The preview version of the January Indie Next List has The Secret Wisdom of the Earth by Chris Scotton as indie booksellers’ No. 1 selection for the month. The rest of the list features: Descent, by Tim Johnston The Girl on the Train, by Paula Hawkins The Magician’s Lie, by Greer Macallister Vanessa and Her Sister, by Priya Parmar The Rosie Effect, by Graeme Simsion The Bishop’s Wife, by Mette Ivie Harrison Almost Famous Women: Stories, by Megan Mayhew Bergman The Shock of the Fall, by Nathan Filer (previously published as Where The Moon Isn’t) The First Bad Man, by Miranda […]
Awards
People: Hirschorn Leaves S&S, Perl Promoted to EVP, Chief Marketing Officer
As part of a restructuring of the Simon & Schuster’s digital and marketing departments, Liz Perl has been promoted to the new position of evp, chief marketing officer, overseeing both digital and marketing under one combined unit, while evp, chief digital officer Ellie Hirschhorn will leave the company on December 12 after more than six years. Of the changes, ceo Carolyn Reidy said in the announcement: “Our combined digital and marketing group will have in place the skills and knowledge we need to run our industry-best websites; maximize corporate social media, email and mobile marketing; produce our successful original author […]
People, Etc.
Obituaries Novelist Kent Haruf, 71, has died, his editor Gary Fisketjon confirmed to the Washington Post on Sunday. The new issue of Granta has an autobiographical essay by Haruf, and his novel OUR SOULS AT NIGHT is due to be published next year. Fisketjon said, “Kent had finished all his revisions and even gone through the copy editing. We had it scheduled for May, though I haven’t yet processed how this tragic news might alter those plans.” PD James, 94, the British crime writer and member of the House of Lords, died Thursday morning at her home in Oxford. She was the author […]
People, Etc.
Shawna Mullen will join Abrams as associate publisher, adult trade on December 15, reporting to Michael Sand. Previously she was executive editor at Taunton Press and before then, editorial director at Clarkson Potter, where she helped launch the Potter Craft imprint. PEN announced a new PEN/Fusion Emerging Writers Prize to support an unpublished manuscript that “addresses a global and/or multicultural issue,” from a writer under the age of 35. As of January 1 eBook Architects will close their Austin, TX office. The core staff, including the unit’s lead Joshua Tallent, will continue their work with Firebrand (and their FlightDeck EPUB testing and validation tool) and […]
Washington Post’s Ten Best of 2014
The Washington Post announced a slew of Best of 2014 lists, including the top 50 in fiction and nonfiction, along with notable standouts for romance, mystery-thriller, science fiction & fantasy, and graphic novels. Their top ten books include Booker winner Richard Flanagan’s THE NARROW ROAD TO THE DEEP NORTH and National Book Award nominees Emily St. John Mandel and John Lahr. The list: A Brief History of Seven Killings, Marlon James Fourth of July Creek, Smith Henderson The Narrow Road to the Deep North, Richard Flanagan The Paying Guests, Sarah Waters Station Eleven, Emily St. John Mandel Being Mortal, Atul […]
Handler Acknowledges Remarks Were “Yes, Racist” and Apologizes — As Does NBF; He Pledges Matching Gift to #WeNeedDiverseBooks
After declining media requests for comment about his controversial remarks at the National Book Awards gala, Daniel Handler posted a modest apology on Twitter around noon on Thursday: “My job at last night’s National Book Awards #NBAwards was to shine a light on tremendous writers, including Jacqueline Woodson…and not to overshadow their achievements with my own ill-conceived attempts at humor. I clearly failed, and I’m sorry.” By early Friday morning Handler expanded that to a bigger admission: “My remarks on Wednesday night at #NBAwards were monstrously inappropriate and yes, racist.” He added, “It would be heartbreaking for the #NBAwards conversation […]