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News, Notes, Talk

17 new books out today.

Remarkably, the end of April is already almost here. But, of course, there are many reasons and ways to enjoy these last few days of the month. You might acknowledge the birthdays of certain literary legends, like Defoe (the 24th), Read more >

By Gabrielle Bellot

Here are the winners of the 2023-2024 Rome Prize in literature.

The American Academy in Rome, America’s oldest overseas center for independent studies in advanced research in the arts and humanities, has announced the winners of the 2023-24 Rome Prize, which aims to gift its recipients with “time and space to Read more >

By Emily Temple

Two New York City books will split this year's $70,000 Gotham Book Prize.

Today, the Gotham Book Prize, a new annual award created during the first year of the pandemic to honor and support the best writing about New York City, announced its 2023 winners. This year, the prize will be increased from Read more >

By Emily Temple

Definitive proof that publishing your novel won't make you happy.

Hug an author today! Fifty-four percent of debut authors responding to Bookseller survey said the process had a negative impact on their mental health—equally likely to feel bummed out whether they pubbed with a Big Four or an indie publisher. Read more >

By Janet Manley

Actual writers shocked to learn that “writing can make you healthier.”

Well this doesn’t sound right at all. In an op-ed today at The Guardian, David Robson makes the case that “expressive” writing can make you healthier, and not just through some vague sense of personal satisfaction. In suggesting that writing Read more >

By Jonny Diamond

These are the 13 books people tried to ban the most in 2022.

Today, the American Library Association has published its annual list of the Most Challenged Books—those most often targeted for banning in schools and public libraries. As you may already know if you’ve been paying even the slightest bit of attention, Read more >

By Emily Temple

Let's talk about that Great Expectations finale.

So now you know. Steven Knight, who created noted bad-hair show Peaky Blinders, revealed his ultimate ambitions for Charles Dickens’ Great Expectations in a finale that had it all: shootouts, weird kissing scenes, attempted suicide, a spot of angry horse-shoe Read more >

By Janet Manley

Hilary Mantel had an unpublished Jane Austen-inspired novel.

Hilary Mantel died last September at age 70, but a memorial service just this week revealed something of use to those who miss her words. The Guardian’s Saturday Paper will be publishing excerpts from an unpublished project mashing together Jane Read more >

By Janet Manley

8 books that demand to be read outside.

Tomorrow is Earth Day, our annual reminder to spare a thought for our spinning planet lest we destroy it completely. Come on guys, how will we read outside if there is no outside left? If you’re lucky enough to be Read more >

By Emily Temple

The BBC is giving us a Lord of the Flies TV show.

Shh shhshh! Jack Thorne, who adapted Phillip Pullman’s His Dark Materials for TV, has the conch! Along with the production company behind Sex Education, Thorne will be adapting William Golding’s Lord of the Flies for a BBC TV series, Deadline Read more >

By Janet Manley

Fanfic author would like credit for inventing Tolkien-spinoff The Rings of Power.

Did Amazon get the idea for The Rings of Power from J.R.R. Tolkien’s vast legacy, comprising over a dozen books, or did they steals it from LA dude Demetrious Polychron? That’s what Demestrious Polychron would like to know. PCMag reports Read more >

By Janet Manley

Moronic anti-LGBTQ bullies kicked out of Barnes and Noble.

Ethan Schmidt-Crockett, who I guess has made a name for himself “protesting” “woke” stores, was recently kicked out of an Arizona Barnes and Noble for quietly bullying the Pride Display. Schmidt-Crockett, alongside his unnamed sidekick, filmed himself prowling through Barnes Read more >

By Jonny Diamond

Jamil Jan Kochai's The Haunting of Hajji Hotak has won the 2023 Aspen Prize.

Last night, the $35,000 Aspen Words Literary Prize was awarded to Jamil Jan Kochai for his collection, The Haunting of Hajji Hotak and Other Stories, following a suite of Afghani characters between modern-day Afghanistan and contemporary America as they grapple Read more >

By Janet Manley

Here are the finalists for the 2023 Young Lions Fiction Award.

One more reason to love the New York Public Library—the Young Lions Fiction Award, which was founded by Ethan Hawke, Jennifer Rudolph Walsh, Rick Moody, and Hannah McFarland, and recognizes American fiction writers 35 and under with a $10,000 prize. Read more >

By Janet Manley

Watch the first trailer for Netflix's adaptation of All The Light We Cannot See.

Fans of Anthony Doerr’s 2014 Pulitzer Prize winning novel All The Light We Cannot See have something to chew on today, with the release of the first trailer for Netflix’s adaptation, directed by Deadpool and Stranger Things(?!) producer Shawn Levy. Read more >

By Janet Manley

For teens who like to write: Miami Book Fair is offering a virtual summer camp.

First of all, if you’re a teen who likes to write, keep at it, and don’t let anyone tell you different. (And if you’re the parent of a teen who likes to write, please encourage them.) With the above in Read more >

By Jonny Diamond