And The National Book Awards Go To…
The National Book Foundation announced the National Book Award winners tonight. Without further ado, the winners are…
Fiction: Sing, Unburied, Sing by Jesmyn Ward
Nonfiction: The Future Is History: How Totalitarianism Reclaimed Russia by Masha Gessen
Poetry: Half-light: Collected Poems 1965-2016 by Frank Bidart
Young People’s Literature: Far from the Tree by Robin Benway
The Foundation also honored Richard Robinson, Chairman, President & CEO of Scholastic, who was introduced onstage by President Bill Clinton, and Annie Proulx, introduced by Anne Hathaway.
J.R.R. Tolkien’s Son Resigns As Director Of Tolkien Estate
On the cusp of Amazon and Warner Bros.’ Lord of the Rings series adaptation news, we learned that J.R.R. Tolkien’s son resigned as director of the author’s estate. Christopher Tolkien, the 93-year-old scholar of his father’s work, kept a firm grip on the estate’s property rights and reportedly hated Warner Bros.’ Lord of the Rings and Hobbit films. Tolkien Estate recently settled a dispute over the use of Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings movie characters in slot machines and video games, but now that Christopher Tolkien is out of the picture we may be seeing more of those characters and Tolkien adaptation news.
Authors Write Letters Of Solidarity To Imprisoned Colleagues
Neil Gaiman, Ai Weiwei, Kamila Shamsie, Madeleine Thien, and a whole host of international artists and writers have written letters of solidarity and hope to imprisoned writers around the world. The event marks PEN International’s Day of the Imprisoned Writer, which calls on governments around the world to stop silencing writers. On this day, PEN highlights the cases of five persecuted writers. You can read about the cases, and more about Day of the Imprisoned Writer here.
Thank you to The City of Brass by S.A. Chakraborty for sponsoring today’s newsletter.
As a con woman in the streets of 18th-century Cairo, Nahri does not believe in magic. She relies on her wits and her healing talents to survive. But when she accidentally summons a sly, darkly mysterious djinn warrior during one of her cons, she’s forced to question everything she believes. He tells her that across the hot, windswept sands of the Middle East lies Daevabad, the legendary city of brass – home of six djinn tribes, and simmering with old resentments threatening Nahri’s ancestral home. There’s a reason they say to be careful what you wish for…