Even though it feels like it’s been out for weeks, today is the actual pub day of Bob Woodward’s Rage, which has garnered MUCH attention for its all-you-can-eat buffet of pre-pub scoops, not to mention the subsequent anger about apparently Read more >
As I recently discovered, if you google “tattoos in literature,” the overwhelming majority of results will be photo listicles of tattoos inspired by works of literature, which is not what I asked for, Larry. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not Read more >
From a longlist dominated by debuts comes a shortlist dominated by debuts—four out of six!—but the biggest surprise might be the fact that Hilary Mantel will not, after all, be getting that three-peat. Less surprising is the fact that after Read more >
Three cheers for more exciting book news! Today, the Before Columbus Foundation announced the winners of the 41st-annual American Book Awards. The award, which has no categories or nominees, was created to recognize extraordinary literary achievement from the entire spectrum Read more >
Today, the organizers of the Dayton Literary Peace Prize announced that Margaret Atwood will receive the 2020 Ambassador Richard C. Holbrooke Distinguished Achievement Award, named in honor of the eponymous U.S. diplomat. The prize comes with a Michael Bashaw sculpture Read more >
HBO’s Lovecraft Country is a strange and unexpected television experience, rife with arcane allusions, uncanny twists, and a wonderfully anachronistic soundtrack. I’ve never been much of a supernatural horror fan but I am as engrossed by the series as I Read more >
Today, the longlist for France’s annual Grand Prix de Littérature Américaine (American Literature Grand Prize), was announced. Here’s the list, which is pretty good, though one title seems a little surprising. Are the French paying attention? Perhaps they’re too busy Read more >
Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your eyes. I have wonderful news to bring you on this Friday. The Latin phrase “e pluribus unum” which translates to “out of many, one” and which is the official motto of the United States Read more >
Are you as pleased as I am that Will Smith and Aunt Viv (Janet Hubert) seemed to have made up after decades of mutual shade? Just in time for the 30-year anniversary of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air’s first episode. There Read more >
The shortlist for the BBC National Short Story Award, one of the most prestigious (and richest) awards given to a single short story in the UK, was announced today on BBC Radio 4. “I am inordinately proud of this year’s Read more >
It’s Friday! What’s George R.R. Martin up to? Not building a castle, that’s for sure. Santa Fe city officials responded this week to his proposal to build one in his backyard—his second request to do so!—with an unequivocal “no,” with Read more >
That’s right. HarperCollins is suing Lindsay Lohan for breach of contract after she failed to deliver a manuscript for the memoir they acquired from her back in 2014. The publishing company is asking for their $365,000 back—ostensibly the first third Read more >
Susanna Clarke’s Piranesi, Sigrid Nunez’s What Are You Going Through, Claudia Rankine’s Just Us, and Frederik Logevall’s JFK all feature among the Best Reviewed Books of the Week. Fiction 1. What Are You Going Through by Sigrid Nunez 7 Read more >
Wouldn’t it be great if instead of an endless stream of crashed-out, Donald Trump-adjacent memoirs/tell-alls/self-interested “scoops,” we had more quirky graphic novels for kids? And why not? They certainly sell. To wit, Captain Underpants creator Dav Pilkey’s Dog Man: Grime Read more >
Alexander Lukashenko, the first and only president of Belarus, a man who is often referred to as Europe’s sole dictator, has been lashing out like a cornered animal since mass protests began in his country following his dubious re-election in Read more >
At this point, although stories that pass us by in the news cycle do continue to anger and sadden me, I wouldn’t say much has been surprising recently. Unfortunately, that also applies to a story by Politico which revealed that the Read more >
We’ve all seen the video by now: Amy Cooper, a white woman, lying to police about Christian Cooper, a writer and longtime birder who politely asked her to move her dog out of a part of Central Park designated for Read more >
How about some terrific morning literary news to brighten your day? Is that a “yes” I hear? Well, today the National Book Foundation announced that Walter Mosley, author of the highly-regarded Devil in a Blue Dress, will be awarded the Read more >
As the march of technology continues, it’s easy to forget that artists have been warning of its potential dangers to creativity and pointedly searching for nostalgia for nearly three centuries of industrialization and information advances. None, however, has quite the Read more >
The Women’s Prize for Fiction is one of the UK’s most prestigious annual book awards, celebrating artful and inventive literature by women from across the world. It comes with £30,000 and a limited edition bronze statuette called “Bessie” (talk about Read more >
