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Awards & News

Colm Tóibín wins the £40,000 David Cohen Prize For Literature for his body of work. Watch the announcement here. 

Kirstin Valdez Quade wins The Center for Fiction 2021 First Novel Prize for The Five Wounds (Norton; LJ starred review). The book was included in LJ's "Best Literary Fiction of 2021."

Ace Atkins announces his retirement from writing the Robert Parker Spenser novels. His last book in the series, Robert B. Parker’s Bye Bye Baby (Putnam), will publish in January. Publisher's Lunch reports that Mike Lupica will continue writing the series.  

"Penguin Random House Defends Effort to Buy Simon & Schuster," the NYT reports. The LA Times also covers the story. 

The Writers' Trust of Canada launches a program to support books by BIPOC writers. CBC reports. 

John Legend and his team launches "Get Lifted" imprint at Zando.  LA Times reports. The imprint's first acquisition is Rosewater by Liv Little, and will publish in spring of 2023. The AP reports.

Reviews

The Washington Post reviews Bright Burning Things by Lisa Harding (HarperVia; LJ starred review): “if you’re interested in a novel that gives authentic voice to a modern woman’s alcoholism, pick up this smart, sensitive book about Sonya and her 4-year-old son, Tommy, as they weather a very difficult year.”

NYT reviews The Oxford Companion to Spirits and Cocktails by David Wondrich (Editor-in-chief) and Noah Rothbaum (Oxford Univ Pr.): “These passages will allow you to convince yourself, and perhaps even your spouse, that your interest in getting wasted is an academic pursuit.” And, Creative Types : and Other Stories by Tom Bissell (Pantheon): “The best stories here may be rooted in mockery or satire, but as they grow up and out they unfurl what had been latent inside them.”

Ebony reviews Call Us What We Carry: Poems by Amanda Gorman (Viking): “Overall, this ambitious work is proof positive that Gorman is a keen observer of society and deft at infusing her observations with historical context and contemporary culture. It is affirming that one of her age is thinking, questioning and seeking answers—a way out of the wilderness.”

Briefly Noted

Entertainment Weekly has a Q&A with writer Brian K. Vaughan and artist Fiona Staples about bringing back Saga #55, (Image), its first issue since 2018. 

Esquire has a feature on Emily St. John Mandel, about the pandemic, the new adaptation of her book, Station Eleven, and fans calling her prophetic. 

Time has a Q&A with Sahar F. Aziz about her new book, The Racial Muslim: When Racism Quashes Religious Freedom (Univ. of California Pr.), and the "historical roots of Islamophobia in the U.S."

Eater writes about how the "Publishing World Is Finally Embracing Black Cookbooks."

USA Today considers how “trans 'Harry Potter' fans are grappling with J.K. Rowling's legacy after her transphobic comments.”

Entertainment Weekly has an exclusive excerpt from Jennifer Egan’s The Candy House (Scribner: S. & S.), her forthcoming companion novel to her Pulitzer Prize winning A Visit From The Goon Squad, due out April 5th. EW  has a preview and cover reveal of Norman Reedus’ (The Walking Dead) forthcoming novel, The Ravaged, written with Frank Bill (Blackstone), also due out April 5th. 

The New Yorker shares “The Best Books We Read in 2021.”

People picks its Top Ten Books of 2021.

CrimeReads selects “The Best Historical Fiction of 2021."

Electric Lit shares its “Favorite Poetry Collections of 2021.”  Plus, read-alikes for Succession fans. 

Autostraddle has “75 of the Best Queer Books of 2021."

LitHub shares "The Best Reviewed Mystery and Crime Books of 2021."

NYT recommends three DIY books.

The Minneapolis Star Tribune suggests coffee table books for gifting. 

The Seattle Times has four books to curl up with this winter.

Charles R. Morris, "Iconoclastic Author on Economics, Dies at 82." The NYT has an obituary.

Authors On Air

NPR’s Book of the Day talks with Raekwon about his new book, From Staircase to Stage: The Story of Raekwon and the Wu-Tang Clan, written with Anthony Bozza (Gallery Books), and the “highs and lows of success.”

NPR’s Fresh Air discusses ditching 9 to 5 work with Anne Helen Petersen and Charlie Warzel, authors of Out of Office: The Big Problem and Bigger Promise of Working from Home, (Knopf).

Fox and I: An Uncommon Friendship by Catherine Raven (Spiegel & Grau) has been optioned for big screen treatment. Deadline reports.

The controversy-laden Hollywood Foreign Press announced the 2022 Golden Globe nominations, with several adaptations in the mix, including Dune, based on the book by Frank Herbert, House of Gucci, based on the book by Sara Gay Forden, The Tender Bar, based on the book by J.R. Moehringer, The Power of the Dog, based on the book by Thomas Savage, Dopesick, based on the book by Beth Macy, The Underground Railroad, based on the novel by Colson Whitehead, Maid, based on the book by Stephanie Land, and The Handmaid’s Tale, based on the book by Margaret Atwood. The awards will not be televised. The Hollywood Reporter has the story. 

Amanda Gorman, Call Us What We Carry: Poems (Viking), visits Drew Barrymore tomorrow.

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