Book News

The 2001 Los Angeles Times Book Prize finalists were announced on Friday, March 2. Established in 1980, the Times’s annual Book Prize rewards excellence in English-language writing in nine different categories, ranging from biography to fiction to history to poetry. And, notably, several Book Sense 76 picks are among in the list of 45 finalists (including three of the five titles in the first fiction category).

In conjunction with BookExpo America, a number of organizations have come together to launch a campaign to encourage New York City residents to join a citywide book group. Earlier this month representatives from the organizations voted to select as the featured title the novel Native Speaker by Chang-Rae Lee, (Riverhead Books).

There are several key dates in the career of children’s author Jack Gantos.

In 2001, Gantos received a Newbery Honor for Joey Pigza Loses Control.

His novel Joey Pigza Swallowed the Key was a National Book Award Finalist in 1999.

In 1976, his first book, Rotten Ralph, was published.

And in 1972 he spent a year in prison.

The New York Public Library announced five nominees for its second annual Young Lions Fiction Award [YLFA], which recognizes the work of authors age 35 or younger. Remarkably, each title nominated was a Book Sense 76 pick during 2001-- proving yet again that independent booksellers know what makes for excellent literature.

Awards Celebrate Five Titles by Northwest Authors

On February 15, the Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association (PNBA) announced the winners of its Pacific Northwest Book Awards 2002, which gives special recognition to five titles written by regional authors that were published in 2001.

This year’s Oscars nominations have a decidedly literary theme. Of the five nominees for best picture, three are film adaptations of literary works: J.R.R. Tolkien’s classic fantasy, Fellowship of the Ring (Part 1 of Tolkien’s epic Lord of the Rings trilogy); In the Bedroom, by Andre Dubus; and Sylvia Nasar’s A Beautiful Mind: The Life of Mathematical Genius and Nobel Laureate John Nash. The nominations were announced February 12.

Accountant Tess Uriza Holthe did not begin the writing class at her favorite bookstore with dreams of completing a novel. At the time, writing was a hobby. However, when Linda Watanabe McFerrin (author of The Hand of Buddha, Coffeehouse Press) -- who was teaching the class "Life into Literature" at Book Passage in Corte Madera, California -- gave her students an assignment to write about a family myth, a treasure chest of memories was unlocked for Holthe.

Alexandra Fuller’s Don’t Let’s Go to the Dogs Tonight: An African Childhood (Random House) -- a vivid and often heartbreaking memoir by a daughter of white farmers who moved from Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) to Malawi to Zambia -- has been drawing the sort of praise from reviewers and booksellers that first-time authors dream of.

The nominees for the 14th annual Lambda Literary Awards have been announced. The awards will be presented on May 2 at a ceremony in New York City. In addition, the Lambda Literary Foundation's Jim Marks told BTW that the comic and writer Margaret Cho will be presented the Bridgebuilders Award "for her ability to help bridge communities."

The nominees are:

Lesbian Fiction

The Mystery Writers of America have announced the nominees for the 2002 Edgar Awards, the top awards for mystery authors. The Edgars will be presented at an awards ceremony at New York City's Grand Hyatt Hotel on May 2.

Among those nominated are:

Best Novel

Mark Kurlansky has become a veritable regular on the Book Sense 76 List. The hardcover edition of his The Basque History of the World (Walker) appeared on the November/December list in 1999; the hardcover edition of The White Man in the Tree: And Other Stories (Washington Square Press) was on the January/February 2001 list; and The Basque History of the World paperback (Penguin) was featured on the March/April Book Sense 76 in 2001.

Ernest Hebert, novelist and Dartmouth professor of writing, has taken to the open road for a book tour with stops at about 15 Book Sense stores. His work of historical fiction, The Old American (Hardscrabble, University Press of New England), set in the New England frontier during the French and Indian Wars, is based on the true story of an English settler kidnapped by an Algonkian king, Caucus-Meteor.

This is the earliest announcement yet of the Book Sense 76, in order to give you as much lead time as possible to check initials or on-hand.

The March/April 76 with bookseller quotes will run here next week, as we know many of you like to see the quotes early, and to cut and paste them for newsletters, Web sites, and shelf-talkers.

Any on-sale dates that we have for February and March are noted; otherwise, assume January or fall '01 publication, with a few earlier, which is neat.

Readers of USA Today this morning got a Book Sense-specific "USA Today Snapshot," when the newspaper's Life section featured five "top teen books" taken from the recent Book Sense Teen 76 Top Ten. The featured spot -- on the first page of the Life section -- also noted that the complete list and recommendations were available on BookSense.com. (The full list can be found here, and it will also be mailed to Book Sense stores in the February white box.)

According to Clarion spokesperson Deb Shapiro, the publisher has ordered thousands more copies of both The Three Pigs by David Wiesner and A Single Shard by Linda Sue Park since Tuesday, when the two books won the 2002 Caldecott Medal and Newbery Medal respectively. (Click here for a related story.)