LISTEN, WORLD! by Allison Gilbert and Julia Scheeres

Submitted by mcutler on
Posted on September 23, 2022 in
LISTEN, WORLD! by Allison Gilbert and Julia Scheeres
LISTEN, WORLD! by Allison Gilbert and Julia Scheeres received stellar reviews from Publishers Weekly, Booklist, and the San Francisco Chronicle Datebook. Publishers Weekly raves: “[T]he authors paint a vivid picture of the challenges Elsie Robinson faced…The account is enlivened with copious excerpts from Robinson’s column and her memoir, all of which bring home her firebrand style. This entertaining account delivers.” Booklist praises the book as “[a] fascinating topic and solid biography that should please women’s history fans,” while Datebook writes: “Deeply researched, LISTEN, WORLD! includes passages from Robinson’s columns, books and letters, among other sources. Robinson was also an illustrator, and LISTEN, WORLD! includes a selection of her editorial cartoons, as well as photographs. The book’s prose is clear and engaging, with vivid descriptions…Over the course of this biography, readers come to recognize Robinson’s shockingly contemporary voice, and the authors highlight Robinson’s progressive views on the social issues of her time…A reminder to readers that though it’s now a century later, some things never change.” Seal Press will publish LISTEN, WORLD! on September 27, 2022.

LISTEN, WORLD! by Allison Gilbert and Julia Scheeres received stellar reviews from Publishers Weekly, Booklist, and the San Francisco Chronicle Datebook. Publishers Weekly raves: “[T]he authors paint a vivid picture of the challenges Elsie Robinson faced…The account is enlivened with copious excerpts from Robinson’s column and her memoir, all of which bring home her firebrand style. This entertaining account delivers.” Booklist praises the book as “[a] fascinating topic and solid biography that should please women’s history fans,” while Datebook writes: “Deeply researched, LISTEN, WORLD! includes passages from Robinson’s columns, books and letters, among other sources. Robinson was also an illustrator, and LISTEN, WORLD! includes a selection of her editorial cartoons, as well as photographs. The book’s prose is clear and engaging, with vivid descriptions…Over the course of this biography, readers come to recognize Robinson’s shockingly contemporary voice, and the authors highlight Robinson’s progressive views on the social issues of her time…A reminder to readers that though it’s now a century later, some things never change.” Seal Press will publish LISTEN, WORLD! on September 27, 2022.

README.txt by Chelsea Manning

Submitted by mcutler on
Posted on September 23, 2022 in
README.txt by Chelsea Manning
Chelsea Manning’s forthcoming memoir README.txt was featured on the Oberver’s Fall Arts Preview. The citation reads: “It cannot be emphasized enough how many people are looking forward to [README.txt]…As a known whistle-blower, surveillance expert, and most certainly a woman with a full life, it makes perfect sense that she is putting out a memoir.” Farrar, Straus, and Giroux will publish the novel on October 18, 2022.

Chelsea Manning’s forthcoming memoir README.txt was featured on the Oberver’s Fall Arts Preview. The citation reads: “It cannot be emphasized enough how many people are looking forward to [README.txt]…As a known whistle-blower, surveillance expert, and most certainly a woman with a full life, it makes perfect sense that she is putting out a memoir.” Farrar, Straus, and Giroux will publish the novel on October 18, 2022.

THE SEAPLANE ON FINAL APPROACH by Rebecca Rukeyser

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Posted on September 23, 2022 in
THE SEAPLANE ON FINAL APPROACH by Rebecca Rukeyser
THE SEAPLANE ON FINAL APPROACH by Rebecca Rukeyser was reviewed by Anchorage Daily News. Reviewer Nancy Lord writes: “[A] dark but somehow still quite funny novel…[Rukeyser’s] descriptions are not only precise but rendered in the narrator’s particular, often peculiar, way of seeing and understanding…THE SEAPLANE ON FINAL APPROACH stars a complicated and engaging narrator against a well-wrought Alaska background. As it entertains, it also explores human nature and something about what draws people to Alaska.” Doubleday published the novel on June 7, 2021.

THE SEAPLANE ON FINAL APPROACH by Rebecca Rukeyser was reviewed by Anchorage Daily News. Reviewer Nancy Lord writes: “[A] dark but somehow still quite funny novel…[Rukeyser’s] descriptions are not only precise but rendered in the narrator’s particular, often peculiar, way of seeing and understanding…THE SEAPLANE ON FINAL APPROACH stars a complicated and engaging narrator against a well-wrought Alaska background. As it entertains, it also explores human nature and something about what draws people to Alaska.” Doubleday published the novel on June 7, 2021.

THE FURROWS by Namwali Serpell

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Posted on September 23, 2022 in
THE FURROWS by Namwali Serpell
The New Yorker ran a beautiful profile on Namwali Serpell and her forthcoming novel, THE FURROWS. Lauren Michele Jackson writes: "Namwali Serpell's new novel reinvents the elegy...THE FURROWS (Hogarth), the fourth book and the second novel from Namwali Serpell, batters against the fixities of language like a moth at a windowpane...The novel’s engine is epistemic as well as emotional, Serpell being one of those novelists who have metabolized the quirks and the canniness of literary theory...Though the novel’s story lines turn and twist, the precision of Serpell’s language remains under exquisite control....The result is a novel that reclaims and refashions the genre of the elegy, charging it with as much eros as pathos. Furrows are the tracks we make and the tracks we cover up, and the shifting ground of Serpell’s novel denies every certainty save that the furrows are where we all live.” Elsewhere, THE FURROWS was featured on Fall previews and roundups from Observer, Lit Hub, The New York Times, and Harper’s Bazaar. Hogarth will publish the novel on September 27, 2022.

The New Yorker ran a beautiful profile on Namwali Serpell and her forthcoming novel, THE FURROWS. Lauren Michele Jackson writes: "Namwali Serpell's new novel reinvents the elegy...THE FURROWS (Hogarth), the fourth book and the second novel from Namwali Serpell, batters against the fixities of language like a moth at a windowpane...The novel’s engine is epistemic as well as emotional, Serpell being one of those novelists who have metabolized the quirks and the canniness of literary theory...Though the novel’s story lines turn and twist, the precision of Serpell’s language remains under exquisite control....The result is a novel that reclaims and refashions the genre of the elegy, charging it with as much eros as pathos. Furrows are the tracks we make and the tracks we cover up, and the shifting ground of Serpell’s novel denies every certainty save that the furrows are where we all live.” Elsewhere, THE FURROWS was featured on Fall previews and roundups from Observer, Lit Hub, The New York Times, and Harper’s Bazaar. Hogarth will publish the novel on September 27, 2022.

THE FIFTH ACT by Elliot Ackerman

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Posted on September 23, 2022 in
THE FIFTH ACT by Elliot Ackerman
THE FIFTH ACT by Elliot Ackerman received a rave review from the Lincoln Journal Star. Reviewer J. Kemper Campbell writes: “Ackerman is a skilled writer…His graphic descriptions of he battles he fought in Afghanistan crackle with intensity, and his long-distance attempts to ensure last minute access for desperate Afghans trying to exit the airport using his many military contacts are achingly suspenseful...The true value of this book, however, is Ackerman’s hard-earned credibility as an observer of our Middle East foreign policy. Beginning with George Bush and ending with Joe Biden, no administration escapes his scathing commentary. His disgust with needless wars which cannot be won is palpable…This reviewer thanked Ackerman for his military service after reading his previous book. He now deserves another thanks for his service as a civilian.” Penguin Press published the book on August 9, 2022.

THE FIFTH ACT by Elliot Ackerman received a rave review from the Lincoln Journal Star. Reviewer J. Kemper Campbell writes: “Ackerman is a skilled writer…His graphic descriptions of he battles he fought in Afghanistan crackle with intensity, and his long-distance attempts to ensure last minute access for desperate Afghans trying to exit the airport using his many military contacts are achingly suspenseful...The true value of this book, however, is Ackerman’s hard-earned credibility as an observer of our Middle East foreign policy. Beginning with George Bush and ending with Joe Biden, no administration escapes his scathing commentary. His disgust with needless wars which cannot be won is palpable…This reviewer thanked Ackerman for his military service after reading his previous book. He now deserves another thanks for his service as a civilian.” Penguin Press published the book on August 9, 2022.

GOLDEN AX by Rio Cortez

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Posted on September 16, 2022 in
GOLDEN AX by Rio Cortez
GOLDEN AX, Rio Cortez’s debut poetry collection, has been longlisted for the 2022 National Book Award in Poetry. The ten longlisted collections were selected by Kwame Dawes, Juan Felipe Herrera, Keetje Kuipers, January Gill O’Neil, and Mai Der Vang from a pool of 260 submissions. Finalists will be announced on October 4, and the winner will be announced on November 16. GOLDEN AX was also the headline title for The New Yorker’s announcement for the award. They write: “Rio Cortez’s 'Black Frasier Crane,' published this summer in The New Yorker, reimagines the famous sitcom character as a Black woman who is unable to shut off 'the mind’s / endless narration.' The poem, a rumination on race and class, appears in the collection GOLDEN AX, along with others that reimagine Cortez’s forebears as 'Afropioneers' who played a role in exploring the American West after Reconstruction. GOLDEN AX, which has been long-listed for this year’s National Book Award in Poetry, is one of several contenders that call on real or imagined ancestors.” Penguin Books published GOLDEN AX on August 30, 2022.

GOLDEN AX, Rio Cortez’s debut poetry collection, has been longlisted for the 2022 National Book Award in Poetry. The ten longlisted collections were selected by Kwame Dawes, Juan Felipe Herrera, Keetje Kuipers, January Gill O’Neil, and Mai Der Vang from a pool of 260 submissions. Finalists will be announced on October 4, and the winner will be announced on November 16. GOLDEN AX was also the headline title for The New Yorker’s announcement for the award. They write: “Rio Cortez’s 'Black Frasier Crane,' published this summer in The New Yorker, reimagines the famous sitcom character as a Black woman who is unable to shut off 'the mind’s / endless narration.' The poem, a rumination on race and class, appears in the collection GOLDEN AX, along with others that reimagine Cortez’s forebears as 'Afropioneers' who played a role in exploring the American West after Reconstruction. GOLDEN AX, which has been long-listed for this year’s National Book Award in Poetry, is one of several contenders that call on real or imagined ancestors.” Penguin Books published GOLDEN AX on August 30, 2022.

Mackenzie Williams

Mackenzie Williams
Role
Literary Assistant

Mackenzie Williams has assisted Marya Spence since October 2021. She is interested in building her own list of literary fiction, short story collections, memoirs, and narrative nonfiction.

Mackenzie began her publishing career at 19, when she worked with Jia Tolentino on her acclaimed essay collection TRICK MIRROR (Random House, 2019). She has also collaborated with children’s and YA author Nora Neus on several graphic novels that are forthcoming from Little, Brown Books for Young Readers.

Selected authors

Mina Hamedi

Mina Hamedi
Role
Literary Agent

Mina Hamedi grew up in Istanbul, Turkey before moving to New York in 2010. She received her BA in Nonfiction and Global Identity from NYU’s Gallatin School and an MFA in Creative Nonfiction from Columbia University. Mina began her career in publishing at David Black Literary Agency and Writers House.

Selected authors

Claire Dippel

Claire Dippel
Role
Literary Assistant

Claire Dippel graduated Magna Cum Laude and Phi Beta Kappa from Occidental College with a double major in Theater and English. She worked for a while at a bookstore in London earning enough to see plays every weekend. She went on to complete her MFA in Acting at Indiana University and earn her Actors' Equity card. In 1999, she moved to New York City and, while auditioning for shows, got a temp job in the foreign rights department at Janklow & Nesbit Associates. Later that year, Luke Janklow joined the company and she switched to full time.

Selected authors