Costa Book Awards Scrapped Suddenly
After running for half a century, the Costa Book Awards have been abruptly scrapped. The coffee shop chain has said the 2021 awards, which were announced in February this year, were the last. Costa’s CEO Jill McDonald said in a statement, “After 50 years of celebrating some of the most enjoyable books written by hugely talented authors from across the UK and Ireland, Costa Coffee has taken the difficult decision to end the book awards.”
Ibram X. Kendi Presents The Underground Railroad with 2022 Peabody Award
The 2022 Peabody winners have been announced, and one of this year’s winners in the entertainment category is the Amazon Prime limited series The Underground Railroad, based on the novel by Colson Whitehead. Bestselling author Ibram X. Kendi presented the honor to the acclaimed Barry Jenkins limited series, saying, “In 2021, Barry Jenkins gave Whitehead’s novel the adaptation it deserves, approaching its characters and landscapes with stunning reverence. This lush production created an immersive, sensory experience. It offered us poignant moments of connection between characters spanning generations and gave us weighty lessons about the devastation of the transatlantic slave trade. For its daring, entrancing and eye-opening adaptation, The Underground Railroad wins a Peabody Award.” Winners for the 82nd Annual Peabody Awards can be found at the official Peabody Awards Twitter.
Marvel’s Thunderbolts Move Taps Jake Schreier to Direct
Marvel’s Thunderbolts movie has chosen its director: Jake Schreieir, who has previously directed classic Kendrick Lamar and Kanye West music videos, along with the films Paper Towns in 2015 and Robot & Frank in 2012. Eric Pearson (Black Widow) is writing the script and Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige is producing.
LeVar Burton Calls National Increase in Book Bans “Embarrassing”
During a recent interview on The View, LeVar Burton said, “It’s embarrassing that we are banning books in this country.”