We can add Barack Obama to our list of academic posers. In a section of his new memoir, A Promised Land, the former president describes reading books in college to impress girls he liked: Looking back, it’s embarrassing to recognize the Read more >
From a longlist dominated by debuts came a shortlist dominated by debuts, and from that shortlist comes our winner, also a debut! The winner of the Booker Prize is: Douglas Stuart, Shuggie Bain (Scotland-US) (Looks like the bookies were right.) Stuart is the Read more >
I can’t stop thinking about The Young Visiters; or, Mr Salteenas Plan. A social satire about a status-seeker who loses his young lover when they take a trip to a friend’s country house, it’s one of the funniest novels I’ve Read more >
The Nature of Middle-earth, a collection of previously unpublished J.R.R. Tolkien essays exploring the world of Middle-earth, will be released by HarperCollins in June 2021. The work will be edited by Carl F. Hostetter, Tolkien expert and head of the Read more >
I will never forget the first and only time I visited Shakespeare and Company in Paris. I was 18. I was lost—no, not in the metaphysical, poetic angst way. I was actually, literally lost. (Ask anyone who knows me: I Read more >
Tonight, the National Book Awards made its virtual debut, presenting awards in five categories—Young People’s Literature, Translated Literature, Poetry, Nonfiction, and Fiction—to five winners from among 25 finalists. Congratulations to all the winners, which you can find in bold below. Read more >
It’s clear already that this year’s holiday season is going to be a weird one, but here’s a cool gift opportunity that also helps out a great publication: n+1 is creating personalized reading lists for people who donate to its newest fundraiser. Read more >
Ah, February 2021: maybe by then, we’ll have forgotten that 2020 ever existed. An upcoming book by Olga Tokarczuk, translated by Antonia Lloyd-Jones and illustrated by Joanna Concejo, promises to help us cleanse the timeline: The Lost Soul, a story Read more >
This morning, Publishers Marketplace reported that two-time Booker Prize winner and historical fiction supremo Hilary Mantel has a new short story collection on the horizon. Learning to Talk, which will be released by Holt at some point next year, is Read more >
We already love Dolly Parton, not just for her powerhouse songwriting and iconic hair but also for her championing of American literacy—her Imagination Library sends over 1 million free books per month (that’s one book every two seconds!) to children Read more >
The Accumulate Art School for the Homeless, a London-based charity that provides creative education and workshops for young homeless people, has partnered with unhoused artists to create a new graphic novel called The Book of Homelessness. The project began with Read more >
Dust off your formal wear and break out the bubbly because the National Book Awards (a.k.a. the Oscars of the book world) are nearly upon us. Yes, in just a few short hours, five dumbstruck authors will be fêted, garlanded, Read more >
Today, the Andy Warhol Foundation announced the 22 recipients of its Arts Writers Grant, which recognizes the invaluable contribution of arts writers to visual artistic culture. The Grant supports both emerging and established writers of articles, books, or short-form writing, with awards Read more >
If you find yourself bored as the new lockdown hits, consider taking a leaf out of William and Catherine Blake’s book, and doing a naked reading of Paradise Lost with your roommates. The Blakes’ strange leisure activities live on through Read more >
Apparently, this week is the Super Bowl for the book world (or at least the book world media). Which means you need to do two things to prepare: assemble your snacks (check) and place your bets. Six novels are up Read more >
As many on this side of the pond may not know, Manchester United and England footballer Marcus Rashford is currently all that stands between the United Kingdom and compete moral ruination. In a year where a particularly grotesque grotesquerie of Read more >
Samuel Goldwyn Films has released a new trailer for Modern Persuasion, a—you guessed it—modern retelling of Jane Austen’s Persuasion. The romantic comedy stars Twin Peaks and Friday Night Lights actress Alicia Witt as Wren Cosgrove, a “workaholic who…finds herself coming Read more >
Professionals, rejoice? A new app verbosely called “The 12Min Micro Book Library” is trying to optimize your reading time. According to a depressing pitch from PCMag, the 12Min Micro Book Library “takes . . . game-changing books . . . Read more >
Let’s start our morning right with the latest book news. Today, the American Library Association announced the shortlist of the 2021 Andrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence in Fiction and Nonfiction, which honors the best fiction and nonfiction books for adult readers Read more >
Hello and welcome to the very niche readership who understands what I am talking about and why I am excited and amused by this! The rumors (from this headline) are true: Principal Snyder, also known as Armin Shimerman, has recently Read more >
