News

News

January 6, 2023

DECENT PEOPLE by De'Shawn Charles Winslow has received a wealth of critical acclaim ahead of its publication this month. The novel received a starred review from BookPage. Reviewer Alice Cary writes: “Anyone who adored Charmaine Wilkerson’s BLACK CAKE and Dolen Perkins-Valdez’s TAKE MY HAND, take note. Winslow invites readers on a satisfying ride that, through his keen observations of human nature, leads to deeper considerations of the glacial progress of racial equality…To reveal such underlying truths, DECENT PEOPLE twists the light this way and that, showing the simmering tensions that can indeed turn deadly.” Cary also interviewed Winslow for BookPage, where Winslow discussed his inspirations for DECENT PEOPLE as well as ideas that he has for his next book. DECENT PEOPLE was also selected as book of the month by both Amazon Books and Apple Books, and was featured on 2023 most-anticipated and must-read lists from Good Housekeeping, USA Today, Electric Literature, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, The Root, The Philadelphia Inquirer, and The Millions. Bloomsbury Publishing will publish the book on January 17, 2023.

January 6, 2023

Ed Yong’s AN IMMENSE WORLD continues to receive praise. It was selected as one of KCRW's “Life Examined’s Best Reads of 2022,” as well as one of New York Magazine's The Strategist’s “Best Books for Every Type of Dad,” specifically as a book “[f]or the dad who’s on his fifth watch of David Attenborough’s LIFE IN COLOR.” Random House published the book on June 21, 2022.

January 6, 2023

Lakiesha Carr’s AN AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF SKIN was selected by R.O. Kwon for Electric Lit’s “62 Books by Women of Color to Read in 2023.” Pantheon will publish the novel on February 28, 2023.

January 6, 2023

Namwali Serpell’s THE FURROWS was featured in the LA Times piece “How 2022 became the year of the fragmented-identity novel.” Mark Athitakis writes: “The tail end of 2022 has been marked by a worrying sense that the center really isn’t holding…[M]uch of the prominent fiction of 2022 met the moment and captured this fragmentation, thick with code-switching, style-shifting and cacophonies of anxious narration. The omniscient, singular authorial voice in literary fiction has become ever more antiquated — still valuable, but more like an exotic, bespoke retreat than literature’s mainland…This approach manifested itself poignantly in Namwali Serpell’s second novel, THE FURROWS. A woman mourning her brother’s sudden death switches tones and perspectives to either grasp or escape her complicity in the incident. Her status as a character morphs, as if to suggest that inhabiting someone else’s identity might bring us closer to our own...Serpell is doing much the same for the trauma plot: A recurring phrase in THE FURROWS is, ‘I don’t want to tell you what happened. I want to tell you how it felt.’ Serpell is saying that as much as the protagonist is. She’s seeking a form that escapes conventional storytelling about The Incident That Changed Everything while still building a story around exactly that.” THE FURROWS was also selected as a "Best Book for Every Type of Mom" by New York Magazine’s The Strategist, specifically “[f]or the mom who doesn’t do genre fiction.” Hogarth published THE FURROWS on September 27, 2022.

January 6, 2023

James Spooner's and Chris L. Terry's BLACK PUNK NOW is one of Nylon's most-anticipated books of 2023, praised as a “comprehensive anthology of contemporary nonfiction, fiction, illustrations, and comics [that] encompass[es] what Black punk’s past, present, and future is.” Soft Skull Press will publish the book on October 31, 2023.

January 6, 2023

TODAY selected Idra Novey’s TAKE WHAT YOU NEED as a most-anticipated book of 2023. Viking will publish the novel on March 14, 2023.

January 6, 2023

SINK by Joseph Earl Thomas was selected as a most-anticipated book of 2023 by Yahoo News, Goodreads (“So-called geek culture has saved a lot of lives over the years by providing a home for those who were denied a place elsewhere. Author Joseph Earl Thomas makes a strong case for just how literally this life-saving aspect can be. Abused and neglected as a child, Thomas tells his story in this highly acclaimed memoir, which won the 2020 Chautauqua Janus Prize. Geek love is strong”), SheReads (“[SINK] explores poverty, loneliness, toxic masculinity and much more. Kiese Laymon calls Sink ‘brilliant and brilliantly different,’ which is enough for me”), and Debutiful (“A fearless debut that will change your life. I read this in one sitting and it moved me in ways I couldn’t imagine. Thomas moves through brutal moments and uplifting ones with grace. It is a memoir that should be taught in writing classes from now until the end of time”). Grand Central Publishing will publish the memoir on February 21, 2023.

January 6, 2023

STRANGERS TO OURSELVES received a wonderful review from Vulture. Reviewer Jane Hu writes: "Aviv’s chapters draw on her talent for narrative feature writing, as she weaves personal stories in and out of structural backdrops. Part reportage, part memoir, and part history, her book might also be read as a series of case studies…Aviv’s journalistic voice is deft, and she moves with a light touch. But in her hands, writing is revealed to be an obsessive act, even — perhaps especially — when it is also an attempt to heal." The book was also selected as a best-of title of 2022 by Mother Jones, AARP, and Fast Company. Farrar, Straus and Giroux published the book on September 13, 2022.

January 6, 2023

Ryan Ruby is a winner of the 2023 Robert B. Silvers Prize Prize for Literary Criticism, which "recogniz[es] achievement in long-form literary criticism and the intellectual and cultural essay." The judges praise Ruby as “a public intellectual with an accessible style and an appealing candor who promises to bring poetry and philosophy together again on the stage of literary criticism.”

December 16, 2022

AN IMMENSE WORLD by Ed Yong continues to receive praise and accolades. The book was included in the Readers Digest Best Books of 2022 (“The deeply researched book immerses readers in the animal kingdom. Even the proudest pet owner or animal lover will learn something new…Page by page, Yong shines a new light on animal experiences in this dazzling narrative nonfiction book”) and was named a Time Magazine Top 10 Best Nonfiction Book of 2022 (“Yong’s absorbing book is a joyful blend of scientific study and elegant prose that transforms textbook fodder into something much more exciting and accessible"). Random House published the book on June 21, 2022.