminist Press also has a #StopAsianHate reading list.

Libro.fm has a list of "AAPI-Owned Bookstores to Support."

Page to Screen

March 19: 

City of Lies, based on LAbyrinth by Randall Sullivan. VOD. Reviews | Trailer

The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, which has associated titles. Disney+. Reviews | Trailer

March 20: 

Ruby, based on the book by V.C. Andrews. Lifetime. No reviews | Trailer

March 21:

Pearl in the Mist, based on the book by V.C. Andrews. Lifetime. No reviews | Trailer

March 25: 

The Runaway Bunny, based on the book by Margaret Wise Brown. HBO Max. No reviews | Trailer

Reviews

The L.A. Times reviews Horizontal Vertigo: A City Called Mexico by Juan Villoro and translated by Alfred MacAdam (Pantheon: Random House): "The joy of 'Horizontal Vertigo' is that it offers a unique entry into Mexico City’s 'inexhaustible encyclopedia' of people, places and old traditions, complementing the history books and outperforming the tour guides." 

The Washington Post reviews Fulfillment: Winning and Losing in One-Click America by Alec MacGillis (FSG: Macmillan): "'Fulfillment' is also the story of a political system captivated by the idea that what is good for Amazon is good for America." Also, Poorly Understood: What America Gets Wrong About Poverty by Mark Robert Rank, Lawrence M. Eppard, and Heather E. Bullock (Oxford): "The very repetitiousness of some sections helps drive home a simple but vital point: Poverty is a result of deliberate policy choices, not character defects." Creatures of Passage by Morowa Yejidé (Akashic; LJ starred review): "Yejidé’s characters are so finely drawn, her language so lush, the city’s landmarks so cleverly repurposed within this magical setting, that the fictional place feels as real as the place itself." The Rope: A True Story of Murder, Heroism, and the Dawn of the NAACP by Alex Tresniowski (S. & S.): "Anyone interested in Wells’s evolution from obscure schoolteacher to civil rights icon and co-founder of the NAACP will find 'The Rope' compelling and inspirational." Genius Makers: The Mavericks Who Brought AI to Google, Facebook, and the World by Cade Metz (Dutton: Penguin; LJ starred review): "While there will be many people who will feel left out the book’s strength is in its portrayals of the personalities behind the science and of the serendipity of scientific discovery." Grace & Steel Dorothy, Barbara, Laura, and the Women of the Bush Dynasty by J. Randy Taraborrelli (St. Martin's: Macmillan): "But though this book is chock full of interviews, archival research and gossipy material about the Bush women, there’s little indication of how, or even if, their time in Washington and the monumental events they witnessed shifted their outlook on the world and on the nation they served." How Rights Went Wrong: Why Our Obsession With Rights Is Tearing America Apart by Jamal Greene (HMH): "...when Greene more simply leverages his ample skill as a narrative storyteller, 'How Rights Went Wrong' sings."

Book Marks’ "Best Reviewed Books of the Week."

Briefly Noted

USA Today previews 20 books out this spring.

The NYT recommends 10 recent releases.

Vulture suggests "6 Great Audiobooks to Listen to This Month."

BuzzFeed rounds up "15 Books Inspired By Shakespeare."

Book Riot looks at several books on grief.

Phoebe Robinson's third book, Please Don't Sit On My Bed In Your Outside Clothes (Tiny Reparations: Random House) is scheduled for release in Sept. Entertainment Weekly has a look.

Singer Linda Ronstadt is working on a memoir. Datebook reports that Heyday will publish Feels Like Home: A Song for the Sonoran Borderlands in fall 2022. 

Entertainment Weekly has an excerpt from You Love Me by Caroline Kepnes (Random House). It's due out April 6. 

io9 has an excerpt from Child of Light by Terry Brooks (Del Rey: Penguin). It's due out Oct. 12.

The CBC excerpts Lost Immunity by Daniel Kalla (S. & S.), which is out May 4.

"The best thing I ever did for my fiction was to take a poetry workshop and read a lot of poetry," says Gabriela Garcia, Of Women and Salt (Flatiron: Macmillan), in a Q&A with Elle.

The Shelf Awareness "Reading With…" column features Femi Kayode, Lightseekers (Mulholland: Hachette).

Lilly Dancyger, Rowan Hisayo Buchanan, Christine Taylor, and Sari Botton discuss the process of editing an anthology at The Rumpus.

Shondaland interviews Meaghan B. Murphy, Your Fully Charged Life: A Radically Simple Approach to Having Endless Energy and Filling Every Day with Yay (TarcherPerigee: Penguin).

Electric Lit has a Q&A with Tracy Clark-Flory, Want Me: A Sex Writer's Journey into the Heart of Desire (Penguin).

People speaks with 16-year-old Caleb Smith about his memoir Peacebunny Island: The Extraordinary Journey of a Boy and His Comfort Rabbits, and How They’re Teaching Us about Hope and Kindness (Tyndale Momentum).

The Seattle Times talks with Mortada Gzar about his memoir I'm in Seattle, Where Are You? (Amazon Crossing).

Donald Trump has 12 upcoming interviews "with authors examining his presidency, some of whom are penning sequels to books they published during Trump’s time in office," according to Politico.

Authors on Air

Spectrum Originals has ordered a 10-episode series for Joe Pickett, based on the C.J. Box novels. Deadline reports.

Austral by Paul McAuley will be adapted as a series. Variety has details.

See a trailer for a new adaptation of The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman. 

Maria Dahvana Headley discusses her translation of Beowulf (MCD x FSG Originals: Macmillan) with PBS NewsHour.

Rebecca Traister, Good and Mad: The Revolutionary Power of Women's Anger (S. & S.), discusses power and Andrew Cuomo on The Ezra Klein Show.

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