People
Robin Cutler has joined LMBPN Publishing as president of worldwide publishing. Cutler previously worked for Ingram Content Group for over nine years, leading the development and launch of IngramSpark.
At Canongate, Joanna Lord has been promoted to head of UK and digital sales; Nadine Luchsinger to sales operations manager; and Katalina Watt to audio and digital executive.
Viet Thanh Nguyen wrote a piece for the New York Times exploring the future of literature post-Trump. He asks, in 2021, “will writers, especially white writers, take a deep breath of relief and retreat back to the politics of the apolitical, which is to say a retreat back to white privilege?”
Scams
The New York Times takes mainstream the bizarre manuscript phishing scam that “has been tricking writers, editors, agents and anyone in their orbit into sharing unpublished book manuscripts.” As literary agent Jennifer Weltz noted on Twitter, “To all of our authors who are about to email us about whether we know about this – yes we do. Like the experts, we are baffled and yet careful.”
Someone posing as editors and agents has been requesting, and receiving, manuscripts in progress from authors of fiction including Margaret Atwood, Ian McEwan, Ethan Hawke, James Hannaham, Kiley Reid, Cynthia D’Aprix Sweeney, and many more. It’s unclear what the goal of the scam might be — the authors are not always high profile and the manuscripts have not resurfaced online.
The article states, “these phishing emails make use of public information, like book deals announced online, including on social media.” The most plausible theory floated by the piece is that the scammer could be an international scout, who would have an interest in obtaining early access to new work by US authors.
Best Of
The Boston Globe announced their best books of the year, with seven out of 10 titles excerpted and available for download now in our Buzz Books 2020 anthologies:
The Awkward Black Man, by Walter Mosley
The Cold Millions, by Jess Walter
Deacon King Kong, by James McBride
The Death of Vivek Oji, by Akwaeke Emezi
Leave the World Behind, by Rumaan Alam
Luster, by Raven Leilani
Memorial, by Bryan Washington
The Office of Historical Corrections, by Danielle Evans
Sharks in the Time of Saviors, by Kawai Strong Washburn
The Vanishing Half, by Brit Bennett
Awards
PEN America announced its 2021 Literary Awards longlists.
Book Clubs
Roxane Gay is launching a book club in the new year called The Audacious Book Club. It’s part of a new endeavor called The Audacity, which is a newsletter debuting on January 11, featuring new writing from Gay and essays by emerging writers. The first six months of book club picks:
January: Black Futures, edited by Jenna Wortham and Kimberly Drew
February: Detransition, Baby, by Torrey Peters
March: The Removed, by Brandon Hobson
April: Milk, Blood, Heat, by Dantiel W. Moniz
May: Libertie, by Kaitlyn Greenidge
June: Of Women and Salt, by Gabriela Garcia