Author: Emily Martin

John Legend Joins Zando with His Own Imprint, Get Lifted Books

John Legend is joining Zando as a publisher with his own imprint, Get Lifted Books. Zando’s other imprint partners include Lena Waithe and Gillian Flynn. Per Zando’s business model, John Legend and his team will be involved in the marketing and promoting of Get Lifted’s books. The imprint is expected to acquire and publish approximately four to six titles across fiction and nonfiction over the next three years. Their first book acquisition is Rosewater by Liv Little, a coming-of-age story about a queer, Black, working-class poet in London. The novel is set to publish in 2023. Get Lifted began as a film company, but Legend stresses that adapting books into film or TV is not the primary mission of Get Lifted Books. “We want the books to stand on their own as great books,” said Legend.

Mike Flanagan’s Fall of the House of Usher Adds 20 to the Cast

Mike Flanagan has announced 20 new cast members for his upcoming series Fall of the House of Usher. New cast members include Samantha Sloyan, Rahul Kohli, Henry Thomas, T’Nia Miller, Kate Siegel, Sauriyan Sapkota, Zach Gilford, Katie Parker, Michael Trucco, Malcolm Goodwin, Crystal Balint, Kyleigh Curran, Paola Nuñez, Aya Furukawa, Matt Biedel, Daniel Jun, Ruth Codd, Robert Longstreet, Annabeth Gish and Igby Rigney. The characters these actors will play have yet to be announced. The Fall of the House of Usher is being described as a modern retelling of the short story of the same name by Edgar Allan Poe. Frank Langella will lead the cast as Roderick Usher, the patriarch of the Usher dynasty. Mary McDonnell plays Roderick’s twin sister Madeline, Carl Lumbly plays investigator C. Auguste Dupin, and Mark Hamill also stars as a character who has yet to be named. The Fall of the House of Usher is Flanagan and Trevor Macy’s fifth series for Netflix under their Intrepid Pictures overall deal.

Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples Preview the Return of Saga

After their three-year hiatus, author Brian K. Vaughn and artist Fiona Staples are back with more Saga, and in an exclusive interview with Entertainment Weekly, the creators of Saga reveal details about the comic book’s long-awaited return. This is their first interview since announcing the end of their hiatus. Saga is a critically acclaimed epic space opera/fantasy comic book series that has won multiple awards, including 12 Eisner Awards and the 2013 Hugo Award for Best Graphic Story. Vaughn and Staples were reluctant to share too many plot details about Saga issue #55, which is coming out next month. But if you haven’t finished the Saga issues that are currently out, some spoilers for the series up to #54 are included in this interview—proceed with caution!

The New York Times Reveals Their 10 Best Books of 2021

Take a look at the top 10 books of 2021 as selected by the New York Times. Find out what they picked and how their list compares to other best of lists this year.

Entertainment Weekly Names the Biggest and Buzziest Books of 2021

Wondering if you missed out on some of the most talked about books of the year? Entertainment Weekly has compiled of list of 2021’s must-read books. This list is separate from their list of the “Best” books of the year, as this list focuses on the most-talked about moments in the world of books this year. For instance, most botched background check? Most blundered book award? That’s all here. But EW also looks at some of the best performances of the year and the one trend in books that no one can stop reading about: office drama. You can also check out their best of the year list here.

Henry Golding to Star in a Series Adaptation of Dean Koontz’s Nameless Books

Henry Golding is set to star in a series adaptation of Dean Koontz’s thriller books Nameless. The Nameless books were first published in 2019 as Amazon Original Stories. The story follows Nameless, a man who has amnesia and can’t remember anything, not even his own name. All he knows is that he has a mission, given to him by a shadowy agency, and he travels the country dispensing justice when the law fails. Henry Golding will play the title character. “I’ve long been fascinated by the idea of telling a mystery thriller in an episodic format. But to work with the master of suspense thrillers – Dean Koontz’s Nameless is beyond my expectations,” Golding said. “To bring this exceptional series to the screen with my partners SK Global and Mazur Kaplan will be an exhilarating journey as we look to bring a fresh and unique take on Dean’s characters.”

Jack Kerouac Was the Influence for Dior’s Latest Collection

Jack Kerouac has inspired a Dior menswear collection unveiled at a blockbuster London catwalk show. The British creative director of Dior menswear, Kim Jones, was inspired by his library of Beat writers, specifically an early edition of Kerouac’s novel Visions of Cody, whose cover is illustrated with two rugged men dressed for a road trip. Jones said that he believes Beat literature will always have a visceral connection to youth culture, much like sneakers and streetwear do. Jones said, “Models have been coming in for fittings [for this show] and often they have read the book – and they can actually quote passages from it because they’ve read it much more recently than me. I read it in my late teens, like you do.”

Wattpad Partners with ViacomCBS to Adapt Stories to Streaming

Wattpad has announced a new partnership with ViacomCBS, in which Viacom will adapt stories from Wattpad as well as the webcomic platform WEBTOON into series to stream on Paramount+.

TikToker Goes Viral Pointing Out Wild Twilight Theories

TikTok user twilight_talk has gone viral over the past year for posting her wild theories about the Twilight saga. The TikToker, going by the pseudonym Elizabeth, says she was inspired to start her TikTok series after Stephanie Meyer released Midnight Sun in 2020. Then when the Twilight movies were released on Netflix, Elizabeth says, “things really blew up. I went from 50,000 followers to 150,000 followers in just a couple of weeks because people were seeing the movies for the first time in a very long time.” Now, twilight_talk has over 244k followers, all gained in just a year.

Amanda Gorman’s Call Us What We Carry Inspires Fellow WriteGirls

Amanda Gorman’s first poetry collection Call Us What We Carry was just released earlier this week, but already the collection has been a major inspiration to many. Among those who are most inspired by Gorman’s work are mentees of the WriteGirl creative writing program, of which Gorman herself was once a mentee. “Hearing her say those kinds of words of inspiration, but also acknowledge her place in this really complicated system” was significant and forced people to remember a “history of America that not a lot of people want to remember,” writer Sofía Aguilar, also a former WriteGirl, told USA TODAY. WriteGirl is a nonprofit organization, founded by Keren Taylor in 2001, that matches more than 500 young girls annually with fellow writers to help them hone their writing skills across all genres. The program also hosts workshops, panel discussions, and events to help young girls from inner cities find their creative spark. 

Over 600 Authors, Publishers, and Groups Condemn Book Bans

On Wednesday, over 600 best-selling authors, publishers, bookstore owners, and advocacy groups spoke out against the recent wave of LGBTQ- and race-related book bans in public school libraries across the country. In a joint statement, led by the National Coalition Against Censorship, the signatories called the effort to ban the books an “organized political attack” that “threatens the education of America’s children.” Included in the signatures were more than 50 independent bookstores, 80 advocacy groups, publishing companies including Penguin Random House and Scholastic, and authors including Judy Blume. Author Kelly Yang signed on to the statement after her children’s novel Front Desk was challenged by school administrators. Yang said, “We finally made this great progress and the fact that this can be so easily wiped out by these book bans, and to have all of these books be pulled and in some cases burned, it sort of feels like an existential crisis. It just feels like we could be erased at any moment, and that’s a dehumanizing feeling.”

Here Are the Winners of the Goodreads Choice Awards 2021

The votes are in! Goodreads has announced the Goodreads Choice Awards 2021 winners.

Paul Tremblay Reveals the Cover of His Upcoming Novel The Pallbearers Club

Yesterday, Paul Tremblay shared the cover of his upcoming book The Pallbearers Club, which will be out on July 5th, 2022. Tremblay says the artwork for the book will include “a fun interior design element to the novel with the marginalia, and William Morrow has committed to printing the text in two-color ink (red and black), but only for the first edition hardcovers. So, if you want one of the two-inkers, pre-ordering is the way to go.” The author also shared a couple of early blurbs for his upcoming book, including one from Grady Hendrix, the author of The Final Girl Support Group, who said The Pallbearers Club was “the most beautiful and heartbreaking funeral I’ve been to in a long time.”

Angie Thomas Shares Photos from the Set of On the Come Up

Filming has wrapped on the movie adaptation of Angie Thomas’s novel On the Come Up, and the author has shared images from the set of the upcoming movie. In a tweet, Thomas wrote, “Nothing like being in a room that started in my imagination. On the Come Up the movie wrapped last night, and I am so grateful to every person who brought this story to life. Love you all ❤️.” Check out some images of protagonist Bri Jackson’s bedroom on Thomas’s Twitter now.

The 2021 Center for Fiction First Novel Prize Goes to The Five Wounds by Kirstin Valdez Quade

The Center for Fiction has announced Kristin Valdez Quade as the winner of the First Novel Prize for her novel The Five Wounds. The award was announced at The Center for Fiction’s Annual Awards Benefit and 200th Anniversary Celebration on December 7th, 2021. Quade was presented the award, which carries with it a prize of $15,000, by Raven Leilani, the winner of last year’s First Novel Prize. The Five Wounds was selected by a panel of distinguished American writers: Alexander Chee, Susan Choi, Yaa Gyasi, Raven Leilani, and Dinaw Mengestu. Quade was chosen from a shortlist that included: The City of Good Death by Priyanka Champaneri, Swimming Back to Trout River by Linda Rui Feng, The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du Bois by Honorée Fanonne Jeffers, Build Your House Around My Body by Violet Kupersmith, No One Is Talking About This by Patricia Lockwood, and Brood by Jackie Polzin. Shortlisted authors each received $1,000.

Join in Book Riot’s 2022 Read Harder Challenge

2021 is quickly drawing to a close, and you know what that means: time to announce our next Read Harder Challenge! Read Harder 2022 will be our eighth year hosting the challenge, a set of 24 tasks that invite readers to expand their worldview through books. Read all about the challenge here.

Here’s the Cover and an Excerpt from Ruth Ware’s Oxford Murder Mystery The It Girl

Bestselling mystery novelist Ruth Ware’s latest book The It Girl is a chilling murder mystery set in Oxford University. Entertainment Weekly is sharing an exclusive look at the cover and an excerpt from the novel. The It Girl follows Hannah Jones who is trying to unravel the mystery of her friend’s murder at college a decade after the fact. This book hits shelves July 12, 2022.

Comic Book Legend George Pérez Has Pancreatic Cancer

Comic book author and artist George Pérez has announced that he’s been diagnosed with inoperable Stage 3 pancreatic cancer and is only expected to live for another “six months to a year.” The comic book creator has been an iconic voice in the comic book industry, working onThe New Teen Titans, Crisis On Infinite Earths, and many other highly influential projects. George Pérez has decided to forego chemotherapy in favor of spending the time he has left with his friends and family. He also plans to “coordinate one last mass book signing” so he can connect with as many fans as possible.

In a statement posted on Facebook, Pérez said, “This is not a message I enjoyed writing, especially during the Holiday Season, but, oddly enough, I’m feeling the Christmas spirit more now than I have in many years. Maybe it’s because it will likely be my last. Or maybe because I am enveloped in the loving arms of so many who love me as much as I love them. It’s quite uplifting to be told that you’ve led a good life, that you’ve brought joy to so many lives and that you’ll be leaving this world a better place because you were part of it. To paraphrase Lou Gehrig: ‘Some people may think I got a bad break, but today, I feel like the luckiest man on the face of the Earth.'”

Chris Cuomo’s Upcoming Book Pulled By HarperCollins

HarperCollins has canceled a planned book by Chris Cuomo following his dismissal by CNN. The former CNN anchor’s book was entitled Deep Denial, and was set to be released in the fall of 2022 through Custom House, an imprint of William Morrow. Chris Cuomo was suspended from CNN after he provided assistance to his brother, former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, to fight the accusations of sexual misconduct that ended in the governor’s resignation in August 2021. On Sunday, Chris Cuomo faced his own allegation of workplace sexual harassment. On Monday, Cuomo announced that he would also be stepping back from his SiriusXM radio show.

Reading Rainbow is Coming Back in 2022

Mark your calendars! The classic and much-beloved children’s television show Reading Rainbow will be back on television starting in early 2022.

Shang-Chi Sequel in the Works with Filmmaker Destin Daniel Cretton

Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings director Destin Daniel Cretton is returning to write and direct the sequel. The director has also signed an overall deal with Marvel Studios and Hulu’s Onyx Collective, which means we should expect more from Cretton in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Right now, Cretton is working on a new Marvel Cinematic Universe series for Disney+ as part of his overall deal. “Destin is an amazing collaborator who brought a unique perspective and skill to Shang-Chi and The Legend of the Ten Rings,” said Kevin Feige, president of Marvel Studios and chief creative officer of Marvel. “We had a fantastic time working together on the film and he has so many intriguing ideas for stories to bring to life on Disney+, so we’re thrilled to expand our relationship with him and can’t wait to get started.”

Feminist Retelling of 1984 Approved by Orwell’s Estate

A feminist retelling of George Orwell’s 1984, told from the perspective of Winston Smith’s lover Julia, has been approved by Orwell’s estate. The upcoming retelling is titled Julia, and it’s written by Sandra Newman, author of The Only Good Thing Anyone Has Ever Done and Cake. Julia as a protagonist will be much different from Winston. For one, as publisher Granta puts it, Julia understands the world of Oceania “far better than Winston and is essentially happy with her life.” Orwell’s estate has been “looking for some time” for someone to tell Julia’s story, and they think Newman “proved to be the perfect fit.”

Swedish Author Karin Smirnoff to Write Three New Sequels to Stieg Larsson’s Millennium Trilogy

Award-winning Swedish author Karin Smirnoff is writing three new sequels to Stieg Larsson’s bestselling Millennium trilogy. Author Stieg Larsson died from a heart attack in 2004 at the age of 50. This happened right after he submitted the manuscripts for his first three novels, so he never lived to see the success of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and the two sequels he penned. Following Larson’s trilogy, three subsequent sequels, written by David Lagercrantz, were published between 2015 and 2019. Smirnoff will be writing the seventh, eighth, and ninth books in the series. An official release date has yet to be announced.

Book Riot Names the Best Books of 2021

The year is almost over, which means it’s time for us to round up the best books of 2021! These our picks for our favorite books over the past year, including thrillers, fantasy, romance, children’s and YA, memoir, and more.

Columbian Family Wins Award for World’s Best Cookbook

A Colombian mother and daughter team have received the honor of the best cookbook in the world at the Gourmand awards in Paris. Mother Zoraida “Chori” Agamez and daughter Heidy Pinto’s prize-winning book, entitled Envueltos, chronicles the Colombian approach to envueltos. Envueltos are a traditional dish that all involve some kind of dough, or masa, made with strarches like corn, yucca, bananas or rice, and stuffed with fillings such as pork, chicken, beans, and vegetables. The dish is then usually wrapped in corn or some other kind of leaf for steaming. “In troubled times, in sad moments, in the middle of a pandemic, cooking will always be part of the solution,” Agamez and Pinto said in an Instagram post celebrating their win. “Long live tradition, envueltos and Colombian cuisine.”

Goodreads Reveals Cover of Upcoming Christina Lauren Novel

Best-selling romance novelist duo Christina Lauren is releasing a new novel called Something Wilder, and in a tweet, Goodreads revealed the cover for the upcoming novel. Coming out on May 17th, 2022, Something Wilder “is a charming and funny novel filled with adventure, treasure, and, of course, love,” according to Goodreads. The novel is available for preorder right now.

Authors Choose the Best Books of 2021

The Guardian has assembled a panel of writers, all of whom had books published in 2021, to announced their favorite books of the year. Panelists include Kazuo Ishiguro, author of Klara and the Sun, Bernadine Evaristo, author of Manifesto: On Never Giving Up, Damon Galgut, author of The Promise, Wole Soyinka, author of Chronicles From the Land of the Happiest People on Earth, Lauren Groff, author of Matrix, and many more. Take a look to see whom your favorite authors of 2021 chose as their favorite authors of 2021.

The Politics of A Christmas Carol

As we near the Christmas holidays, now is a good time examine the message of Dickens’ classic A Christmas Carol. What is this book trying to say? Is it pro-Christmas and Christianity? Anti-capitalism? Socialist?

Penguin Random House US Campaign Identifies 2021 Book Trends

Penguin Random House US has created a new campaign called Find Your Light to reflect on the growth of the book market this year, which saw US book sales up by 12%. Find Your Light was created in collaboration with branding and marketing agency Posture Media and features illustrations from Lynn Baik. Some highlights? Apparently, we collectively listened to the audiobook version of A Promised Land by Barack Obama for the equivalent of 4,255 years in 2021. Also, over 20 million copies of manga books sold this year, more than double any other year on record.

Malcolm X’s Former Prison Cell to Be Library for Incarcerated People

Reginald Dwayne Betts, a MacArthur Award-winning poet who himself spent eight years in prison, is planning to convert the prison cell that’s believed to be Malcolm X’s former cell into a library for incarcerated people. While most prison libraries focus on legal texts, the Malcolm X Freedom Library will include a curated mix of fiction and nonfiction books, including prison literature like Claude Brown’s Manchild in the Promised Land and John Edgar Wideman’s Brothers and Keepers. The library will also include many traditional classics, and about one-fifth of the books will be in Spanish.

Laverne Cox Joins the Cast of Netflix’s Uglies

Laverne Cox has joined the cast of the Netflix film Uglies, an adaptation of Scott Westerfeld’s bestselling novel of the same name. Cox, who is known for her roles in Promising Young Woman and Orange Is the New Black, joins the previously announced Uglies cast members Joey King, Keith Powers, Brianne Tju and Chase Stokes. The role Cox will play in the film has yet to be disclosed.

There’ve Been More Than 155 Book Challenges Since June: This Week’s Censorship News

ALA has documented 155 book challenge cases since June, but the number isn’t high enough. Here’s that story and more of this week’s book censorship news.