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2022 Hugo Awards Voting Open: Today in Books

Tulsa Library Book Returned After 46 Years

A library in Owasso, Oklahoma of the Tulsa City-County Library system had a book returned this week — 46 years late. The book, Annie, Annie by Molly Cone was due on September 8th, 1976, and is so old that the book is no longer in print, nor is it in the library’s modern computer system.

In Turkey, Book Publishers Face Agonizing Choices to Survive

Turkey is currently experiencing an economic crisis and rampant inflation, which is causing publishing houses to struggle to release new books as books become costlier to produce and Turkish purchasing power is weakening among readers. According to data from the Statistics Institute of Turkey in February 2022, the annual increase in paper prices was a record 168%. Turkey placed sixth in the global publishing rankings in 2021 and publishers worry that this growing crisis could have severe implications for Turkey’s cultural vibrancy and freedom of speech.

2022 Hugo Awards Voting Open

The 2022 World Science Fiction Convention, Chicon 8, has announced that voting is open for the 2022 Hugo Awards, the Lodestar Award for best Young Adult Book, and the Astounding Award for Best New Writer. Ballots are due August 11, 2022 at 11:59pm PDT.

High School Activist Given PEN Award for Organizing Protests Against “Don’t Say Gay” Bill

A Florida high school activist, Jack Petocz, was presented with the PEN/Berenson award at the annual PEN America Literary Gala for organizing protests — including a statewide student walkout — against the “Don’t Say Gay” Bill.

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Today In Books

Republicans try to restrict minors’ access to two books after judge’s obscenity finding: Today in Books

Va. Republicans try to restrict minors’ access to two books after judge’s obscenity finding

Republican congressional candidate, Tommy Altman, is pursing restraining orders against Barnes & Noble that would make two books unavailable to minors due to explicit sexual content. The books in question are A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J. Maas and Gender Queer by Maia Kobabe.

A Four-Story Bookstore Is Coming to Beacon Hill This Summer

Beacon Hill Books and Cafe, a four-story bookstore and cafe, is set to open in Boston this August. The shop will will occupy one of the original Greek Revival buildings on Beacon Hill and will feature general interest books, two rooms dedicated to travel and aesthetics, books for young readers of all ages, a room for community events, a courtyard garden, a salon for intimate readings, and cookbooks in the cafe which will serve breakfast, lunch, dinner, and afternoon tea.

This New Legal Drama Based on a Popular Book Series Has Overtaken ‘Ozark’ as the Top Show on Netflix

Netflix’s The Lincoln Lawyer, adapted from the 2005 book of the same name by Michael Connelly, moved into the number one spot on the streaming service’s list of most-watched shows. The show is actually based on the second book in the series, The Brass Verdict. The series stars Garcia-Rulfo, Neve Campbell, Becki Newton, Jazz Raycole, Angus Sampson and Christopher Gorham, and all 10 episodes are currently available to stream.

Join the Romance for Reproductive Justice Auction This Weekend

The romance world is fighting back against the U.S. Supreme Court threats to overturn Roe v. Wade with The Romance for Reproductive Justice auction, which is offering over 200 packages in exchange for donations to National Network of Abortion Funds’ Collective Power Fund. The auction starts on May 21 and runs through May 23.

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Today In Books

Conservative parents take aim at library apps: Today in Books

Conservative parents take aim at library apps meant to expand access to books

Conservative parents who have pushed schools and public libraries to shut down their digital programs are now turning to apps and the companies that run them — including Epic, Hoopla, and OverDrive. These tech startups aren’t usually in the spotlight when it comes to book challenges, so they often have little experience with receiving hostility from conservative activists.

The Duchess of York has signed a 22-book deal that will draw on her personal experiences growing up

Sarah “Fergie” Ferguson, the Duchess of York, has just signed a new 22-book deal with Australian publishers Serenity Press which will include three new young adult novels. Ferguson says she will draw from her personal struggles with mental health and eating disorders, channeling some of her own painful experiences from her teenage years into her writing. Her first young adult book, Demon’s Land, will be released at the end of June.

91st Annual California Book Awards Winners

The winners of the 91st Annual California Book Awards have been announced, and the awards will be presented virtually on Monday, June 6th, 2022. The California Book Awards honor the exceptional literary merit of California writers and publishers. This year they will be honoring writers such as Safia Elhillo in the young adult category with Home is Not a Country and Will Alexander in poetry with Refractive Africa.

The School Board Project, Round One: Book Censorship News

Thanks to the help of dozens of volunteers and partners, The School Board Project is building a massive database of every school board, school board election, and related information for anyone to access to help Americans know know who is representing your tax money and values. This is especially important in a time of increased censorship, with big money funding campaigns by right-wing activists at the local board level and newly-elected board members choosing to overreach in their power to remove books.

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Today In Books

Chris Bohjalian’s Novel THE LIONESS To Be Adapted For TV: Today in Books

Chris Bohjalian’s Novel The Lioness To Be Adapted For TV By eOne

Chris Bohjalian’s upcoming historical fiction thriller, The Lioness, will be adapted for television by eOne. The story follows a Hollywood starlet and her entourage as they embark on a luxurious African safari that turns deadly. And the book is set to publish on May 10th from Doubleday, an imprint of Penguin Random House.

Eggers offers replacements for South Dakota banned books

Best-selling author Dave Eggers is offering high school seniors in Rapid City, South Dakota free copies of his book The Circle after school administrators deemed it inappropriate for high school students and then listed the district’s copies as surplus and marked “to be destroyed.” Eggers says high school students can email his office and ask for The Circle, as well as four other books by different authors targeted by the district, and the books will be shipped to students by independent bookstores.

Meet Cute Bookshop Organizes Auction for Reproductive Justice

“We’re mad. So we are, as they say, doing a thing,” says Meet Cute Bookshop in La Mesa, CA. And that thing is organizing Romance for Reproductive Justice, an auction in support of the National Network of Abortion Funds’ Collective Power Fund. Bidding will open May 21-23.

WNDB Campaign to Send Care Packages to LGBTQIA+ Kids and How You Can Help

Nonprofit and grassroots organization, We Need Diverse Books, is raising money to “share love and affirmation” with LGBTQIA+ kids and teens by sending book care packages to counteract discriminatory book censorship efforts.

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Epic Updates: May 2, 2022

Happy Monday and Happy May, Epic Insiders! Here’s what we’ve got for you today:

Announcements

— Did you catch last week’s Behind the Scenes post where Cici shared her five favorite video games?

What Are You Reading?

Insiders! Excited to be sharing my reading with you all once again. We won’t talk about how half the year is almost gone *eep*.

Lately, a lot of my reading has been influenced by what I’ve been watching. Seeing that the Jujutsu Kaisen movie was out got me hype, so I rewatched season one of the anime for the third time (for real) as a sort of lead up to watching the movie. All of this was done only to find out that the showings of the movie that were nearest me didn’t have it dubbed in English. It’s hard for me to pay attention to what’s happening and read subtitles, but since I had been so excited to finally be past season one of the show, I took to reading the manga.

Cover of Jujutsu Kaisen Vol 1

If you’re unfamiliar, Jujutsu Kaisen is one of the most popular anime— with a similarly popular manga— in the U.S. right now. It follows teenager Yuji Itadori as he learns that there are things called curses that plague humanity. Still reeling from the loss of his grandfather, Yuji decides to save another high schooler and becomes possessed by the 1,000- year old king of curses, Sukuna, in the process.

Normally, I don’t really read shounen manga much because I assumed the black and white color palette would make it hard for me to follow the action. My impatience in wanting to know the rest of the story made me realize that I could actually mostly follow things. Having already seen how everything looks in motion from watching the show helped me when reading the manga, too, I think. So, I read all the volumes that are out so far. This eventually led me to reading the individual chapters as they get released on the Shounen Jump app, which offers some free chapters and charges only $1.99/month for a premium subscription. My only complaint about the individual chapters is that they don’t have the author’s side notes.

Book cover of Queen of the Tiles by Hanna Alkaf

A part from manga, I’ve been reading Queen of the Tiles for the Hey YA podcast. It’s a YA murder mystery set in Malaysia against the backdrop of a Scrabble competition. In other words, it has all the things. My cohost, Tirzah Price, and I invited listeners to read the book with us for a special book club episode and will be discussing listener comments on the book as well as our own thoughts. Should be fun!

Lastly, I also recently started a Frankenstein retelling, The Children on the Hill, which starts off with who I think is the monster planning to abduct someone. Color me intrigued!

What have y’all been reading? Click through to add your reading list to the comments!
Erica

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Today In Books

Manga is Booming: Today in Books

Atria Lets Córdova’s ‘Angels’ Fly

Melanie Iglesias Perez at Atria bought world English and Spanish rights to The Fall of Rebel Angels by Zoraida Córdova. The book is set for fall 2023, and Córdova’s representative Suzie Townsend describes it as “love story between a woman suspected of murdering her former lover and a fallen angel who is cursed to search for his wings on Earth every one hundred years.”

Frank Miller started a publishing company

Comics legend, Frank Miller, is starting a publishing company called Frank Miller Presents. Miller will be acting as president and editor-in-chief, with the goal of creating and curating a line of comics that captures his distinct visual style from a range of comics veterans as well as rising artists.

Manga Is Booming

The manga marketplace sales have exploded in North America with sales currently at more than 2.5 times larger than its earlier sales peak back in 2007 according to Masaaki Shimizu, general manager and publisher at Square Enix Manga & Books. Not only are publishers seeing growth in bestselling, but they’re also reporting higher than usual sales for midlist and backlist titles as well.

Tennessee Lawmaker Suggests Burning Banned Books

While debating the HB 2666/SB 2247 bill in the House, Democratic State Representative John Ray Clemmons asked Republican State Representative Jerry Sexton what he would do with the books deemed “inappropriate” for the collection. Sexton responded, “I would burn them.”

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Epic Updates: April 25, 2022

Happy Monday, Epic Insiders! How’s that pollen-in-the-face treating you? It’s another year of “allergies or COVID?” roulette, so pop a Claritin, and let’s get into our epic updates:

Announcements

— The winner for the Book Riot Podcast bonus episode poll was The Wayback Machine!

What Are You Reading?

Happy last Monday of April, Insiders fam! Join me in a collective gasp at the realization that this time next week <insert that meme here, you know the one>, it’s gonna be May. That means it’s time to wrap up my month sharing my reading life with y’all. Let’s get to it!

I finished Iron & Velvet by Alexis Hall and yo, what a rollicking good time. Vampires! Faerie! Sex demons! Bloodbaths and sexy times! Alexis Hall does funny dialogue so, so well. Whether it’s romance or mystery, human or paranormal, his books are just always a really fun and hilarious time.

Under Lock & Skeleton Key cover image

I was taking my time with The Rib King when my Libby loan expired! So I’m back on the hold list for that and moved on to Under Lock & Skeleton Key by Gigi Pandian in the meantime. I was going pick up a physical copy, but I was reminded that the audiobook is narrated by Soneela Nankani so audio was the way to go. It’s an homage to classic mysteries with all kinds of secret passageway/hidden room stuff and magic (as in magic tricks, not fantasy magic), plus Scottish folklore and Indian food. SO fun!

You already know: still working on Shadow of Night by Deborah Harkness but I’m actually 75% of the way through! I took a break from Cackle by Rachel Harrison to do some work reading and started Café Con Lychee by Emery Lee. It’s about two young men who’ve always been at odds because their families own competing businesses: an Asian American café and a Puerto Rican bakery (sold!!!). Then a new fusion café in town threatens both of those enterprises, and they realize they need to join forces to win back their customers BUT ALSO FEELINGS. I just heart it so much. This one’s from the author of Meet Cute Diary which is also on my (ludicrously unmanageable) TBR.

Finally, I’m working on the audiobook of Say Nothing: A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland by Patrick Radden Keefe. It’s been on my list for awhile but got bumped up this weekend after my 5th rewatch of Derry Girls, which reminded me that I’ve been meaning to read up on the history of The Troubles. It’s so far a very compelling read and I’m all of 4% in. It reads like fiction but it’s very much not. Also, thanks Derry Girls for once again making me say stuff like, “Catch yourself on!”

That’s it for me, folks. It’s been fun spending some time with y’all this month! One last time: what are you reading this week? Click through to add your reading list to the comments!

Till next time, stay bad & bookish.
Vanessa

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Today In Books

Black Panther Has Officially Been Replaced In “Avengers”: Today in Books

Black Panther Has Officially Been Cut, Replaced In “Avengers”

In the latest issue, “Avengers #55,” Marvel Comics has officially replaced Black Panther in their ongoing “Avengers” run with Nighthawk — Marvel Universe’s version of Batman. This change comes in the wake of T’Challa’s war against Wakanda in “Black Panther” where we see the superhero fighting to clear his name and falling further into a web of lies, deceit, and unrest.

TikTok helps UK book sales hit record levels, Publishers Association says

According to the Publishers Association, readers discussing their favorite books on TikTok helped lift sales 5% to £6.7bn in the UK in 2021. Publishers Association said four of the top five young adult bestsellers in 2021 had been driven by the BookTok trend.

Los Angeles Times Book Prizes Winners Announced

The 42nd annual Los Angeles Times Book Prizes, committed to literary excellence, championing new voices, and celebrating the highest quality of writing from authors at all stages of their careers, were awarded on Friday at the University of Southern California’s Bovard Auditorium.

LeVar Burton to Host National Spelling Bee

Actor and beloved former host and executive producer for PBS’ Reading Rainbow, LeVar Burton, will be hosting the 2022 Scripps National Spelling Bee.

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Today In Books

New York Public Library makes banned books available for free: Today in Books

New York Public Library makes banned books available for free

In response to more than 1,500 books challenged to be removed from libraries in the last year, New York Public Libraries launched an initiative called Books for All, which aims to make some banned books available to everyone (regardless of library card-carrying status) for free. The initiative allows readers 13 and older to access commonly banned books through the library’s app through the end of May — free from wait times or fines.

How to see Amanda Gorman and much more as the Festival of Books returns

Amanda Gorman, the nation’s youngest inaugural poet, will return to her hometown Festival of Books L.A. Times Main Stage as the headliner on April 23rd. She will be discussing her latest poetry collection written during the depths of the pandemic, Call Us What We Carry.

Utah high school students turn a YA novel into a musical

Students at Olympus High School in Holladay, Utah are creating a musical based on Marissa Meyer’s YA novel Heartless. The students started to work on the project in 2019, emailed Meyer’s assistant, and less than a month later, got a response expressing support. Now, the production will hit the stage of CenterPoint Legacy Theatre in Centerville on April 22.

A Picture Book About Unicorns Was Banned in an Ohio School District

Picture book author, Jason Tharp, was invited for a visit to an elementary school in Buckeye Valley School District in Ohio. However, he was told not not to read from his book It’s Okay To Be a Unicorn! after a parent complained assuming the book had LGBTQ content because there was a rainbow on the front cover.

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Insiders

Epic Update: April 11, 2022

Happy Monday, Epic Insiders! It took me a minute to thaw out from the mountain of snow that got dumped on me in Portland last night, but I made it to your inbox — whew! (I know, I know you East Coasters and Midwesterners aren’t so phased by an April snow, but the Book Riot staff here in Portland are feeling grumbly). Here’s what we’ve for you got this week:

— Vanessa is up for What Are You Reading? and, really, what more do you need from a post than Vanessa referring to Shakespeare as “ol’ Billy Shakes”?

Want to listen to this Epic Update in musical tone form? Check it out on Typatone here.

Stay musical,
Caitlin