Confirmed via Twitter though not officially announced yet by the ABA, Anthony Marra’s debut novel A CONSTELLATION OF VITAL PHENOMENA from Hogarth will be the No. 1 Indie Next pick for May. Marra was among the authors appearing at Winter Institute 8 and you can read a 20-page excerpt from the beginning of his book right now in the current edition of our packed free ebook BUZZ BOOKS 2013: Spring/Summer. It also includes a sample from No. 1 Indie Next April book Kate Atkinson’s LIFE AFTER LIFE, another April pick (Aleksandr Hemon’s The Book of My Lives), and more highly-touted forthcoming debut fiction from NoViolet Bulawayo, Anton DiSclafani, Derek Miller, Laura Lee Smith, Adelle Waldman, Kent Wascom, Helene Wecker and Callie Wright. You can view all the featured books and authors in this special Bookateria list.
While you can expect a stream of announcements of Pope-related books in coming days, our PM deal reports contain the first and only known new book from Pope Francis I himself: Random House Mondadori’s Debate will publish ON HEAVEN AND EARTH in Spanish on March 21. It’s a series of conversations from when the new Pope was Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio, held with Rabbi Abraham Skorka, director of the Latin-American Rabbinical Seminary. Rights have been sold to Mondadori in Italy; Bertelsmann in Germany; and Laffont in France.
Eric Crahan has joined Princeton University Press as senior editor, politics and American history. Previously he held the same position at Cambridge University Press.
At Chronicle Books, Christina Amini has been promoted to editorial director, formats. In addition, Tara Creehan has been hired as a designer for the children’s publishing group.
The ALA will honor Aaron Swartz, who committed suicide in January while being pursued on federal charges of document theft, with the James Madison Award as part of the group’s Freedom of Information Day event Friday. ALA president Maureen Sullivan told the NYT Swartz will be honored “for his efforts to promote open access to research and government information.”
In the UK, the Bookseller announced its shortlists for its annual Bookseller Industry Awards, with winners in 19 categories to be named at a ceremony in London on May 13.