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Musical Memoirs, Camp Penguin, and an Ode to Claudia Kishi: This Week in Book News

by | Jul 10, 2020 | Publishing News | 1 comment

Happy Friday everyone, and a belated Happy Canada Day/Fourth of July. I hope everyone is staying safe, healthy, and if you’re experiencing a heat wave like the one in Toronto right now, I hope you’re managing to stay cool. It is toasty out there. Because of the long weekend due to the aforementioned holidays, we’re cramming two weeks’ worth of book news into one, so let’s get crackin’!

As the publishing industry continues to reckon with its history of predominant whiteness, the New York Times has interviewed eight publishing professionals across various fields about how being Black in this industry has affected their careers and what they hope the future will bring.

‘A Conflicted Cultural Force’: What It’s Like to Be Black in Publishing

An author, literary agent, marketer, publicist, editors and booksellers talk about how race affects their careers – and the books you read. The nationwide protests against police brutality and racial injustice have set off conversations in nearly every industry about the treatment of Black workers, and book publishing is no exception.

Dana Canedy has been named the new senior vice president and publisher at Simon & Schuster.

Simon & Schuster Names Dana Canedy New Publisher

Ms. Canedy, a former journalist at The New York Times and the administrator of the Pulitzer Prizes, will run the namesake imprint at one of the country’s largest book publishers. Simon & Schuster on Monday named Dana Canedy senior vice president and publisher of its namesake imprint, putting a former journalist in one of the biggest jobs in book publishing.

Nan Talese, president, publisher, and editorial director of her own imprint at Double Day, has announced she will retire at the end of this year.

People, Etc.: Nan Talese to Retire – Publishers Lunch

Nan A. Talese, president, publisher & editorial director of her own imprint at Doubleday, announced she will retire at the end of the year after six decades in publishing. She joined Random House in 1959 as a copyeditor and went on to work at Simon & Schuster and Houghton Mifflin, founding the Nan A.

Comedian and bestselling author Phoebe Robinson is getting her own imprint at Penguin Random House

Bestseller, Comedian Robinson Gets Imprint at Plume

Multihyphenate Phoebe Robinson has been given an imprint at the Penguin Random House division that published her bestseller You Can’t Touch My Hair in 2016 and Everything’s Trash, But It’s Okay in 2018. Tiny Reparations Books will be a co-venture between the actress, stand-up comedian, and producer and Plume, which is under PRH’s Dutton division.

The Community of Literary Magazines and Presses have announced the winners of their sixth annual Firecracker Awards, which celebrates Indie fiction, creative nonfiction, and poetry.

Make some noise: here are the winners of CLMP’s Firecracker Awards!

For over 50 years, the Community of Literary Magazines and Presses has been an amazing resource and megaphone for small presses and publications. CLMP has just announced the winners of their sixth annual Firecracker Awards, which celebrates the best independently published fiction, creative nonfiction, and poetry of the past year.

Trans writer Gabrielle Bellot has written a wonderful response to the Harper Letter.

Freedom Means Can Rather Than Should: What the Harper’s Open Letter Gets Wrong

The first time I read a thinkpiece in a major newspaper that asked whether or not trans women were really women, I felt like I was caught in a maelstrom. I had only recently come out as trans, a de…

In a bit of good news, A retired Cincinnati teacher has started a mobile bookstore.

Why A Retired Cincinnati Teacher Started The Book Bus, A Mobile “Bookstore On Wheels”

When Melanie Moore retired, she wanted to open a brick and mortar bookstore. But, wary of the cost, she instead started Cincinnati-based mobile bookstore The Book Bus, doing book pop-ups and, during the COVID-19 pandemic, selling books online and at birthday parties and hosting a Zoom book club.

Penguin Random House Canada is offering a week of free literary programming for kids called Camp Penguin

Penguin Random House Canada offering week of free virtual literary programming for kids called Camp Penguin | CBC Books

Books From July 13-17, 2020, authors or illustrators will lead online drawing workshops, book club discussions and writing exercises. In response to the loss of day camps this summer, Toronto-based book publisher Penguin Random House Canada (PRHC) has revamped its annual summer children’s literature project.

The final collection from the late Terry Pratchett will be published this September.

Final Terry Pratchett stories to be published in September

The final collection of early stories from the late Terry Pratchett, written while the Discworld creator was a young reporter, will be published in September. The tales in The Time-travelling Caveman, many of them never released in book form before, range from a steam-powered rocket’s flight to Mars to a Welsh shepherd’s discovery of the resting place of King Arthur.

Philip Pullman will be revisiting the world of His Dark Materials in a new story about Lyra Belacqua and her daemon Pan.

Pullman to Publish New Story Set in World of His Dark Materials

In time for the 25th anniversary of his beloved fantasy series-starter The Golden Compass, British author Philip Pullman will publish a new standalone short story featuring Lyra Belacqua and her daemon Pan. Alfred A. Knopf Books for Young Readers announced today the October 15 release of Serpentine in hardcover and ebook format, featuring illustrations by Tom Duxbury.

Shakespearian actor, starship captain, head mutant in charge, and absolute legend Sir Patrick Stewart is writing a memoir!

Sir Patrick Stewart is writing memoir, publisher announces

Nearing his 80th birthday, Sir Patrick Stewart is finally ready for the project he once feared taking on – his memoir. The award-winning actor best known as Capt. Jean-Luc Picard of “Star Trek: The Next Generation” has a deal with Gallery Books for a “revealing and heartwarming look” into his life and times, the publisher announced Tuesday.

Cherie Dimaline, author of the critically acclaimed young adult novel The Marrow Thieves, is writing a new novel for adults inspired by a Metis legend.

The Marrow Thieves author Cherie Dimaline is back with a novel for adults inspired by a Métis legend | CBC Radio

This interview originally aired on Sept. 14, 2019. To say that Cherie Dimaline’s last book, The Marrow Thieves, was a hit is an understatement. Featured on Canada Reads 2018, the YA novel was #1 bestselling Canadian book in independent booksellers across Canada in 2018, won a host of awards, including the Governor General’s Literary Award for young people’s literature – text.

Ernest Cline is following up his pop-culture filled, video game adventure novel Ready Player One with an aptly named sequel, Ready Player Two, due out this fall.

‘Ready Player One’ Book Sequel Sets November Publishing Date

The first book came at the vanguard of a resurgence in 1980s pop culture, ahead of ’80s-set projects such as Stranger Things and Warner Bros.’ It adaptation. It takes place in 2045, a time in which climate change, overpopulation and poverty have swept the Earth.

There are several books and memoirs by music legends being published this year that have been announced this past week. Mariah Carey is releasing a memoir this September.

Mariah Carey Memoir Coming This Fall Via Andy Cohen Books

“Finally, the voice known around the world tells her own story – unrestrained.” Just in time for the 30th Anniversary of Mariah Carey’s debut album comes a first memoir by the singer, songwriter and actress who will release “The Meaning of Mariah Carey” on Sept. 29.

Lenny Kravitz is also writing a memoir about his career, set to be published this October

Lenny Kravitz memoir ‘Let Love Rule’ set for fall 2020 release

The autobiography, out Oct. 6, will cover the first 25 years of the rocker’s life. The Grammy Award-winning singer is set to pen an autobiography covering the first 25 years of his life, titled Let Love Rule. The book, set for release this fall, will be c0-written by biographer and songwriter David Ritz.

And Lana Del Ray is releasing a poetry collection titled Violet Bent Backwards Over the Grass. The e-audio spoken word album will come out this month, with the hardcover collection to be released this fall.

Lana Del Rey’s poetry book and spoken word album get release dates

Simon & Schuster announced Thursday that it will publish the singer’s debut book of poetry, Violet Bent Backwards Over the Grass, with the e-audio spoken word album of select poems from the book set to publish July 28, followed by the hardcover on Sept. 29. Both editions are now available to preorder.

HBO will be adapting Brit Bennett’s bestselling novel The Vanishing Half into a limited series.

HBO Wins Brit Bennett’s Best-Selling Novel The Vanishing Half at Auction

Currently fourth on the New York Times Fiction Best Sellers List, author Brit Bennett’s The Vanishing Half also just made an appearance at a heated auction, with seventeen bidders hoping to win the rights to the author’s recently-released novel.

The 1619 Project is being adapted into a portfolio of films, television, and other content by Lionsgate and Oprah.

Exclusive: Oprah Winfrey, Nikole Hannah-Jones, Lionsgate and The New York Times to Adapt The 1619 Project Into Film, TV Programming and More

On August 14, 2019, on the 400th anniversary of the first enslaved Africans’ arrival into the English colonies that would become the United States, The New York Times launched . Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and 2019 Root 100 Nikole Hannah-Jones is the creator and architect of the historic initiative and incorporating contributions by Black authors, essayist, poets, playwrights and scholars.

The BabySitter’s Club Netflix adaptation has been receiving rave reviews since it’s debut last week, and today Netflix will be dropping a documentary about the universally beloved character Claudia Kishi.

An Ode to Claudia Kishi, the Coolest Kid in ‘The Baby-Sitters Club’

Photos: Jesse Austin/Netflix, Scholastic; Screenshot via YouTube; Collage by author Decades after the release of the Ann M. Martin series, the Claudia Kishi fan club lives on through fan pages and a new Netflix documentary. In 1986, with the ring of a landline, Ann M.

Finally, one of my favourite pieces this week looks at the challenge of writing in an alternate timeline, and how this premise is even more poignant during these difficult times.

Americans Are Living in an Alternate History

As the pandemic has raged on, popular culture has found new ways to ask an old question: What could have been instead? There’s a certain kind of movie that lets you down not because it’s bad, but because it could have been great. One of those movies, for me, is Sliding Doors.

Have a great weekend, y’all!

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