Swamplandia! author Karen Russell and novelist Donald Antrim are among the new class of 24 MacArthur Foundation fellows (now providing honorees with $625,000 over five years). Margaret Rogalski has joined Gotham & Avery as publicist. Previously she was a publicist at Princeton Architectural Press. Australian novelist Christopher Koch, 81, author of The Year of Living Dangerously and a two-time winner of the Miles Franklin Award, died on Sunday. Dave Holton, 66, who worked with BEA for more than 20 years, passed away on September 18 after a long battle with cancer. BEA show director Steve Rosato writes on his blog: […]
Awards
People, Etc.
In the continuing consolidation of responsibilities and reporting lines at the merged Penguin Random House, Random’s Cyrus Kheradi has been promoted to svp, director of international sales & marketing for Penguin Random House, overseeing all of the company’s U.S.-originated activities in his area, including the sales team for Penguin’s export market and its international marketing group. The company indicated that “selling responsibilities for the individual international reps at Random House and Penguin are unchanged.” Kheradi also continues as director, East Asia business development for Random House. He reports to Penguin Random House US president and coo Madeline McIntosh, who said: “For […]
Briefs: On Aiken, Black, and More
The Authors Guild announced that longtime executive director Paul Aiken, 54, was diagnosed with early-stage ALS (Lou Gehrig’s Disease). Aiken is currently in remission of symptoms due to steroid therapy, and promises to start posting his medical records for those who are interested in this treatment regimen. “He admits he has no way of knowing whether his remission will continue or whether he has some odd strain of ALS, so his treatment might not apply to others. He’s hoping to use the blog to help find out.” Authors Guild president Scott Turow says,”It’s business as usual at the Authors Guild. […]
Indies Pick Spring Debuts
The ABA has announced the 20 titles for their Spring 2014 Indies Introduce New Voices program. The list includes new NBF 5-Under-35 honoree Molly Antopol. Adult Fiction The Un-Americans, by Molly Antopol (Norton) The Kept, by James Scott (Harper) The Wives of Los Alamos, by Tarashea Nesbit (Bloomsbury) Shotgun Lovesongs, by Nickolas Butler (Thomas Dunne Books) Point of Direction, by Rachel Weaver (IG Publishing) Faces in the Crowd, by Valeria Luiselli (Coffee House Press) Adult Nonfiction If Only You People Could Follow Directions, by Jessica Hendry Nelson (Counterpoint) Badluck Way: A Year on the Ragged Edge of the West, by […]
Finally, the National Book Awards Fiction Longlist
The last of the four NBA longlists, for fiction, was announced Thursday morning. Evenly divided between men and women, it includes two previous NBA winners (Alice McDermott and Thomas Pynchon, though the latter declined to accept his 1974 award for Gravity’s Rainbow) and a few previous nominees. There is only one debut novelist (Anthony Marra), two story collections (Saunders and Silber), and most of the nominees come from four big houses. As people are discussing the newly announced changes in Booker candidates for 2014, under the existing rules Jhumpa Lahiri is a contender for both prizes: Pacific, Tom Drury (Grove) […]
Booker Opens to Any Book Originated In English and Published in UK
On Wednesday the Booker Prize organizers formally announced what had been the subject of speculation and debate over the past few days: They will expand eligibility beyond the Commonwealth, to include any novel “originally written in English and published in the UK.” At the same time, the prize will try to keep submissions to a reasonable number, so the newly-eligible authors will be competing with existing pool for nomination slots from their publishers. As is currently the case, nominations can only be made by UK publishers — but a revised, self-reinforcing submissions process will favor publishers who have had titles […]