Category: Today In Books

MWA Announces 2023 Edgar Award Nominations

Mystery Writers of America have announced the nominees for the 2023 Edgar Allan Poe Awards, honoring the best in mystery fiction, nonfiction and television published or produced in 2022. The nominees for best novel are: Devil House by John Darnielle; Like A Sister by Kellye Garrett; Gangland by Chuck Hogan; The Devil Takes You Home by Gabino Iglesias; Notes on an Execution by Danya Kukafka; and The Maid by Nita Prose. You can see the full list of nominees across all categories here. The winners will be announced at the 77^th Annual Edgar® Awards on April 27, 2023, at the New York Marriott Marquis Times Square.

Stephen Colbert Adapting Roger Zelazny’s The Chronicles of Amber

Stephen Colbert’s production company Spartina is developing Roger Zelazny’s beloved The Chronicles of Amber into a drama series. The production company is working in partnership with Skybound Entertainment and Vincent Newman Entertainment. The Chronicles of Amber is famously one of fantasy author George R.R. Martin’s favorite fantasy series. Colbert said, “George R.R. Martin and I have similar dreams. I’ve carried the story of Corwin in my head for over 40 years, and I’m thrilled to partner with Skybound and Vincent Newman to bring these worlds to life. All roads lead to Amber, and I’m happy to be walking them.”

Night of the Living Queers is a New YA Horror Anthology Coming Soon

Here’s the cover reveal of the upcoming YA horror anthology Night of the Living Queers. The anthology features 13 new stories from queer authors of color. Contributors include editors Alex Brown and Shelly Page, Kalynn Bayron, Ryan Douglass, Sara Farizan, Maya Gittelman, Kosoko Jackson, Em Liu, Vanessa Montalban, Ayida Shonibar, Tara Sim, Trang Thanh Tran, and Rebecca Kim Wells. Night of the Living Queers is out from Wednesday Books on August 29, 2023.

Read an Excerpt from Grady Hendrix’s How to Sell A Haunted House

Read an excerpt from How to Sell A Haunted House, out from Berkley Books this week!

Parks and Rec Star Retta to Lead Crime Drama Murder by the Book

Good Girls and Parks and Rec star Rhetta is heading back to NBC for new bookish crime drama series Murder by the Book. The series will follow a Instagram book reviewer who takes a page from the mystery novels she reviews to uncover the shocking truths about an eccentric seaside town. Jenna Bans and Bill Krebs are writers and executive producers on the project. Casey Kyber is an executive producer.

Channing Tatum and Roxane Gay are Writing a Romance Novel Together

In an interview with Vanity Fair, actor Channing Tatum revealed that he is working on a romance novel with writer and social commentator Roxane Gay. Tatum says the two befriended each other after Gay wrote about wanting to “hug every part of him with my mouth” online. Tatum told Vanity Fair, “She has almost a roughed-out outline of a story that we both love…We just got to find time to do it. She’s the busiest, she’s way busier than I am.” Gay later confirmed the news on Twitter.

Hong Kong Police Arrest Six for Selling “Seditious” Book at Lunar New Year Fair

Just days before Lunar New Year celebrations, police in Hong Kong have raided a lunar new year shopping fair, arresting six people for selling a “seditious” book. The book is about a series of anti-government protests that occurred in Hong Kong from June 2019 to February 2020. Police say that the three men and three women that were arrested were “members of an anti-government organization” who are now being held in custody on suspicion of engaging in “acts with seditious intention.”

The Future of Libraries

Libraries have existed for 5,000 years, but what does their future look like in an ever-changing world. One writer explores.

Anthony Joseph Wins TS Eliot Prize for “Luminous” Poetry Collection

Anthony Joseph has won the TS Eliot prize for his collection Sonnets for Albert. This year, the poetry prize, which is worth £25,000, saw a record 201 submissions. “From this strong field our choice is Sonnets for Albert, a luminous collection which celebrates humanity in all its contradictions and breathes new life into this enduring form,” said chair of judges Jean Sprackland, who was joined on the panel by 2021 Costa Book of the Year winner Hannah Lowe and 2019 TS Eliot prize winner Roger Robinson.

Agatha: Coven of Chaos Begins Production Today in Atlanta

The WandaVision spinoff Agatha: Coven of Chaos begins production today, Tuesday, January 17th, in Atlanta, having lined up its directing talent and supporting cast members. Head writer and executive producer Jac Schaeffer will also be directing multiple episodes of the series. Joining her are Gandja Monteiro (Wednesday) and Rachel Goldberg (A Friend of the Family, Resident Evil). Agatha‘s cast includes Kathryn Hahn, Aubrey Plaza, Joe Locke, Patti LuPone, Sasheer Zamata, Emma Caulfield, and Debra Jo Rupp. The series will also introduce newcomers Miles Gutierrez-Riley, Okwui Okpokwasili, and Maria Dizzia.

Meth Contamination Forces Colorado Library to Close

For the second time in a month, a Colorado library has been forced to close its doors due to meth contamination. Officials shut down the library in the Denver suburb of Englewood last week after test results showed that the contamination in the facility’s restrooms exceeded state thresholds. The city decided to test the facility after the nearby college town of Boulder closed its main library due to meth contamination.

Books for the Recovering Girlboss

Hustle mentality is officially over. Are you ready to let go of your toxic #girlboss ambitions for good? Read these books.

Here’s A First Look at Michelle Yeoh & Ke Huy Quan in American Born Chinese

Everything Everywhere All at Once stars Michelle Yeoh and Ke Huy Quan are reuniting in Disney+’s American Born Chinese, a series adaptation of the graphic novel by Gene Luen Yang. The story follows the life of Jin Wang (Ben Wang) as he juggles high school social life with his life at home. But his life gets even more complicated when he meets a new foreign student at school and gets unwittingly entangled in a battle of Chinese mythological gods. American Born Chinese premiers in the spring.

Blacula Returns in a Gorgeous New Graphic Novel

Blacula, the star of the 1970s classic Blacula and Scream, Blacula, Scream, is back in a new graphic novel. io9 has a giant preview of the gorgeous new graphic novel, written by Rodney Barnes with art from Jason Shawn Alexander. The graphic novel, entitled Blacula: Return of the King, is now available for preorder and will hit shelves on January 30th.

HarperCollins Union Plans Rally at News Corp Offices in Manhattan

HarperCollins union representatives have planned a rally outside the publisher’s parent company, News Corp, in Manhattan at 12:30 p.m. on Wednesday, January 18. This follows a rally the union held in December, co-hosted by HarperCollins bestselling authors Rebecca F. Kuang and Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah. “The rally we held on December 16 saw amazing turnout from our members and supporters across the city,” said Genessee Floressantos, an associate publicist in international sales at Harper Collins. “It was a huge boost for us to see such a big crowd despite the rainy and windy weather that day. This once again showed that our demands are very reasonable and worth fighting for, and that the whole industry stands with us in this fight.”

9 Books to Get Your Sh*t Together in 2023

If one of your New Year’s resolutions is to get your sh*t together, look no further than these books.

Chicago Bookstore Owner’s Tweet About $800 Book Return Goes Viral

Rebecca George, co-owner of Volumes Bookcafe in Chicago, shared a tweet recently that has now gone viral. George turned to Twitter to vent about a return request she received to return $800 worth of books. The customer has purchased various art books and cookbooks in December to serve as temporary holiday decor. George tweeted, “Turns out one of our biggest sales last month was for the person to stage their home for the holidays and now they want to return them all…Please don’t do this to a small business, people. That one sale was a third of our rent.” George’s Twitter post has since been viewed nearly 7 million times received over 85,600 likes, 5,510 retweets, and 880 comments. Twitter users have asked how they can make online donations and purchases to support the store. You can browse their shelves through their bookstore website.

Twitter Reacts to Jonathan Majors as Kang in New Ant-Man Trailer

The new Ant-Man film starring Paul Rudd, Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania, will be out in theaters on February 17, and the trailer for the movie was recently released. But what seems to be getting Twitter the most excited is the trailer’s first look at Jonathan Majors as Kang. “Jonathan Majors is about to DELIVER as Kang,” wrote Complex Pop Culture on Twitter. A lot of others shared this sentiment. Filmmaker, screenwriter, and playwright Darryl Wharton-Rigby tweeted, “Y’all!!! We are about to witness a robbery. Jonathan Majors as Kang is going to steal an entire movie from everybody else acting in it…” Alongside Jonathan Majors and Paul Rudd, the film also stars Evangeline Lilly, Michelle Pfieffer, Michael Douglas, Kathryn Newton, and Bill Murray.

The Scream Set for Thriller Series Adaptation at Humanoids’ Skyverse Nordic

Stockholm-based production company Skyverse Nordic is developing Nicolas Beuglet’s best-selling novel Le Cri (The Scream) into a six-part thriller series. Le Cri is the first book in Beuglet’s trilogy, which the author says is partly inspired by real events, specifically a U.S. research program, conducted by the CIA and FBI, that was looking into mind control from the 1950s to the 1970s. Skyverse Nordic executive Patrick Nebout said, “The Scream starts off as a creepy Nordic Noir, but soon morphs into something that’s more epic in terms of genre — and more international — as the action moves from Norway, to Paris and the South Atlantic.”

10 Book Journals to Track Your Reading in 2023

Are you trying to keep better track of your reading? These 10 book journals will make you excited to start.

Aunjanue Ellis to Star in Ava DuVernay’s Caste Film Adaptation

Academy Award-nominee Aunjanue Ellis is set to star in Ava DuVernay’s feature adaptation of Caste. The adaptation is inspired by Pulitzer Prize-winner Isabel Wilkerson’s best-selling book Caste: Origins of Our Discontent. This is the second collaboration for Ellis and DuVernay, who previously worked together on the Emmy-nominated Netflix series When They See Us. Filming for Caste is currently underway.

Art Gallery of NSW Opens Australia’s First Children’s Art Library

The Art Gallery of New South Wales has opened Australia’s first children’s art library, the Ashley Dawson-Damer Children’s Art Library. The official website describes the space, located on lower level 3 of the Art Gallery’s original building, as “colourful, light-filled and welcoming.” The Children’s Art Library is a place for “young people and their families to drop by any time we are open, to relax and enjoy a collection especially for them, including books about art and artists, books by artists, and books about making art.” There will also be a regular program of events and activities for families to attend. The Children’s Art Library is open daily from 10:30 a.m. to 4 p.m., and on Wednesdays til 6:30 p.m.

Culture Study Covers What You Don’t Know About the HarperCollins Strike

This week, Culture Study sat down with associate editor Rachel Kambury, one of the HarperCollins Union leaders, to discuss why the HarperCollins strike matters so much. And if you’re looking for ways to support the strike, here’s how you can help make this strike survivable for those who have now been out of work for months. The HarperCollins Union has been on strike now since November 10, 2022.

How I Survived the Closure of My Library

When one reader’s library closed for renovations, they wondered how they would survive. Turns out, it was a blessing in disguise.

John Paul Brammer Shares Scene from Graphic Novel

John Paul Brammer, author of ¡Hola Papi!, is working on a new graphic novel, and he’s giving fans over at Substack a sneak peek at a scene. Brammer explains, “the first chapter is about a kid in Catholic school who is almost entirely nonverbal and unable to communicate with the people around him…The isolation and loneliness of this condition is something I’ve experienced in my real life, especially when I was a child. I use stained glass to represent that thick barrier between a quiet misfit and the world around them.” The graphic novel is still in the book proposal stages, and Brammer says nothing is finalized yet. He is collaborating on this project with Mike Renaud, founder and co-CEO at Varyer.

Judy Blume’s Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret Trailer is Here

The iconic Judy Blume novel Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret is being adapted after fifty years, and it finally got a trailer! The film adaptation is directed and written by Kelly Fremon Craig. Blume says she was reluctant to sell the rights to Margaret for an adaptation, but after receiving a persuasive and passionate letter from Fremon Craig, who also wrote and directed The Edge of Seventeen, Blume was convinced to change her mind. Are You There God? It’s Me Margaret will be in theaters on April 28.

The Girl I Like Forgot Her Glasses Manga Gets Anime Adaptation

Square Enix announced that Koume Fujichika’s The Girl I Like Forgot Her Glasses manga is getting a television anime adaptation. The anime will premiere this year. To celebrate the announcement, Koume drew a new illustration, and the anime’s official website is hosting a countdown that will end on January 31 at 8:00 p.m. JST. Square Enix Manga & Books will also be releasing the manga in English.

Quiz: Which Judy Blume Character Are You?

Take this Judy Blume character quiz to find out which literary characters from her beloved books you are most like.

It Ends With Us Coloring Book Not Happening After All

Atria Books has decided that they will not be releasing an It Ends with Us coloring book after all. The publisher said on a statement on social media, “We developed this book to be uplifting and empowering, mirroring Lily Bloom’s story; we appreciate the feedback and discourse and have the greatest respect for Colleen Hoover’s fans. Thank you for the honest conversation and passion for the world Colleen has created in her books and the characters within.” After the book was announced, many fans took to social media to express their concerns with the project. One TikTokker called the coloring book “beyond poor taste.” Colleen Hoover, author of It Ends with Us, has also reached out to fans on social media to apologize. Hoover said the book was “developed with Lily’s strength in mind, but I can absolutely see how this was tone-deaf. I hear you guys and I agree with you.”

Prince Harry’s Memoir Sells 1.4 Million Copies on First Day

Prince Harry’s memoir Spare already sold 1.4 million copies in the U.S., U.K. and Canada on its first day of sales. Penguin Random House says the memoir has crushed all previous records for any first-day nonfiction book sales from the publisher, even overtaking Barack Obama’s memoir A Promised Land, which previously held the record. These sales figures include all formats of the book, including audiobook, print, and ebook. Spare was released on Tuesday, January 10, simultaneously across the world in 16 languages.

Choose the Best LGBTQ Books of 2022 for the Reads Rainbow Awards

Now’s your chance to vote for the best LGBTQ books of 2022 for the Reads Rainbow Awards! On the Reads Rainbow Awards site, you can now vote on the 10 finalists in the following categories: Best Contemporary Fiction, Best Adult Mystery/Thriller, Best Adult Historical, Best Adult Horror & Paranormal, Best Adult Fantasy, Best Adult Science Fiction, Best Young Adult Contemporary Fiction, Best Young Adult Mystery/Thriller, Best Young Adult Historical, Best Young Adult Horror/Paranormal, Best Young Adult Fantasy, Best Young Adult Science Fiction, Best Middle Grade and Picture Books, Best Graphic Novels & Comics, Best Poetry, and Best Nonfiction. Voting opened on January 11th and will close on January 25 at 10AM GMT. Results will be announced on January 31st.

They Both Die at the End Series Adaptation Coming to Netflix

Netflix is adapting the bestselling young adult novel They Both Die at the End by Adam Silvera into a series. Bridgerton creator Chris Van Dusen will serve as co-writer and executive producer on the project. Yellowjackets executive producer Drew Comins and Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio, known professionally as Bad Bunny, will join Dusen to serve as executive producers. They Both Die at the End was originally released in 2017, but thanks to social media buzz (primarily on BookTok), Silvera’s book became the most-sold young adult novel of 2021.

Here’s A First Look at the Film Adaptation of Are You There God? It’s Me Margaret

Lionsgate has shared first look images of the film adaptation of Judy Blume’s classic young adult novel Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret. The film stars Abby Ryder Fortson as 11-year-old Margaret, Rachel McAdams as Margaret’s mother Barbara, and Kathy Bates as Margaret’s grandmother Sylvia. Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret is written for the screen and directed by Kelly Fremon Craig. It’s produced by Gracie Films’ James L. Brooks, along with Julie Ansell, Richard Sakai, Kelly Fremon Craig, Judy Blume, Amy Lorraine Brooks, Aldric La’auli Porter and executive produced by Jonathan McCoy.

It Ends With Us is Releasing an Official Coloring Book, and People are Confused

In a now-deleted Instagram post, Colleen Hoover announced on that her best-selling novel It Ends With Us would be turned into a coloring book. Hoover expressed her excitement for the project, writing, “I’m one of the adult coloring book industry’s biggest consumers, so to have one of my books turned into a coloring book is a dream come true! I AM SO EXCITED FOR THIS!” However, the project has already received a lot of criticism on social media. People on TikTok have expressed confusion, and others on social media have also voiced their issues with the coloring book. For instance, on Hoover’s Instagram post, one user asked, “A coloring book about domestic violence…?” Another wrote, “This is so gross. Why make a book about literal abuse into something as lighthearted as a colouring book?” The controversial coloring book, illustrated by Emma Taylor, is set (as far as we know) to release on April 4, 2023.

23 Great Books to Read in 2023

It’s time for the new books of 2023! Here are 23 great books to read in 2023 (plus more titles because you deserve it).

Charleston’s 7th Annual Black Ink Festival Amplifies Black Voices in Literature

Charleston’s Black Ink Festival is back for a 7th year to amplify Black voices in literature. The festival will take place from January 12-14. This year’s theme is “Black to the Future,” and the keynote speaker is New York Times best-selling Sierra Leonean American author Namina Forna, author of The Gilded Ones. Dijuanna Brockington, chair of the festival’s planning community said, “The Gilded Ones caught my attention. A book about Black girls who bleed gold, are expected to serve at the behest of others, and oh yeah, are called ‘demons?’ Yeah, I was all in.” Forna’s address is slated for 1pm on January 14. Charleston-area writers Theresa Jenkins Hilliard, Jessica Mack and Herb Frazier will also be speaking at the festival.

Paramount+ Snags Dungeons & Dragons TV Series

Paramount+ has landed an eight-episode series based on the roleplaying game Dungeons & Dragons. Red Notice filmmaker Rawson Marshall Thurber wrote the pilot script and is set to direct the first episode. While there is also a D&D film hitting theaters later this year, sources say that the upcoming series will be a completely separate project from the movie. The series has been in development for over a year. eOne began shopping the project to potential buyers in November, with Paramount+ winning with a straight-to-series order.

Colby Wilkens Announces Debut Romance If I Stopped Hating You

Colby Wilkens has announced that her debut novel If I Stopped Hating You will be published by SMP Romance in Fall 2024. The novel follows two enemy Indigenous horror authors who attend the same writers retreat at a haunted Scottish castle. Together, they are forced to confront the castle’s ghosts and their developing feelings. The book will be the first book in a three-book deal.

8 Indie Queer Books Out in Winter 2023 to Preorder Now

Get your library card ready and cue up your bookstore’s website, because it’s time to look at the best indie queer books out in winter 2023.