Daily News from Poets & Writers
Steven Hall and Peter Godwin Win Borders Original Voices Awards
Borders announced on Wednesday the winners of the 2007 Original Voices Awards. Steven Hall won in fiction for his debut novel, The Raw Shark Texts (Canongate), and Peter Godwin won in creative nonfiction for When a Crocodile Eats the Sun: A Memoir of Africa
(Little, Brown). Each will receive $5,000 at a ceremony in March, and
their winning books will be highlighted at Borders outlets nationwide.
Facts in 2007 Best-selling Memoir Challenged by Australian Newspaper
A newspaper in Australia recently published a report challenging the accuracy of A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier
(Sara Crichton Books, 2007), a debut book by Ishmael Beah that was
marketed in Starbucks and chosen as one of the best nonfiction books of
the year by Time magazine.
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Indie Melville House Moves From Hoboken to Brooklyn
Independent publisher Melville House recently moved its offices from
Hoboken, New Jersey, to the DUMBO neighborhood of Brooklyn. The new
location includes adequate space for a bookstore, which will open its
doors this Saturday, as well as a venue for literary events.
Texas State University Buys McCarthy Archive for $2 Million
Novelist Cormac McCarthy recently sold his archives to the Southwestern
Writers Collection at Texas State University, San Marcos, for $2
million.
Hadley, Lam, and Shepard Named Story Prize Finalists
The finalists for the fourth annual Story Prize, a $20,000 award given
for the year's best short fiction, were announced yesterday.
It Is What It Is: University Releases List of Overused Words, Phrases
Lake Superior State University (LSSU) in Michigan's Upper Peninsula
recently released its thirty-third annual list of "Words Banished From
the Queen's English for Misuse, Overuse, and General Uselessness."
A Newspaper Expands Book Coverage While Yet Another One Cuts It Back
In an editorial published in last Sunday's edition of the Times-Picayune,
a daily newspaper in New Orleans, the editors wrote, "In the past year,
newspapers across the country have made dramatic cutbacks in their
coverage of books," and went on to announce that on January 11 the
newspaper will debut "The Reading Life," an expanded package of book
reviews and coverage of the New Orleans literary scene in the Living
section each Friday.
Vermont Home of Robert Frost Ransacked
Homer Noble Farm, one of the residences of four-time Pulitzer
Prize-winning poet Robert Frost, was vandalized last Friday by what
authorities believe to be a group of up to fifty underage partygoers,
the Associated Press reported.
Borders and Sony Open E-book Store Online
Borders announced yesterday that it has partnered with Sony to launch a new online store offering over twenty-five thousand e-books available for download onto the Sony Reader. The site is accessible only to Borders customers who purchase the device from one of the bookseller’s brick-and-mortar stores.
Edwidge Danticat and Tracy K. Smith Among Essence Literary Awards Finalists
On February 7, 2008, Essence magazine will hold its first literary awards ceremony in New York City. Yesterday the lifestyle magazine for African American women announced the finalists in nine categories, including inspiration, nonfiction, current affairs, and photography.
Emory University to Acquire Alice Walker Archive
Emory University announced recently that after ten years of
negotiations it has reached a deal with Alice Walker to acquire the
Pulitzer Prize-winning author's papers. The archive includes journals
and manuscripts dating to Walker’s teenage years in the 1950s and
correspondence with eminent feminists such as Gloria Steinem and Tillie
Olsen, among other artists and public figures. Walker said that Emory,
located in the author’s native Georgia, is "a place where my archive
can rest with joy in the company it keeps," the Associated Press
reported.
Hosseini's A Thousand Splendid Suns Tops 2007 Book Sense Best-Seller List
The American Booksellers Association released recently its 2007 Book
Sense Best-seller list, which highlights the most popular titles sold
at independent bookstores during the previous year. Fifteen books were
featured in the categories of hardcover fiction, paperback fiction,
hardcover nonfiction, paperback nonfiction, children’s fiction, and
children’s illustrated.
Pilot by Jonathan Ames to Air on Cable Network
Novelist and creative nonfiction writer Jonathan Ames is no stranger to television—he is a recurring guest on The Late Show With David Letterman—but on Tuesday, Showtime will air the author's long-awaited pilot, "What's Not to Love," based on his essay collection of the same title, published by Crown in 2000.
NBCC Releases Results of 2007 Ethics Survey
The National Book Critics Circle (NBCC) recently released the results
of its 2007 Ethics of Book Reviewing survey, a follow-up to a similar
survey conducted twenty years ago. Three hundred and sixty-four
reviewers, most of whom are NBCC members, weighed in on thirty-three
topics such as who should be reviewing books and what books should be
considered for review, addressing issues of favoritism, honesty, and
relationships between reviewers and publishers.
Portzline Cancels Next Year's Why Indie Bookstores Matter Tour
Larry Portzline, the founder of the grassroots movement Bookstore Tourism who earlier this year announced his plans for a ten-week trip to visit independent bookstores across the country in early 2008, recently decided to call off all activities associated with indie bookstores.