Daniel Barban Levin sat down for an interview with Frances Badalamenti for BOMB Magazine to discuss his memoir SLONIM WOODS 9, the meaning of the word "cult" and how easily "normal" people might fall into one, and how the process of writing allowed him to come to terms with everything he endured. He also appeared on an episode of the Ivy League Murders podcast, discussing his experiences as a second installment in their Sarah Lawrence series on Larry Ray and his influence on his daughter's group of college friends. Crown published SLONIM WOODS 9 on September 7, 2021.

Gabriela Garcia’s debut novel, OF WOMEN AND SALT, was awarded the Gold Medal for the Isabel Allende Most Inspirational Fiction Award – English at Empowering Latino Futures’ International Latino Book Awards on October 17. Flatiron Books published the novel on March 30, 2021.

Jamelle Bouie invokes Mike Konczal’s FREEDOM FROM THE MARKET in his latest Op-Ed for the New York Times, “Joe Manchin Doesn’t Like What Joe Biden is Doing.” He writes: “Animating the New Deal, Mike Konczal writes in his book, FREEDOM FROM THE MARKET...was a 'new idea of freedom that limited and constrained markets' and put limits on ‘market dependency’… Konczal quotes a Roosevelt administration official, the great labor lawyer Donald Richberg, who made this point in explicit terms when he said that when workers are ‘compelled by necessity to live in one kind of place and to work for one kind of employer, with no choice except to pay the rent demanded and to accept the wages offered — or else to starve — then the liberty of the property owner contains the power to enslave the worker. And that sort of liberty is intolerable and cannot be preserved by a democratic government.’” The New Press published the book on January 12, 2021.

BEING YOU by Anil Seth published this week to rave reviews. The Financial Times writes: “Seth covers complex topics, such as neurosurgery, mind-altering drugs, animal consciousness, and artificial intelligence, with skill and warmth…[and] fluent and accessible analysis.” Meanwhile, The New Statesman praises: “In lucid, engaging prose Seth deftly navigates long-standing philosophical debates over the nature of consciousness…[U]sing hard science to chip away at the hard problem won’t make the topic any less fascinating or awe-inspiring.” Dutton published the book on October 19, 2021.

Ask.com featured THE PROPHETS by Robert Jones Jr. on its list of “The 15 Best Books of 2021 (So Far).” They write: "In Robert Jones, Jr.’s lyrical debut novel, THE PROPHETS, Isaiah and Samuel are two enslaved young men who find refuge in each other — and their love becomes both sustaining and heroic in the face of a vicious world. Entertainment Weekly writes that 'While THE PROPHETS’ dreamy realism recalls the work of Toni Morrison…Its penetrating focus on social dynamics stands out more singularly.' Now that's a compliment." G.P. Putnam’s Sons published the novel on January 5, 2021.

Lucy Corin sat down in conversation with West Trade Review to discuss her novel, THE SWANK HOTEL. West Trade Review’s Fiction Editor D.W. White told Corin: "When I was reading THE SWANK HOTEL, I was thinking of INFINITE JEST, that type of metafictional, hysterical realism…It’s this wonderland of a world, filtered through the mind of a few characters." Graywolf Press published the novel on October 5, 2021.

Sunjeev Sahota’s CHINA ROOM has been longlisted for the 2022 Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction. The shortlist will be announced on November 8, 2021, and the winners will be announced at the Reference and User Services Association’s Book and Media Awards event during ALA’s first annual LibLearnX on January 23, 2022. Viking published the novel on July 13, 2021.

Anderson Cooper’s VANDERBILT debuted on the New York Times Bestseller list for the week of October 10th, appearing at number 2 on both the Combined Print & E-book Nonfiction and Hardcover Non-Fiction lists. Harper published the book on September 21, 2021.

Barnes & Noble selected CHILD OF LIGHT by Terry Brooks as one of their ten “Best Science Fiction & Fantasy of 2021” books. Del Rey will publish the book on October 19, 2021.

DISCORDIA, an Audible Original by Max Barry, was released this week. Barry calls it “an audiobook full of lies,” adding: “[P]reviously, I thought people made up their minds based on facts. Sure, you can lie, but that’s just making up facts; facts are still involved. The new idea was that facts were a jumping-off point. People could also be persuaded by how confidently I spoke, or whether I connected my argument to some other thing they liked or disliked. Since then, there has been a wild explosion of disinformation…I wrote a comedy about disinformation getting out of control.” Audible published the audiobook on October 12, 2021.