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Awards & News

NYT talks with Edward P. Jones about his book The Known World, which has been voted the best work of fiction by an American writer in the 21st century so far, in an NYT Book Review poll. Also, readers weigh in on NYT’s “Best Books of the 21st Century” list. 

The Ursula K. Le Guin Prize for Fiction shortlist is announced. LitHub has details. Reactor also has coverage.

The Scribe Award nominees are announced. Locus has details.

Hachette reorganizes and Algonquin will be folded into Little, Brown. Workman announces layoffs.  Shelf-Awareness reports. PW also has coverage.

Trip Adler, CEO of Scribd, shares a new AI rights platform, Created by Humans, Publishing Perspectives reports. 

Reviews

Washington Post reviews This Great Hemisphere by Mateo Askaripour (Dutton; LJ starred review): “Thematically, Askaripour is still peeling the skin off America’s racial inequality, but in song and plumage, This Great Hemisphere marks an astonishing evolution from his 2021 debut, Black Buck”; and There Is Happiness: New and Selected Stories by Brad Watson (Norton): “All that notwithstanding, the new stories are excellent, and we should be grateful to have them.”

NPR’s Fresh Air reviews Practice by Rosalind Brown (Farrar): “For me, Practice offers a refreshing midsummer’s break from the sweeping, socially engaged fiction that understandably dominates our own anxious time. It’s an unapologetically small, inward-looking and, yes, privileged story.”

Datebook reviews The Heart in Winter by Kevin Barry (Doubleday; LJ starred review): “But the thing about Kevin Barry is that his irresistible blend of hilarity and gothic tragedy brings new life to all the genres he’s referencing here; the plot almost doesn’t matter.”

LA Times reviews The Book of Elsewhere by Keanu Reeves & China Miéville (Del Rey): “While The Book of Elsewhere may include some tropes and contrivances, Miéville’s keen eye, brimful imagination and impeccable style make it a deeply pleasurable read.”

The Guardian reviews Autocracy, Inc.: The Dictators Who Want To Run the World (Doubleday): “It’s a disturbing world we live in, but understanding its ways, keeping our own counsel, and knowing who to trust have never been so important. Anne Applebaum, who 30 years ago foresaw the way we were going, is one of those we can trust.”

Briefly Noted

LibraryReads and Library Journal offer read-alikes for The Au Pair Affair by Tessa Bailey (Avon), the top holds title of the week.

LJ has new prepub alerts.

Laura Miller rereads J.D. Vance’s Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis (Harper), for Slate, while People shares “10 Great Appalachian Books to Read After Hillbilly Elegy.”

The Rumpus talks with Julia Phillips about the inspiration for her novel Bear (Hogarth), “why remote places are such a great setting for novels, and how motherhood changed her preoccupations as a fiction writer.”

Poet Kiran Bath, Instructions for Banno (Kelsey Street), answers 10 questions at Poets & Writers.

T&C features an interview with RoseMarie Terenzio & Liz McNeil, coauthors of JFK Jr : An Intimate Oral Biography (Gallery).

CrimeReads lists five novels where Mother Nature is implicated in the crime. 

The Atlantic recommends books for sleepless times.

BookRiot delves into “Scream-of-Consciousness” books.

LitHub considers the Millennial midlife crisis novel.

People highlights entrepreneur and author Sahil Bloom’s forthcoming book The 5 Types of Wealth, due out from Ballantine in February 2025. 

Authors on Air

Vanity Fair takes a first look at Apartment 7A, a prequel to Rosemary’s Baby, based on the novel by Ira Levin. The film releases on September 27. 

NPR’s Consider This examines the political evolution of J.D. Vance.

Melissa De La Cruz’s Blue Bloods will get a series adaptation, Deadline reports.

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