News - Literary News

News - Literary News

January 15, 2023

Publishers Weekly featured SWIM HOME TO THE VANISHED author Brendan Shay Basham on its list of “Writers to Watch in Spring 2023.” Harper will publish SWIM HOME TO THE VANISHED on June 6, 2023.

January 15, 2023

Publishers Weekly featured HOUSE OF COTTON author Monica Brashears on its list of “Writers to Watch in Spring 2023.” Flatiron Books will publish the novel on April 4, 2023.

January 15, 2023

Idra Novey’s TAKE WHAT YOU NEED was included on Oprah Daily's list of “The Books We Can't Wait to Read in 2023,” praised as a “sublime new novel.” Viking will publish the novel on March 14, 2023.

January 15, 2023

Publishers Weekly featured WE ARE A HAUNTING author Tyriek White on its list of “Writers to Watch in Spring 2023.” Astra House will publish WE ARE A HAUNTING on April 25, 2023.

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.