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News, Notes, Talk

Cover reveal: Erika Robuck's new novel, Sisters of Night and Fog.

In March 2022, Erika Robuck, bestselling historical fiction author, will publish Sisters of Night and Fog, a novel based on the true story of an American socialite and a British secret. The publisher, Berkley, describes it like this: Set across Read more >

By Literary Hub

Do yourself a favor and listen to Robin Sloan read Sir Gawain and the Green Knight.

Robin Sloan, author of the delightful novels Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore and Sourdough has made something of a tradition out of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, that 14th century chivalric banger that’s been popping up in your feed because of Read more >

By Emily Temple

Gaze upon this image of Denzel Washington and Frances McDormand in The Tragedy of Macbeth.

Ring the alarum-bell! It’s your first look at Denzel Washington and Frances McDormand as literature’s favorite murderous power couple, the Macbeths. (Unrelated: should someone should write a contemporary adaptation in which Lady Macbeth is a #GirlBoss and Macduff is a Read more >

By Jessie Gaynor

The adaptation of Haruki Murakami's "Drive My Car" just won best screenplay at Cannes.

Exciting news for Haruki Murakami fans, as always: this past week, director Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s feature adaptation of Murakami’s short story “Drive My Car” won Best Screenplay at Cannes. The screenplay was written by Hamaguchi and Takamasa Oe; this marks the Read more >

By Walker Caplan

The new Dune trailer features more Zendaya, terrifying CGI, and of course, lots of sand.

After COVID-related delays, Denis Villeneuve’s adaptation of Frank Herbert’s sweeping (and difficult to adapt) science fiction epic Dune is finally set to debut both on HBO Max and in theaters on October 1st. As the release date quickly approaches, Warner Read more >

By Walker Caplan

Bruce Springsteen and Barack Obama are teaming up on a book.

Rock legend Bruce Springsteen and former President Barack Obama have written a book based on their podcast conversations, to be published globally by Penguin Random House in partnership with Higher Ground. The book chronicles, as Obama said in the book’s Read more >

By Walker Caplan

Viola Davis is publishing a memoir she describes as "straight, no chaser."

Oscar-winner and all-around Renaissance woman Viola Davis is going to put her life story (so far) to paper. The actor will publish a memoir, Finding Me, with HarperOne. Davis will discuss her tumultuous childhood growing up in Rhode Island, including poverty Read more >

By Vanessa Willoughby

It's official: nobody likes reading e-books.

According to a recent survey of 2,000 adults across the UK, commissioned by Oxfam, Europe’s largest second-hand bookseller, the vast majority (two-thirds) of readers still prefer paper books to digital. 46% of those who do say it’s because they like Read more >

By Emily Temple

Sylvia Plath's tarot deck just sold for $200,000.

Well, $206,886, to be more exact. That’s $2,652 per card, in case you’re wondering. The Tarot de Marseille deck, gifted to Plath by Ted Hughes on the occasion of her 24th birthday, sold earlier this afternoon at a much-ballyhooed online Read more >

By Dan Sheehan

Which international city's public libraries lend the most books per capita?

The pandemic has prompted, among other things, a slew of relocations. Some of those relocations (ie. to your mom’s house) have proved, or will prove, temporary; others, encouraged by new work-from-home policies, may become permanent. Or maybe you’re one of Read more >

By Emily Temple

Take a look at the cover for Ocean Vuong’s next book.

Ocean Vuong has announced the upcoming publication of and revealed the cover design for his new poetry collection, Time is a Mother, coming April 5th, 2022 from Penguin Random House. According to the publisher, Time is a Mother “searches for Read more >

By Walker Caplan

2007's Beowulf has one of the most bizarre casting choices in film adaptation history.

  Today’s the birthday of John Gardner, best known for his novel Grendel, an adaptation of the Beowulf myth from the eponymous monster’s point of view. Though this radical reimagining of the story resonated with readers, some other big-swing adaptations Read more >

By Walker Caplan

We're getting a TV adaptation of Neil Gaiman's Anansi Boys.

Attention Gaimaniacs! An adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s 2005 novel, Anansi Boys, is coming in the form of an Amazon series. Adaptations of Gaiman’s work are coming fast and furious these days—last month, he announced that Good Omens 2 was in production, Read more >

By Jessie Gaynor

Stacey Abrams’s first children’s book will be published in December.

Stacey Abrams will publish Stacey’s Extraordinary Words, a children’s picture book illustrated by Kitt Thomas, on December 28th with HarperCollins Children’s Books imprint Balzer + Bray. Though Abrams has published three bestselling books for adults under her own name, as Read more >

By Walker Caplan

Here are the first reviews of every Ernest Hemingway novel.

The world breaks everyone and afterward many are strong in the broken places. But those that will not break it kills. It kills the very good and the very gentle and the very brave impartially. If you are none of Read more >

By Book Marks

Quentin Tarantino's list of his favorite books may (or may not) surprise you.

Quentin Tarantino is making the publicity rounds to promote his new book, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. The 400-page pulp novel is based on his 2019 movie of the same name and was released in mass-market paperback. Writing for Read more >

By Vanessa Willoughby

Paul Tran on first seeing the cover for their debut poetry collection.

I’ve always wanted—perhaps because I grew up in poverty and the absence of what might be considered as beauty, or because I internalized from a young age as a rape survivor my own ugliness and distance from beauty, or because Read more >

By Paul Tran

Nelson Mandela’s grandson is auctioning two of his own books as NFTs.

Dumani Mandela, grandson of Nelson Mandela and a writer himself, is auctioning two of his own books as NFTs to raise money for My Minimalist, his mental heath care web app. I Dream of Kemet and Young and On The Read more >

By Walker Caplan

Watch Adam Driver fight Matt Damon in the first trailer for The Last Duel.

Shine the chainmail and sharpen the broadswords because the trailer for Ridley Scott’s The Last Duel—a broody historical epic of betrayal and vengeance based on Eric Jager’s 2004 nonfiction book The Last Duel: A True Story of Trial by Combat Read more >

By Dan Sheehan

It’s official! According to science, reading fiction makes you nicer.

The headlines about the benefits of reading just keep coming. If you spend enough time online, you know reading purportedly makes you a better entrepreneur, happier, less stressed, and “more human.” It also apparently makes you more socially adept: the Read more >

By Walker Caplan