The Hub

News, Notes, Talk

Simon & Schuster is for sale because it is not videos.

Simon & Schuster is for sale, ViacomCBS CEO Bob Bakish said today at an investor conference for Morgan Stanley in San Francisco, while using the word “asset” far too many times and resurrecting the corpse of the “pivot to video” Read more >

By Corinne Segal

Sales of plague-themed literature on the rise in Italy. Is America next?

Le Monde is reporting that sales of Albert Camus’s 1947 classic, The Plague, have sky-rocketed in Italy, which continues to be the European nation most severely affected by the coronavirus outbreak: according to reported sale numbers in La Repubblica, the Read more >

By Jonny Diamond

Re-read the three-peat: Scottie Pippen is writing a memoir.

’90s basketball stans rejoice: Scottie “No Tippin’” Pippen, a six-time NBA champion and one of the greatest small forwards of all time, is writing a memoir. As Publishers Marketplace reported yesterday: Six-time NBA champion, two-time Olympic gold medalist and Hall Read more >

By Dan Sheehan

How to design around your books (if you're really, really rich).

Today, a website called Mansion Global (which yes, is a website about buying mansions, globally) offers some tips for “how to design around your tomes.” This is part of a weekly series Mansion Global runs, which is all about designing Read more >

By Emily Temple

Next summer, Celeste Ng will fund two publishing interns from diverse backgrounds.

Here’s some uncharacteristically good news for our notoriously exclusive, non-diverse, barrier-laden industry: next summer, two publishing interns from diverse backgrounds will receive a stipend, thanks to a donation from author Celeste Ng. We Need Diverse Books, which in the past Read more >

By Corinne Segal

Ronan Farrow calls Hachette "wildy unprofessional" for acquiring Woody Allen's book.

Yesterday, Grand Central Publishing, an imprint of Hachette Book Group, announced that they would be publishing Woody Allen’s memoir, Apropos of Nothing, a book we all once thought would never see the light of day, considering his history of sexual Read more >

By Emily Temple

Dear Oxford English Dictionary: "bitch" is not a synonym for "woman."

More than 31,000 people have signed a petition calling on Oxford University Press to change the Oxford Dictionaries’ definition of “woman,” which includes “bitch” as a synonym and lists examples of usage that show men denigrating women. The campaign, created Read more >

By Corinne Segal

Here are the finalists for this year's PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction.

The PEN/Faulkner Award celebrates the best published works of fiction by American citizens. It is the largest peer-juried award in the country, with three writers being selected by the PEN/Faulkner Foundation to act as jurors. Patricia Engel, Ru Freeman, and Read more >

By Katie Yee

AWP may still technically be on, but writers and publishers are bailing fast.

If you’ve been anywhere near Literary Twitter™ in the last 48 hours, I don’t have to tell you that there has been some major AWP anxiety going down. But yesterday, after many mixed messages and rumors to the contrary, AWP Read more >

By Emily Temple

Here's a list of international literary events canceled over coronavirus concerns.

We’re keeping track of the book fairs and other events that have been canceled or rescheduled as coronavirus spreads around the globe. Check back here for updates. BookExpo, UnBound and BookCon (New York, New York, May 27-31): Postponed to July Read more >

By Corinne Segal

The best literary TV adaptation you aren't watching is coming to an end. 

Yes, I’m talking about The Magicians. Today, Syfy announced that the current season, the fifth for the adaptation of Lev Grossman’s trilogy, would be the show’s last. You may have noticed, if you’re a frequent reader of this site, that Read more >

By Emily Temple

Small presses win big at this year's PEN America Literary Awards.

At a ceremony last night, held at The Town Hall in New York City and hosted by Seth Meyers, PEN America announced the winners of its 2020 literary awards. (You can watch the full video here.) Since 1963, the PEN Read more >

By Katie Yee

North Korean writers ordered to produce 70 works of literature about Kim Jong Un's greatness.

The world is on the brink of pandemic, but the North Korean regime—which unsurprisingly claims that the country has seen no cases of COVID-19—is focusing on literature. Kim Yo Jong, who is Kim Jong Un’s sister and “widely considered the Read more >

By Jessie Gaynor

10 new books to add to your TBR pile.

Every week, the TBR pile grows a little bit more. It’s getting precarious. It’s taking up your whole nightstand. It’s threatening to crush you in your sleep. Well, what are you waiting for? Get cracking. What are you reading this Read more >

By Katie Yee

Here is the 2020 Women's Prize for Fiction longlist.

Across the pond in foggy London town the longlist for the Women’s Prize for Fiction has just been announced. This year’s list of nominees is particularly star-studded, and includes such luminaries as Edna O’Brien, Jenny Offil, Bernardine Evaristo, Jacqueline Woodson, and Read more >

By Dan Sheehan

AWP conference still on, despite state of disaster in San Antonio due to coronavirus.

In a tweet by executive director Diane Zinna, AWP has announced that despite concerns over the coronavirus—and a recently declared public health emergency in San Antonio—the conference will continue. If you’d been hanging out on literary Twitter for the past Read more >

By Jonny Diamond