This Month in Book News (January & February 2022)

This month in book news (February 2022)

Awards & honors: This past week, the Los Angeles Times announced the finalists for its annual Book Prizes, which recognize outstanding literary achievements in 12 categories; the winners will be announced at the LA Times Festival of Books in April (one of my favorite book festivals). Earlier this month, PEN America announced the finalists for its prestigious peer-juried literary prize, the PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction; the finalists will be revealed in March, and the winner, in April.

Film & TV: “Death on the Nile,” based on the 1937 novel of the same name by “queen of mystery” Agatha Christie, released here in the U.S. on February 11; here’s the BBC on how filmmakers addressed racism, which is “manifest in Christie's oeuvre in the form of either studied erasure or the re-inscription of certain denigrating stereotypes.” (Interestingly, Christie’s list of what she considers her top ten works doesn’t include this book.) And the film "Drive My Car," an adaptation of a short story by critically acclaimed Japanese author Haruki Murakami, is the first Japanese film ever to be nominated for Best Picture. ICYMI, here’s Literary Hub’s literary guide to the 2022 Oscar nominations.

International news: As the world prays for the people of Ukraine, it’s hard not to think about the art and culture (and sunflowers) of this beautiful country. Here are three poems in translation by Iya Kiva, a poet, translator, and journalist living in Kyiv. Also see the heartrending poem “We Lived Happily During the War” by Ilya Kaminsky, who is a hard-of-hearing Ukrainian-Russian-Jewish-American poet, critic, translator and professor. 

Controversies: In what might also be considered international news, an independent publisher has acquired Scottish writer Kate Clanchy’s memoir after she and her original publisher Picador “parted ways” following controversy over her racial tropes and ableist descriptions. Clanchy described her experiences with sensitivity readers on UnHerd (Warning: This piece may disturb for some readers.). According to The Times of Israel, a “bitter row” has erupted over Rosemary Sullivan’s book THE BETRAYAL OF ANNE FRANK, which names Jewish notary as the prime suspect in giving up Anne and her family, And sadly, the great wave of book banning isn’t over yet; here’s Vox on why book banning is back.

Milestones: It’s been 10 years since R.J. Palacio’s debut novel about a boy with a facial difference, WONDER was published, and the book has now sold more than 15 million copies worldwide according to Publishers Weekly. It’s been 30 years since Jungian analyst, author and poet Clarissa Pinkola Estés’s WOMEN WHO RUN WITH THE WOLVES published. Here’s Gawker on how “the classic of ’90s new-age feminism feels both dated and unrelentingly modern.” And this year marks the centennial the publication of James Joyce’s “modernist classic” novel ULYSSES, prompting celebrations worldwide.

Famous people in book news: Mindy Kaling is starting her own publishing imprint with Amazon Studios and will be focusing on promoting diverse voices. Britney Spears has landed a "record-breaking" book deal for a tell-all and will received the same amount of money that Bill Clinton received for his post-presidential memoir. In more discouraging news, U.S. president #45 is “quietly making millions” from a coffee table book according to CNN.

Other news: In major trade publishing news, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt is being purchased by a private equity firm, and in major independent publishing news, Smashwords is being acquired by Draft2Digital. Wordle has a new owner, the New York Times, and not everyone is pleased with changes to the popular word game. As the Daily Princetonian reports, Toni Morrison’s only short story, “Recitatif,” has been published as a stand-alone book, nearly three years after the legendary author’s death. And here’s a fun piece from Buzzfeed on Black love and why joyful books are necessary (hear, hear!).

Thin Month in Book News (January 2022)

(Originally posted January 28, 2022)

This is the first entry in a new series I’m starting called “This Month in Book News.” It replaces “This Week in Book News,” which I previously wrote for my Facebook business page, but still collects and calls attention to literary headlines that have caught my eye.

 Awards News:

This past week, the American Library Association announced the winners of its Youth Media Awards. The Newbery Medal, which honors the most distinguished contributions to American literature for children and is currently celebrating its centennial, went to Donna Barba Higuera's THE LAST CUENISTA. The Caldecott Medal, which recognizes the most distinguished picture book for children, went to WATERCRESS, written by Andrea Wang and illustrated by Jason Chin. Congratulations to all the winners! In other book awards news, last week, the National Book Critics Circle named finalists in six categories for its annual awards honoring the best books of the previous publishing year, and the winners will be announced in March. Also last week, the Mystery Writers of America revealed the nominees for the 2022 Edgar Allan Poe Awards, honoring the best in mystery fiction, non-fiction and television published or produced in 2021, and the winners will be announced in April.

Controversial news:

A new translation of Felix Salten’s BAMBI reveals the dark origins of the Disney story (or, as the Guardian asked, Bambi: cute, lovable, vulnerable...or dark parable of antisemitic terror?). The New Republic explores “The Nonexistent Cancellation of Norman Mailer” (when news first broke that Penguin Random House had decided not to move forward with plans to publish a collection of Norman Mailer’s nonfiction in 2023, it was assumed that a junior staffer’s objections to the title of Mailer’s controversial 1957 essay “The White Negro” was the culprit). And sales of Art Spielgelman’s MAUS, the Pulitzer Prize-winning graphic novel about the Holocaust, soar after the book is banned by a Tennessee school board. Sadly, this just one example of many books that are currently being banned across the country.

 International news:

Newly opened archives show that Pablo Neruda was almost denied the Nobel Prize because of his odes to Stalin. Colm Tóibín has been named the new Irish Fiction Laureate. And the Polish ministry of culture and national heritage has drafted a bill to enable the country’s artists—including writers—to register as professionals, gaining access to pensions, health insurance, social security, and other benefits they currently don’t have. (Why don’t we do the same?)

 Film & TV news:

The literary world is still buzzing about “The Lost Daughter,” based on the novel of the same name by Elena Ferrante, and Literary Hub asks if it’s a horror film. (I would say no, but it definitely includes some elements of horror). PBS’s adaptation of Jules Vernes’ classic adventure novel AROUND THE WORLD IN EIGHTY DAYS runs through late February. And here’s a fun list from Bibliofile on book adaptations slated for book-to-screen releases in 2022, including Min Jin Lee’s PACHINKO in March and Delia Owens’ WHERE THE CRAWDADS SING in June.

More news:

A.A. Milne's WINNIE-THE-POOH and Ernst Hemingway's THE SUN ALSO RISES are among those works that have entered the public domain, and this means that they can legally be shared, performed, or repurposed without permission or cost. The FBI has arrested a man accused of stealing unpublished book manuscripts, finally bringing the curious case of the “Spine Collector” to a close. A new Forever stamp will honor Shel Silverstein’s THE GIVING TREE, and the U.S. Mint is releasing a quarter featuring Maya Angelou. James Joyce’s ULYSSES is turning 100. And finally, according to a recent Gallup poll, Americans are buying more books but they are reading fewer of them than ever (except anyone reading this blog entry, right?).

Look out for more news from the literary world next month!