Happy Friday! After a brief hiatus, we’ve decided to reboot our Literary Round Up feature, compiling all of the important book-related news in one convenient location. We’re hoping to make this a weekly feature again, but in the meantime, let’s catch up on what’s happened in the literary world so far this year.
Let’s start off 2020 by looking back at how Canadians spent their reading time in 2019!
In a move that surprised many, Hachette Book Group has acquired more than 1000 titles published by Disney Book Group.
In literary prize news:
The judging panel for Kobo’s Emerging Writer Prize has been announced! Are you a Canadian author who debuted in 2019? You can enter here!!
The Scotiabank Giller Prize has also announced their jury for 2020, and has opened the prize to graphic novels for the first time.
A new annual prize, the Carol Shields Prize for Fiction, has been announced and will award a female or nonbinary author $150,000!
The longlist for the 2020 PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction has been announced, inevitably adding ten new titles to our TBR list.
New Kid by Jerry Craft has won the prestigious Newberry Medal, becoming the first graphic novel to win the oldest children’s book award in the United States.
Jack Fairweather has won the Costa Prize for The Volunteer, a biography of Polish resistance fighter Witfold Pilecki.
It’s only February 7th and the Lit world has already seen a fair bit of controversy in 2020!
Barnes and Noble faced backlash over an attempt at adding diverse covers to their classics collection.
Despite not being released until May, Suzanne Collins’ newest addition to the Hunger Games world, The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, has already sparked some controversy. As a big fan of the original trilogy I’m curious to see how this plays out.
Following the controversy surrounding their title American Dirt, Macmillan has agreed to increase Latinx representation both in house and among the authors they publish.
Some other exciting book news:
Designer Stella McCartney is launching a line inspired by Jonathan Safran Foer’s latest novel, We Are The Weather.
Margaret Atwood will be releasing her first collection poetry in over a decade this November!
Anthony Bourdain’s final book will be released this year.
In Celebration of The Oscars on Sunday, Lit Hub released their Book Oscar Nominees! Who do you think will take home the top prize?
As per the tradition of Literary Roundups Past, we’ll end this on a Staff Pick, although this could change when we launch our 2020 Reading Challenge next week! Stay tuned for that – it’s going to be a lot of fun. Have a great weekend!
Staff Reads and Recommendations:
Joni Di Placido, Author Engagement Specialist
“I’ve been enjoying the audio version of Everything I Know About Love, by UK journalist Dolly Alderton. I picked it up after listening to her pop culture podcast, The High Low. It’s a memoir of love, friendship, and growing up in the early 2000s, and it’s funny and heartwarming with the perfect amount of nostalgia! Currently available for pre-order in North America.”
thanks, will share these about:)