Peruse all the books you can read before they become movies this year, from survival thrillers (“Those Who Wish Me Dead”) to sci-fi epics (“Dune”). Read more
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Michelle T. Boone Named President of Poetry Foundation
Boone, a former cultural commissioner for Chicago, will take the helm after tumult over racial justice at the foundation, one of the country’s wealthiest literary organizations. Read more
Congratulations to the Winners of the 2021 Edgar Awards
Today the Mystery Writers of America announced the winners of the 2021 Edgar Awards, one of the mystery world’s premier honors. This year marks the 75th annual presentation of the awards. Read more
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Women’s prize for fiction shortlist entirely first-time nominees
Susanna Clarke, Yaa Gyasi and Patricia Lockwood among the six authors up for the £30,000 award. Read more
Oscar winner ‘Nomadland’ based on book by former Oregon journalist
“Nomadland,” which follows a woman in her 60s as she takes up a nomadic lifestyle after losing everything in the Great Recession, won Best Picture. Its director, Chloé Zhao, won Best Director, becoming the first woman of color and the second woman ever to win that award. Frances McDormand won Best Actress, her third such Oscar. Read more
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Publishers Draw Fire for Signing Trump Officials
Kellyanne Conway, Mike Pence and William Barr have book deals. That is raising new challenges for publishers trying to balance ideological lines with a desire to continue representing the political spectrum. Read more
Danielle Evans has won the 2021 Joyce Carol Oates Prize
Danielle Evans, author of The Office of Historical Corrections and Before You Suffocate Your Own Fool Self, has won The New Literacy Project’s annual Joyce Carol Oates Prize, a $50,000 award that recognizes “a midcareer fiction writer who has earned a distinguished reputation and the approbation and gratitude of readers.” Read more
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Roshan the Camel Brings Books to Homeschooling Children in Rural Pakistan
The school children, who live in remote villages where the streets are too narrow for vehicles, put on their best clothes and rush out to meet Roshan. They crowd around the animal shouting “the camel is here!” Read more
Opening a Small-Town Bookstore During the Pandemic Was the Craziest Thing We Ever Did
It’s every book lover’s fantasy. Yet nothing can quite prepare you for the reality of starting any business, even under normal conditions. Certainly, few dreamers think to prepare for the nightmare of a global pandemic that shutters most brick-and-mortar retail, disrupts supply chains, and kills hundreds of thousands of your fellow citizens. Read more
UK book sales soared in 2020 despite pandemic
New figures from the Publishers Association show fiction and audiobooks did particularly well, with value of consumer sales up 7% on 2019 despite bookshop closures. Read more
