The first two winners were named for a new prize honoring the late bookseller Carla Furstenberg Cohen, a co-founder of Washington, DC’s Politics & Prose bookstore. Anthony Marra (author of A Constellation of Vital Phenomena) and Marra and David Finkel (Thank You for Your Service) will each receive a $5,000 prize, to be presented at Politics & Prose in May. The prizes were established by Cohen’s family and close friends. Contenders were drawn from books featured in two seasonal newsletters from the bookstore, and jurors “represent readers who have been part of the Politics & Prose community and reflect the values that Carla Cohen brought to the […]
Awards
People, Etc.
At Simon & Schuster Children’s, Teresa Ronquillo has been promoted to marketing coordinator. Novelist and spoken-word artist Maggie Estep, 50, died Wednesday in Albany two days after suffering a heart attack in her Hudson, NY home. Estep was most recently the author of ALICE FANTASTIC (2009) and earlier, a trio of crime novels set in and around New York City published between 2003 and 2006, as well as two works of fiction based on her spoken-word poems. In the UK, Waterstones announced shortlists for their three children’s book prizes, to be awarded April 3 (honoring picture books; fiction for children 5 […]
People, Etc.
Kate Johnson has joined Wolf Literary Services, where she will focus on adult fiction, based in Scotland. Kate was previously an agent and vice president at Georges Borchardt. Adriann Ranta is now vp and senior agent, and Allison Devereux has been promoted to associate agent and foreign rights manager. Sara Sargent has joined Simon Pulse as editor. Previously she was an associate editor at Balzer + Bray. At Metropolitan Books, Guy Connor has been promoted to assistant editor. Nathan Filer’s Costa Award-winning debut novel, published in the UK as THE SHOCK AND THE FALL but in the US as WHERE […]
Folio Prize Names Eight Nominees
The UK’s new literary award The Folio Prize was set to announce their inaugural shortlist Monday afternoon, until the embargo was broken via Twitter. The nominees, culled from 80 titles; are: Red Doc, Anne Carson Schroder, Amity Gaige Last Friends, Jane Gardam Benediction, Kent Haruf The Flame Throwers, Rachel Kushner A Girl Is A Half-Formed Thing, Eimear McBride A Naked Singularity, Sergio De La Pava Tenth of December, George Saunders McBride’s book, which already won the Goldsmith Prize, comes from Galley Beggar Press. It is not available in ebook form, but last summer Coffee House Press bought rights for the […]
Laura McHugh Tops March LibraryReads List
Laura McHugh’s psychological suspense novel THE WEIGHT OF BLOOD leads the March LibraryReads list, with the remaining titles featuring: The Accident, Chris Pavone The Divorce Papers, Susan Reiger The Outcast Dead, Elly Griffiths Panic, Lauren Oliver A Circle of Wives, Alice LaPlante Gemini, Carol Cassella Precious Thing, Colette McBeth Kill Fee, Owen Laukkanen Show Your Work!, Austin Kleon
Rakuten Installs Japanese CEO At Kobo, and More People News
Kobo’s parent company Rakuten has installed Takahito “Taka” Aiki as the new ceo of Kobo, effective immediately, with founder and ceo Michael Serbinis stepping aside into the role of vice chairman. Aiki was ceo of another Rakuten subsidiary, the Japanese telecom unit Fusion Communications. In a statement reported on by the Financial Post, Rakuten said, “Taka brings to the role a wealth of experience in building and growing successful projects and companies, and has built his career on achieving ambitious goals and forging strong teams.” It is said that he will relocate to Kobo’s headquarters in Toronto. According to his […]