N. Scott Momaday, an author, literature professor and member of the Kiowa Indian tribe who became the first Native American to win a Pulitzer Prize — for his 1968 debut novel, “House Made of Dawn” — and helped inspire a flowering of contemporary Native American literature, died Jan. 24 at his home in Santa Fe, N.M. He was 89. Read more
Month: January 2024
‘The Writer as Illusionist’ by William Maxwell
So far as I can see, there is no legitimate sleight of hand involved in practicing the arts of painting, sculpture, and music. They appear to have had their origin in religion, and they are fundamentally serious. In writing—in all writing but especially in narrative writing—you are continually being taken in. The reader, skeptical, experienced, with many demands on his time and many ways of enjoying his leisure, is asked to believe in people he knows don’t exist, to be present at scenes that never occurred, to be amused or moved or instructed just as he would be in real life, only the life exists in somebody else’s imagination. Read more
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Lee Child is Selling His New York ‘Dream Home’
The home lies on Manhattan’s Upper West Side in the Orwell House, an early-1900 co-op building and has impressive Central Park views. Child has lived in the apartment with his family for the past 10 years. The four-bedroom single-story home has a great room with picture windows and, unsurprisingly for an author’s home, a library wall brimming with books. Price: $11 Million. Read more
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Science Fiction Awards Held in China Under Fire for Excluding Authors
A prestigious literary award for science fiction, which was hosted in China for the first time, has come under fire for excluding several authors from the 2023 awards, raising concerns about interference or censorship in the awards process. The New York Times bestseller Babel by RF Kuang, an episode of the Netflix drama The Sandman and the author Xiran Jay Zhao were among the works and authors excluded from the 2023 Hugo awards, which were administered by the World Science Fiction Convention (Worldcon) in Chengdu in October. Read more
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Dave Eggers Wins Newbery, Vashti Harrison Wins Caldecott
The top awards for children’s literature in 2024 were announced Monday at the American Library Association’s annual Youth Media Awards. Author Dave Eggers won the John Newbery Medal, which is given to the most distinguished American children’s book published the previous year, for his middle grade book The Eyes and the Impossible, which was illustrated by Shawn Harris. Author and illustrator Vashti Harrison won the Randolph Caldecott Medal for the most distinguished American picture book for children, for her book Big. Read more
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In Major Win, Appeals Court Upholds Block on Texas Book Rating Law
In a major victory for freedom to read advocates, the Fifth Circuit of the U.S. Court of Appeals on January 17 upheld a lower court decision to block key provisions of HB 900, Texas’s controversial book rating law, finding that the law likely violated First Amendment protections against compelled speech … Viewed by many as the most high profile of a wave of book banning laws at the state level, the law was signed by Texas governor Greg Abbott on June 12. The controversial law requires book vendors to review and rate books sold to Texas schools—both new books and books previously sold—for sexual content. Read more
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‘Beautyland’ by Marie-Helene Bertino
A compelling, touching story that weds Bertino’s masterful eye for the poignant detail of the everyday with her equally virtuosic flair as a teller of the tallest kinds of tales—so tall, in this case, they are interplanetary. A heartbreaking book that staggers with both truth and beauty. Read more
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Jamaican Poet Jason Allen-Paisant’s ‘Self-Portrait as Othello’ Wins TS Eliot Prize
In Self-Portrait As Othello, Allen-Paisant draws a connection between Shakespeare’s Othello, a Moorish general who is often treated as an outsider in Venice, and the experiences of Black immigrants today. His poems move between Jamaica, Prague, Paris and Oxford among other places, and he weaves in lines of French, Jamaican patois, Italian and German. Read more
Barnes & Noble Aims to Open 50 Stores in 2024
As well as opening new stores, Daunt said the business was also investing in its IT and distribution operations. The planned expansion follows a ‘very solid’ holiday season and ‘a good year’ for the chain, with a makeover of its membership program more than doubling the number of customers enrolled. It also comes as staff at five B&N stores have voted to unionise. Read more
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Nikki Giovanni Documentary Released
Going to Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Project, an HBO Original Documentary featuring the voice of Taraji P. Henson, follows the legendary poet, activist, and educator’s ascendance and impact on American culture. Watch trailer
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