‘Tis the season… to support your local bookstores! If you’re looking for presents (hello, Chanukah starts this week!), look no further than this list of brand-new books hitting shelves today. From the history of pop to Rachel Maddow’s takedown of Read more >
Today, the Whiting Foundation announced the eight recipients for its Creative Nonfiction Grant, which supports multi-year book projects that require large amounts of focused thinking, research, and writing at a critical point mid-process. Each will receive $40,000 to complete their Read more >
Apparently, Scott Frank, who wrote and directed your favorite recent Walter Tevis adaptation, The Queen’s Gambit, has another literary adaptation in the works—and it also stars Anya Taylor-Joy. The Playlist reports that Frank, speaking to the podcast The Watch, revealed Read more >
Devotional poet John Donne was “the best in this kinde, that ever this Kingdome hath yet seene”—but despite his emotive work, much of his life remains unknown to us. That might change with this new discovery: a bound, handwritten volume Read more >
This morning, the Swedish Academy published the full text of Louise Glück’s acceptance speech for the 2020 Nobel Prize in Literature, which she was awarded in October. You can read it in full here (in English or Swedish!). In awarding Read more >
If you’ve ever rolled your eyes at some well-meaning person saying, “If you just write one sentence per day, you’ve succeeded,” check out this project: the writer Steven Arcieri is publishing monthly installments of his Decade project at The Nervous Read more >
Roald Dahl’s family and the Roald Dahl Story Company have released a short statement apologizing for the “lasting and understandable hurt” caused by Dahl’s “prejudiced remarks.” Dahl, who died in 1990, was of course a beloved author of children’s books Read more >
The Center for Fiction First Novel Prize, first awarded in 2006, was created to honor the best debut fiction of the year. The winner receives a $15,000 cash prize and each shortlisted author receives $1,000. Previous winners include Tommy Orange Read more >
The first trailer for season 3 of American Gods—the lush and lurid Starz adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s beloved 2001 fantasy opus—has dropped and it looks, well, pretty good actually. The series—a big-budget blending of Americana, fantasy, and various strands of Read more >
Joe Biden’s presidency has not yet begun, so one might think it would be too soon to start planning its depiction on television. Think again! Less than a month after Biden’s win, Showtime has optioned an upcoming book by John Read more >
Yes, you read that right: novelist, short story writer, photographer, and video artist Akwaeke Emezi is also a poet. Copper Canyon Press announced today that Emezi’s debut poetry collection, Content Warning: Everything, will be released in 2022. In a thread Read more >
The Cundill History Prize, founded in 2008 by the late Peter Cundill, recognizes and awards history writing in English that demonstrates originality, literary excellence, and public appeal. The award comes with a $75,000 purse, and its two runners-up each receive a Recognition Read more >
Jason Reynolds: two-time National Book Award finalist, TIME 100 Next honoree, and, apparently, real-life angel. Yesterday, for Giving Tuesday, the Look Both Ways and Ghost author let us know via Twitter that he’d bought the entire inventory of his books Read more >
Here’s a heartening update to a terrible story: In November, Allegheny County Jail came under fire for instituting a draconian policy banning its incarcerated population from receiving physical books in the mail, only giving them access to 263 pre-approved eBooks Read more >
Some very exciting news has just come over the wire from Literary Adaptation Land (itself not so much a physical place as a daydreamy state of mind for authors the world over): Douglas Stuart’s 2020 Booker Prize-winning novel Shuggie Bain is Read more >
YES! The volunteer-run, collectively owned radical bookstore and activist center Bluestockings is reopening in a new location after shutting down over the summer and fall. In July, Bluestockings announced they were shutting down their original location at 172 Allen Street Read more >
What do Brit Bennett, Megan Thee Stallion, and Sascha Baron Cohen all have in common? They’ve all joined The Weeknd in being named Entertainment Weekly’s 2020 Entertainers of the Year. Though I’ve loved Bennett since her 2017 debut novel The Read more >
The Romantic Novelists’ Association is celebrating its 60th anniversary this year, and as part of their celebrations, they’ve conducted a poll, asking readers and RNA members which romantic novels from the last 60 years have most captured their attention. And Read more >
Former U.S. Poet Laureate Natasha Trethewey’s Memorial Drive—a harrowing memoir of a daughter reckoning with the brutal murder of her mother at the hands of her stepfather—has been optioned by Sony Pictures Television for development as a drama series. Recently heralded Read more >
Poet Jamie Hood’s how to be a good girl, from Grieveland Press, comes out on December 8, and I’m already getting excited. A hybrid of diary, poetry, fragments, and criticism, how to be a good girl grapples with canonical texts Read more >
