Caleb Azumah Nelson Wins Costa First Novel Award for Open Water
Caleb Azumah Nelson’s debut novel Open Water has been named the winner of the Costa first novel award. Judges praised the novel as “deeply moving, searingly intimate and just so now.” British-Ghanian writer and photographer Caleb Azumah Nelson quit his job at the Apple Store to write Open Water. The author said, “I think I am honestly still getting used to the fact that I have not only put a book out, but that it’s been really well received. All writers do this – you kind of commit these acts of bravery by putting words down on the page, and then you close your eyes when you’ve done it and hope someone might read it.”
Betty White’s Life Celebrated in New Biographic Comic Book
Actress Betty White—who would have turned 100 on January 17th—died in her sleep this past Friday. Now, her life is being celebrated in a new biographic comic book. The new comic book is from TidalWave Productions, which has previously released biographies on celebrities like Carrie Fisher, Lucille Ball, David Bowie, and Elizabeth Taylor. The book will be available both digitally and in print.
A New Librarian-Moderated Author Series Celebrates AAPI Voices
On January 4th, the AAPI Communities in Conversation series launched. The series is a joint effort between the University of South Carolina’s Augusta Baker Endowed Chair and Penguin Random House Library Marketing, with additional media support from Publishers Weekly. The free talks will happen monthly throughout 2022, with a full schedule for the year to be posted in the near future. The first talk happened on Tuesday, January 4th with Naomi Hirahara, author of Clark & Division, and Sujata Massey, author of The Bombay Prince, in conversation with librarian Andrienne Cruz of Azusa City Library. Miriam Tuliao, the senior library marketing manager at Penguin Random House, says the series is designed to help librarians and readers connect with a range of AAPI voices: “Librarians are committed to promoting diverse books in readers’ advisory conversations, supporting diverse collection development, and hosting book-centered programs that meet the reading interests of diverse communities.” While the full schedule has yet to be confirmed, future guests include Malinda Lo (Last Night At The Telegraph Club), Sheldon Simeon (Cook Real Hawai’i), Sara Desai (The Singles Table), Jen Frederick (Seoulmates), James Yang (A Boy Named Isamu), and Andrea Wang (The Many Meanings Of Meilan).
Queer Books from 2021 You Might Have Missed — And Why We Need to Talk About Them
These queer books from 2021 might not have been on everyone’s “Best of the Year” lists, and maybe they flew under the radar. But they’re all still worth a read, and we need to talk about them!