This year’s Whiting Awards, worth $50,000 each, for “writers of exceptional talent and promise in early career,” have gone to: Mischa Berlinski, fictionRick Hilles, poetryDonovan Hohn, nonfictionDouglas Kearney, poetryLaleh Khadivi, fictionManuel Munoz, fictionDael Orlandersmith, playsBenjamin Percy, fictionJulie Sheehan, poetryLysley Tenorio, fiction
Archives for October 2008
Graywolf's Success
St. Paul’s City Pages has an extensive profile of the rise of Graywolf Press, led by their successful publishing of Norwegian novelist Per Petterson, “until recently, little more than an obscure, aging novelist with a tragic past.” Director and publisher Fiona McCrae says of his Out Stealing Horses, “It seems like a quiet book, until you realize it’s stolen your heart and your mind. We really liked it, but we didn’t think it was going to be a big, big book. We’re not that bright.” But they are bright enough, and passionate enough, to have put together a run of […]
New Wrinkle for Bookstores: How About a Liquor License?
Schuler Books and Music has four stores in Michigan; “all of them have fireplaces and cafes and are designed as comfortable places to hang out.” Now, in their newest location in downtown Grand Rapids, they “may get a liquor license in two to three months, and that innovation may solve the problem all downtown small businesses have — slow evening and weekend business.” Co-owner Bill Fehsenfeld says, “The vision is it’s an enhancement to the bookstore and our cafe and provides an alternate place where people can relax, browse the books and enjoy food from our cafe. We’re feeling this […]
Robert Giroux Memorial
Farrar, Straus and Giroux is organizing a memorial service for Robert Giroux. Speakers and readers will include Jonathan Galassi, Paul Elie, Pat Strachan, Alice Quinn, and Father Patrick Samway. It is scheduled for Wednesday, December 10 at 3 o’clock in St. Paul’s Chapel at Columbia University. The publishers asks that those planning to attend please rsvp to Madeleine.asher@fsgbooks.com, or call 212-206-5359.
Free Books, As Long As You Blog
Thomas Nelson has launched a formal program to enroll interested bloggers and provide them with free review copies of “select titles” in exchange for the promise of a posting of a review of at least 200 words on a blog and at Amazon.com. Nelson ceo and active blogger Mike Hyatt credits his own blog with inspiring the initiative. It “originally came from heightened interest on my blog, around two of our recent releases, Stephen Mansfield’s The Faith of Barack Obama and Lynne Spears’ Through the Storm. My readers, many of whom are active bloggers themselves, wanted to engage in the […]
Sister Suit Story Gets Better
Natasha Boncompagni didn’t get to court before her sister, author Tatiana Boncompagni (Hoover), so instead she’s conducting an active campaign in public. In addition to the e-mail we cited yesterday, Natasha has written extensively to CityFile. She claims that last Wednesday she “refused the emailed offer to essentially buy me off that her agent sent to me” which she says offered $5,000 in to drop any claims to the book Hedge Fund Wives and assign all copyright and domain names to Tatiana. Natasha says, “My sister’s history of lying is a well-known fact both within our family and with her […]