Peruvian novelist Mario Vargas Llosa, 89, who won the 2010 Nobel Prize for Literature, died on Sunday in Lima. His first novel, The Time of the Hero, was published in 1963. Other works include Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter, The War of the End of the World, and more. He ran for president of Peru in 1990.
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PEN America Literary Awards Finalists
Spotify To Invest To Develop French and Dutch Audiobooks
Spotify announced that it will spend €1 million to partner with publishers and authors to increase audiobook production in non-English languages, beginning with French and Dutch. The audiobooks that Spotify “cofunds” will be nonexclusive and available to upload on any platform. Though the company “believes in the power of human narration” and will “continue to work with partners and the narrator community to bring these titles to fans in French and Dutch languages,” they will also offer an option for narration by an AI voice, “to help make audiobook production more cost-effective for those partners who require a lower barrier […]
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Fearless By Lauren Roberts Sells 266,000 Copies On First Day
Simon & Schuster announced that FEARLESS by Lauren Roberts, the latest in the YA romantasy Powerless series, sold 266,000 units globally on its first day across all formats. The publisher writes that these are the highest ever first-day sales for an S&S YA book. FEARLESS is the third book in the series, following Powerless and Reckless, which have sold a total of 5.5 million units globally. Barnes & Noble and other bookstores hosted midnight release parties for the book. S&S president and ceo Jonathan Karp says, “When an author becomes this big, this fast, at such a young age, publishers often use words […]