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Awards & News

The National Book Award Finalists are announced. NYT, Washington Post, USA Today, and People have coverage.

The 2024 slate of MacArthur Fellows includes writers Ling Ma, Juan Felipe Herrera, Jason Reynolds, and Jericho Brown. PBSNews has coverage, as does NYT.

The longlist for the Saif Ghobash Banipal Prize for Arabic Literary Translation is announced. Publishing Perspectives has details.

Ross Raisin wins the BBC National Short Story Award, The Guardian reports.

Audiofile announces the October 2024 Earphones Award winners. 

Reese Witherspoon selects Society of Lies by Lauren Ling Brown (Bantam) for her October book club. 

The B&N and Read with Jenna pick is The Mighty Red by Louise Erdrich (Harper; LJ starred review). 

Reviews

Washington Post reviews Disney High: The Untold Story of the Rise and Fall of Disney Channel’s Tween Empire by Ashley Spencer (St. Martin’s): “Disney High offers not just millennial-baiting nostalgia but juicy stories from the sets and offices of the children’s-programming network that rose to prominence in the ’90s and became a star-making, money-minting machine throughout the 2000s and 2010s”; Eden Undone: A True Story of Sex, Murder, and Utopia at the Dawn of World War II by Abbott Kahler (Crown): “The sense of dread and impending violence gnaws and grows, a tragedy that makes your stomach sick even as you are compelled to turn the page”; and Revenge of the Tipping Point: Overstories, Superspreaders, and the Rise of Social Engineering by Malcolm Gladwell (Little, Brown): “Alas, the high status afforded by the popularity of The Tipping Point gave Gladwell a blanket pass to forever get away with daydreaming his loose sociological theories in total isolation from the existing field of sociology.”

The Guardian reviews The Third Realm by Karl Ove Knausgaard, tr. by Martin Aitken (Penguin Pr.): “The book, with its disquisitions on death and eternity, is extremely grandiose. But it’s also pervaded by the feeling of failure that permeates My Struggle.”

LJ shares its October-issue starred reviews.

Briefly Noted

LJ has new prepub alerts.

Megan Kamalei Kakimoto leads a literary tour through Hawai‘i, at NYT.

October’s Costco Connection features a new Wicked Series Box Set by Gregory Maguire (Morrow). 

Aaron Robertson, The Black Utopians: Searching for Paradise and the Promised Land in America (Farrar), answers 10 questions at Poets & Writers. 

USA Today has an interview with podcast host and YouTuber MrBallen about his new graphic novel, MrBallen Presents: Strange, Dark & Mysterious; The Graphic Stories, illus. by Andrea Mutti (Ten Speed Graphics). 

NYT profiles “64-Year-Old Literary Agent and TikTok Star” Betsy Lerner whose debut novel, Shred Sisters (Grove), publishes this week.

Kate McKinnon, The Millicent Quibb School of Etiquette for Young Ladies of Mad Science (Little, Brown Books for Young Readers), answers Elle’s “Shelf Life” literary questionnaire.

Vanity Fair has an interview with Jessica Valenti about her new book, Abortion: Our Bodies, Their Lies, and the Truths We Use To Win (Crown). 

Vogue talks with Tony Tulathimutte about his book Rejection (Morrow). 

Ali Hazelwood’s new audio original Two Can Play is available only through Spotify, People reports.

Salon highlights a new book about George Harrison’s legacy, Within You Without You: Listening to George Harrison by Seth Rogovoy (Oxford Univ.). 

Sandra Oh will narrate a new audiobook of Min Jin Lee’s Pachinko (Grand Central; LJ starred review). People has the news and a clip. 

Disney star Alyson Stoner will publish a memoir, Semi-Well-Adjusted Despite Literally Everything (St. Martin’s), in August 2025. People reports.

Melinda French Gates will release a new book, The Next Day: Transitions, Change, and Moving Forward (Flatiron), in April 2025, People reports.

People has a preview and cover reveal for Yung Pueblo’s forthcoming book, How To Love Better: The Path to Deeper Connection Through Growth, Kindness, and Compassion (Harmony). 

Jimmy Carter, who turned 100 yesterday, has written the most bestselling books of any former president, while having the least written about him, NYT reports.

Authors on Air

Ta-Nehisi Coates discusses his new book, The Message (One World), with NPR’s Fresh Air.

Yotam Ottolenghi, Ottolenghi Comfort (Ten Speed) will appear on the Today Show and the Late Show with Stephen Colbert tomorrow.

Chris Wallace, Countdown 1960: The Behind-the-Scenes Story of the 312 Days That Changed America’s Politics Forever (Dutton), will also talk to Stephen Colbert.

Ina Garten, Be Ready When the Luck Happens (Crown) visits with Tamron Hall tomorrow. 

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