Books-A-Million's latest president's pick is Beautiful World, Where Are You by Sally Rooney.
People 8/6
Alyssa Neumann has joined Libro.fm as product operations manager. She was formerly editor, journals at Cambridge University Press.
Booker Longlisting Lifts South African Novel That Had 500-Copy First Printing
The Guardian reports that Karen Jennings’ Booker Prize–longlisted novel AN ISLAND had a first printing of 500 copies, now enjoying more demand. The un-agented South African author says, “It was incredibly difficult to find a publisher… I finished the novel in 2017. And no one was interested.” Once it was eventually acquired by indie press Holland House, they couldn’t get any blurbs or reviews. “It’s not that I personally was expecting fame or fortune or anything, but I felt that I had disappointed them,” she said. “So it’s quite an extraordinary moment now to suddenly have all of this attention […]
RWA Rescinds Witemeyer’s Vivian Award
The Romance Writers of America has rescinded its Vivian Award for AT LOVE’S COMMAND by Karen Witemeyer in the Romance with Religious and Spiritual Elements category. The book opens with a scene of a US Army captain at the Wounded Knee Massacre and has been criticized for racist depictions of Indigenous people and romanticizing a tragedy. In a statement, the RWA board of directors says they learned of the winner during the award ceremony on July 31 and held an emergency meeting to discuss the award. They continued, “RWA is in full support of First Amendment rights; however, as an […]
People 8/5
John Williams is promoted to assistant editor at the New York Times Books desk.
Most ViacomCBS Employees Won’t Return to Offices Until At Least Mid-October
ViacomCBS ceo Bob Bakish told employees on Wednesday that most staffers will not start returning to the office until October 18 “at the very earliest,” as the company monitors the Delta variant. Bakish wrote that their broader “green phase,” when most of the employees are expected to resume some office presence, would start in late October and still comprise a hybrid work model at that point. Simon & Schuster follows all ViacomCBS policies. Any employees who return prior to the October 18 date will be required to be fully vaccinated, except for “certain union, production and essential on-site personnel.” Bakish […]