Supporting Indie Bookstores, DK Fiction, and Adapting Stephen King: This Week in Book News

Well, the longest week of the longest year has finally come to an end. I saw a tweet this week that read, “From the year that brought you six months of April, welcome to Tuesday, Part 3” and I felt it in my bones. I hope everyone has managed to take a break from the news a bit, and has given themselves a chance to breathe. And if you haven’t, do it now! Get a glass of water (or wine, or whiskey, or tea), find a comfy chair, turn off CNN, and relax. It’s good for you, I promise (I am not speaking from experience but promise to take my own advice eventually).

This week has also marked the start of NaNoWriMo! And while some have found the current state of everything too distracting to write, others have welcomed the challenge as a way to force themselves away from the news, if only for an hour or two. Instead of including staff book recommendations this month, we’ll be including a KoboWriMo update at the end of each roundup! Please let us know how your NaNo project is coming along in the comments, and if you have any tips on how to stay focused during *gestures wildly* all of this.

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Like I said, this week has been slightly stressful, so let’s start off with a heartwarming story about a New York bookstore that gives books to kids in need over the holidays.

Bookstore’s Book Angel Program Ensures Kids In Need Receive Books For The Holidays

130 children in need will receive books this year through the Book Angel Project run by independent bookstore Oblong Books & Music in Rhinebeck, New York. The program began in 2002 and has given away over 1,500 books to children in kindergarten through twelfth grade, purchased by customers.

Bookshop.org has officially launched in the UK.

‘This is revolutionary’: new online bookshop unites indies to rival Amazon

It is being described as a “revolutionary moment in the history of bookselling”: a socially conscious alternative to Amazon that allows readers to buy books online while supporting their local independent bookseller. And after a hugely successful launch in the US, it is open in the UK from today.

Hundreds of authors have joined an initiative to help indie booksellers across the UK.

Hundreds of authors join signing initiative to support local bookshops

Matt Haig, Malorie Blackman and Adam Kay are among hundreds of authors who have come together in a “thunderclap of support” to encourage readers to buy from their local bookshop, as a second lockdown in England forces stores up and down the country to close.

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DK is making its first venture into fiction.

DK Makes Its First Foray into Fiction

A pioneer publisher of children’s illustrated nonfiction on both sides of the Atlantic, DK is entering the fiction arena with two action-based, character-driven series for young readers. Unsurprisingly, both series are rooted in relevant nonfiction subjects, adding an educational component to the fictional stories.

Little Genius Books, an independent children’s publisher distributing through Simon & Schuster, will launch next spring.

Little Genius Books to Launch in Spring 2021

Board books, picture books, activity books, and novelty books are among the array of formats that will be released by Little Genius Books, an independent children’s publisher that will roll out its debut titles next April.

PRH is extending their temporary digital license terms for content in libraries and schools.

As Covid-19 Cases Surge, PRH Again Extends Temporary E-book, Digital Audio Terms for Libraries, Schools

With Covid-19 cases on the rise nationwide, Penguin Random House executives this week confirmed that the publisher is extending its temporary digital license terms for e-books and digital audio in libraries and schools through March 31, 2021. All Penguin Random House and DK adult and children’s fiction and nonfiction titles are part of this extension.

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Author Rachel Caine sadly passed away this week after a battle with soft tissue sarcoma.

Obituary: Rachel Caine

Bestselling author Roxanne Longstreet Conrad, better known by her pen name Rachel Caine, who wrote the YA series The Morganville Vampires, and The Great Library, in addition to thriller and sci-fi titles for adults, died on November 1 following a battle with soft tissue sarcoma. She was 58.

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The shortlist for the CBC Poetry prize has been announced.

5 writers make the 2020 CBC Poetry Prize shortlist | CBC Books

Five writers have made the 2020 CBC Poetry Prize shortlist. The finalists are: The winner will be announced on Nov. 12, 2020. They will receive $6,000 from the Canada Council for the Arts, attend a two-week writing residency at the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity.

Have kids at home and need an activity to keep them busy? The CBC First Page student writing challenge has opened for submissions!

The First Page student writing challenge is now closed | CBC Books

The First Page student writing challenge is now closed for submissions.​ The judging process is ongoing. Ten finalists from each category will be selected by a team of readers at CBC Books . Finalists will be notified by email in February 2021. David A. Robertson will select two winners, one from each category, from the shortlists.

The Goodreads Choice Awards nominees have been announced!

Emily St. John Mandel, Emma Donoghue, Silvia Moreno-Garcia among 2020 nominees for Goodreads Choice Awards | CBC Books

Emily St. John Mandel’s The Glass Hotel, Emma Donoghue’s The Pull of the Stars and Silvia Moreno-Garcia’s Mexican Gothic are among the nominees for the 2020 Goodreads Choice Awards. The Goodreads Choice Awards are given out in 20 categories across several genres and are voted on by readers.

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To say book fairs as we know it have changed drastically this year would be a wild understatement. Five book festival directors discuss what it’s been like having to adapt on the fly during 2020.

How the Literary World Reinvented the Book Festival in Real Time

As the literary world moved online in 2020, a central question for many organizations was how to manage the annual festivals that gather thousands of readers from around the world.

Award winning author Ivan Coyote is releasing a new book of pandemic correspondence in 2021.

Ivan Coyote publishing collection of pandemic correspondence, to be published in 2021 | CBC Books

Books Care Of will feature the author’s personal correspondence written during the pandemic lockdown. It was acquired as part of a two-book deal with McClelland & Stewart. Award-winning author Ivan Coyote’s collection Care Of is set to be published June 8, 2021. It was acquired as part of a two-book deal with McClelland & Stewart.

Canadian author Ashley Aurdain’s upcoming debut novel has been optioned for the screen.

Ashley Audrain’s forthcoming debut novel The Push to be adapted for screen | CBC Books

Books Production company Heyday Television has acquired the TV and film rights after a nine-way bidding deal. Canadian author Ashley Audrain’s forthcoming debut novel, The Push , has been optioned for TV and film. Heyday Television, a production company run by Once Upon a Time in Hollywood film producer David Heyman, has acquired the rights after a nine-way bidding deal.

The adaptation of the novel The Things They Carried has scored an all-star cast.

‘The Things They Carried’ movie recruits all-star cast: Tom Hardy, Pete Davidson, Stephan James, more

Tim O’Brien’s often-assigned book ‘The Things They Carried,’ about the Vietnam War, is becoming a film with a cast that includes Tom Hardy, Pete Davidson, Stephan James, Bill Skarsgard, Tye Sheridan, Ashton Sanders, Martin Sensmeier, Moises Arias, and Angus Cloud.

How do you make a great adaptation of a Stephen King novel? Well Mr. King has a few ideas.

Stephen King on how to properly adapt his books and which project went ‘entirely off the rails’

In its own ironic way, Halloween has always offered a brief respite from real-world horrors. That might be even truer in 2020. And because we can expect fewer trick-or-treaters this year, we’ve got even more time to hunker down with scary movies – which, of course, probably means spending time in the world of Stephen King.

Former 3^rd Rock from the Sun costars, John Lithgow and Joseph Gordon-Levitt, are reuniting to bring Lithgow’s poetry to life.

John Lithgow and Joseph Gordon-Levitt reunite to satirize Trump with poetry and short films

The former 3rd Rock from the Sun costars have teamed up almost 20 years later to bring Lithgow’s book Trumpty Dumpty Wanted a Crown: Verses for a Despotic Age to life via short films. While there isn’t a formal 3rd Rock revival happening (yet …

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Instead of doom scrolling, why not panic shop for books at Indie bookstores? The holidays are coming up fast after all.

Need A Respite From Doomscrolling? Buy Books (From Your Local Bookseller) Instead

You may be aware: there’s an election next week. As such, I’ve had some nervous energy to channel. I wrote letters and donated. I voted early. I bought books, because they are my comfort food. Then I saw a tweet from writer Celeste Ng about holiday shopping at independent bookstores – sooner rather than later.

And lastly, my personal favourite article of the week: Carmen Maria Machado has reviewed this season’s hottest scents and it is poetry.

Carmen Maria Machado Reviews the Season’s Fragrances

Here in the Anthropocene-as many have dubbed this geological era shaped by man-made intervention-we cannot help but imagine our own annihilation, the infinite potential sources for the apocalypse. The asteroid is a tried-and-true option, whose appearance has prompted meteorological panics for all of human history.

Have a great (and hopefully relaxing) weekend everyone!  

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KoboWriMo Update
Current KoboWriMo Collective Wordcount: 68,128

“So far NaNoWriMo is going much better than I’d anticipated. It’s my first time participating and I haven’t written anything creatively in years, and never anything longer than a project for high school (my spec script for the TV show Alias remains my longest piece of writing to date). But I’ve found the practice of sitting down and pumping out 2000 words every night to be pretty soothing, especially given that a) I had zero expectations going in so I don’t mind if whatever I’m writing isn’t great (it is a first draft after all), and b) the world is unbelievably stressful right now and writing has proven to be a lovely reprieve. I really hope I can keep up my current pace so I can reach the 50,000 word count goal and win my first NaNo!”
– Rachel, Author Engagement Intern