Author: Emily Martin

2022 Children’s Book Week Theme and Poster Revealed

Every Child a Reader and the Children’s Book Council have announced the 2022 Children’s Book Week slogan, “How Do You Book?” The theme challenges participants in 2022 Children’s Book week to think about what they read, where they read, and how they read. “We wanted to have a theme that was actionable and asked young people to think about reading from lots of different angles,” said associate executive director Shaina Birkhead. “We loved the idea of ‘book’ being a verb because books and reading are such an active and vibrant way to engage with the world.” The literary celebration will take place May 2–8 and November 7–13. In May, it will also include the first annual Floyd Cooper Day, in honor of the late author-illustrator.

Love, Victor to End with Season 3 on Hulu

On Tuesday, Hulu announced that the third season of Love, Victor will be its last season. Love, Victor is an offshoot of Love, Simon, based on the novel Simon vs the Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli. Love, Victor, starring Michael Cimino, will return for its final season on June 15th. All eight episode will drop at once.

Conversations with Friends Teaser Trailer Released

Hulu has released its first teaser trailer for Conversations with Friends, a 12-episode series based on Sally Rooney’s debut novel of the same name. The series stars Alison Oliver as Frances, Sasha Lane as Bobbi Connolly, Joe Alwyn as Nick Conway, and Jemima Kirke as Melissa Conway. Entertainment Weekly also revealed images from the upcoming series. Conversations with Friends premiers all at once in May on Hulu and BBC Three.

Libraries are More Popular Than Ever and Library Workers Don’t Earn Livable Wages

US public libraries are more popular than ever, but library workers are mostly not paid a livable wage. Here’s a look at the state of US public libraries.

Kevin Hart and Charlamagne Tha God Unveil Five Exclusive Audible Series

Kevin Hart and Charlamagne Tha God have five new projects coming to Audible in 2022 from their newly created audio production banner SBH Productions. Their goal is to “give rise to Black creatives and create content that speaks to the culture.” One of those upcoming projects is Brokedown Prophets, a scripted thriller created and written by bestselling author SA Cosby. Cosby is the author of critically acclaimed novels Blacktop Wasteland and Razorblade Tears. SA Cosby tweeted the announcement on Wednesday, writing, “FINALLY can announce this!!!! I am so grateful to
@KevinHart4real and @cthagod for this incredible opportunity and to Audible for allowing us to bring BROKEDOWN PROPHETS, a gritty story of survival and redemption to your ears!! It’s an amazing experience.”

Drive My Car Makes History as First Japanese Film Nominated for Oscars Best Picture

Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s Drive My Car has made history, becoming the first Japanese film ever to receive an Oscar nomination for Best Picture. Hamaguchi co-wrote and directed the film, which based on a short story by Haruki Murakami from his 2014 collection Men Without Women. Drive My Car was one of the most highly-praised films out of Cannes, and it won the Best Screenplay prize. Hamaguchi is also nominated for an Oscar in the Best Director category.

Nashville Bookstore Starts Book Drive After Maus Banning

Following McMinn County School Board’s banning of the Pulitzer Prize-winning graphic novel Maus by Art Spiegelman, Fairytales Children’s Bookstore in East Nashville started a book drive to get copies of the book to middle and high school teachers. Bookstore owner John Derr says he started the book drive after receiving a large response from customers wanting to buy the book to give to students. “I think books are a great way to teach children about history. Even parts of our history that are dark or tragic such as the holocaust,” said Derr. 

How to Use FOIA to Uncover Book Challenges

It’s your right as a citizen to utilize the freedom of information act. Here’s what it is and how to use it to fight book challenges.

Writers Call for Urgent Action Over Missing Rwandan Poet

More than 100 authors from around the world have written to the Rwandan president about the case of a missing Rwandan poet. Innocent Bahati disappeared one year ago today. According to PEN International, Bahati was last seen at a hotel in Nyanza district, in the Southern Province of Rwanda, on February 7th 2021. The poet failed to return to Kigali, and his phones have been switched off since. Now, writers and artists—including Margaret Atwood, Ben Okri, and JM Coetzee—have written to Rwandan president Paul Kagame to express their “grave concern” about Bahati’s life and whereabouts. “We are bringing this matter to your attention, with a plea for urgent action because, one year later, Bahati is still missing and his situation unknown. We note with concern that the Rwandan authorities are yet to disclose any progress or outcome of investigations on his case,” say the authors, led by PEN International president Burhan Sönmez.

Two Highly-Anticipated Cookbooks Delayed After Shipping Collapse

The release dates of two highly-anticipated cookbooks have been set back by months after copies were lost in a shipping container collapse. Mason Hereford, owner of New Orleans restaurant Turkey and the Wolf and author of the unreleased cookbook Turkey and the Wolf: Flavor Trippin’ in New Orleans took to Instagram to announce the disappointing news. Hereford writes, “I’m sorry to say the Turkey and the Wolf cookbook won’t be shipping out in February as planned. There was a container collapse on the cargo ship that contained the Turkey and the Wolf books. The good news is that there were no critical injuries, as can happen in these situations. But the bad news is the books might be in a cargo container at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean.” The release of the book has been pushed back from February 15 to June 21.

New York Times columnist Melissa Clark also announced the news that her cookbook Dinner in One: Exceptional & Easy One-Pan Meals would be delayed. The book, which had an initial release date of March 22, has been postponed until September. Clark writes, “I like to think that if the books are at the bottom of the ocean, they’re teaching whole schools of fish some very tasty recipes. Poseidon and his nereids are dining in style.”

Amazon’s Lord of the Rings Trailer to Air During Super Bowl

Amazon Studios will release the first teaser trailer for its long-awaited The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power series during Super Bowl LVI on Sunday, February 13th. According to Amazon, the show, which is the most expensive TV series ever made, “brings to screens for the very first time the heroic legends of the fabled Second Age of Middle-earth’s history. This epic drama is set thousands of years before the events of J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings and will take viewers back to an era in which great powers were forged, kingdoms rose to glory and fell to ruin, unlikely heroes were tested, hope hung by the finest of threads, and the greatest villain that ever flowed from Tolkien’s pen threatened to cover all the world in darkness.”

American Library Association Names Best YA Audiobooks for 2022

The Young Adult Library Services Association (part of the American Library Association) has announced their 2022 Amazing Audiobooks for Young Adult Readers list. Here are the winning audiobooks.

Hear Lauren Graham Read an Excerpt from Rebecca Serle’s One Italian Summer

Rebecca Serle’s latest novel One Italian Summer is coming out on March 1. Actress Lauren Graham will be narrating the audiobook, and you can listen to an excerpt from Graham’s narration at Entertainment Weekly. The novel follows Katy, a woman who has just lost her mother right before their planned mother/daughter trip to Positano, where they were going to recreate the summer in which Katy’s parents first met. When Katy decides to go ahead with the vacation to Italy on her own, she mysteriously meets the 30-year-old version of her mom.

DK Announces New Partnership with The Black Curriculum to Create “Landmark” Series

DK is partnering with The Black Curriculum to publish a series of three books in response to the lack of Black British history taught in the UK. The new series of books will showcase Black writers and include supplemental educational resources to young people about Black British history. DK said in a statement, “Aimed at children aged eight and upwards, the books will feature stories of the people, places and journeys that shaped Britain. Each book includes bold illustrations from different illustrators, and engaging text. The series will not only educate but will encourage and inspire readers to ask questions, and continue their learning about Black history beyond the classroom.” 

Dakota Johnson in Talks to Star in Madame Web Film

Dakota Johnson is in talks to star in Sony Studio’s Madame Web movie. S.J. Clarkson has signed on to direct the film, and Matt Sazama and Burk Sharpless wrote the screenplay. This would be the first female superhero movie from Sony Pictures’ universe of Marvel characters. In the Marvel comics, Madame Web is an elderly woman who has myasthenia gravis and is connected to a life support system that looks like a spider web. Insiders say the character has psychic sensory powers that makes her similar to Doctor Strange.

The Network of Suburban Moms Working to Stop Book Bans

Red Wine and Blue is a group of over 250,000 suburban moms working to end book bans across the USA.

Fantasia Barrino to Star in The Color Purple Movie Musical

We’ve got more casting news for The Color Purple! Fantasia Barrino is making her feature film debut in The Color Purple movie musical. The singer-songwriter is in final negotiations to play Celie, a role that she played on stage on Broadway in 2007 and for which she earned rave reviews. Barrino would join a previously reported cast of Taraji P. Henson, Corey Hawkins and H.E.R., and Peacemaker co-star Danielle Brooks has also joined the cast, playing the role of Sofia.

New Exhibition of Clothing Reveals Charlotte Brontë’s Sensual Side

A new exhibition at the Brontë Parsonage Museum is showcasing a different side of Charlote Brontë: her surprising penchant for colorful, fashionable, and even “sensual” clothing. The exhibition of Charlotte’s clothing opened this week at the Brontës’ home in Haworth, West Yorkshire. “My personal favourite is her pink wrapper, which is a really, really strange garment,” said Dr Eleanor Houghton, historian, writer, illustrator, and co-curator of the exhibition. “It was a sort of house coat with a matching cape. It’s hideous, pink, with little flowers on it, very bold, very bright and huge – very voluminous. It’s absolutely the opposite of anything you would ever associate with Charlotte Brontë.” The museum says that this exhibition is the first time the Jane Eyre author has ever been “celebrated through her clothes.” The exhibit of more than 20 pieces of Charlotte’s clothing and accessories will run until January 1st, 2023.

Scott Turow’s Best-Selling Novel Presumed Innocent to be Adapted into a Series on Apple TV+

Scott Turow’s best-selling novel Presumed Innocent is becoming a limited series on Apple TV+. The novel, which is described as “the story of a horrific murder that upends the Chicago Prosecuting Attorneys’ office when one of its own is suspected of the crime,” was previously made into a in 1990 starring Harrison Ford. Showrunner and executive producer David E. Kelly (Big Little Lies) says that the goal is to “reimagine” Presumed Innocent to explore “obsession, sex, politics, and the power and limits of love, as the accused fights to hold his family and marriage together.” Dustin Thomason, J.J. Abrams, and Ben Stephenson are also attached to the project as executive producers.

Queer Retellings Coming Out in 2022

There are so many queer retellings of classic stories coming out this year. Here’s a list of queer retellings coming our way in 2022.

Roxane Gay’s Graphic Novel The Banks to be Adapted as TV Series

New Regency and TKO Studios are developing a television series adaptation of The Banks, the graphic novel created by Roxane Gay and artist Ming Doyle. The Banks is the story of the women of the Banks family, the most successful thieves in Chicago. After a loved one is taken away from them too soon, the Banks women must band together to complete the heist of a lifetime and avenge their loved one’s death. Roxane Gay is set to write the television adaptation.

Finalists for the 2022 Audie Awards Have Been Announced

The Audio Publishers Association has announced their finalists for the 2022 Audie Awards. These awards celebrate the best titles in audio publishing and spoken-word entertainment. Among the finalists this year are Cynthia Erivo, Dave Grohl, John Lithgow, Lin-Manuel Miranda, and Neil Gaiman. Winners will be announced at this year’s Audie Awards Gala, hosted by Kal Penn on March 4th.

Texas Parent Asks for Michelle Obama Biography to be Banned

In Katy, Texas, a parent has asked for a children’s biography about former first lady Michelle Obama to be banned from school libraries. The parent claims that the biography, Michelle Obama: Political Icon by Heather E. Schwartz, is unfair to former President Donald Trump. NBC News reported that the parent in Katy, who was not named, argued that the book about Obama gave the impression that “if you sound like a white girl you should be ashamed of yourself.” Author Schwartz said she was “shocked” that someone wanted to ban her book because it “is a nonfiction book that doesn’t strike me as at all controversial.” Schwartz went on to say, “As an author, a reader, and a parent, I’m against book banning on principle. There couldn’t be a safer way for kids to learn about difficult topics, gain new perspectives, and explore the world and their place in it than by reading words on a page.”

Legendborn Series is Being Adapted into a TV Show

Tracy Deonn’s Legendborn series is being adapted into a TV show by Felicia D. Henderson, a writer on Gossip Girl and the The Punisher and showrunner of Netflix’s YA vampire series First Kill. 

Read an Excerpt From the First Novel of Phoebe Robinson’s New Imprint

Comedian, producer, and author Phoebe Robinson launched her new imprint Tiny Reparations Books this past fall with her essay collection Please Don’t Sit on My Bed in Your Outside Clothes. This week, the imprint has released its first novel, What the Fireflies Knew, a debut from Kai Harris. Curious? You can read an excerpt from the novel right now. Tiny Reparations Books is a part of Plume Books and Penguin RandomHouse.

Adaptation of The Temperature of Me and You in the Works for Disney+

Former studio executives Foster Driver and Zoe Kent are adapting LGBT-themed sci-fi YA novel The Temperature of Me and You for Disney+ via their newly launched Driver+Kent Media. Alden Derck will pen the adaptation, which is intended to be a series. Public health advocate and researcher Brian Zepka’s debut novel The Temperature of Me and You tells the story of 16-year-old Dylan who works at a Dairy Queen in the suburbs of Philadelphia. His life changes forever when a cute boy named Jordan walks into his life. As Jordan and Dylan start spending more time together, Jordan forced to reveal his out-of-this-world secret. The novel will hit shelves on January 25th.

Stephen King’s Billy Summers Gets Limited Series Adaptation from JJ Abrams

J.J. Abrams will produce an upcoming limited series adaptation of Steven King’s Billy Summers. Billy Summers is a crime thriller that focuses on the title character, a retiring hitman who takes on one last job that requires him to reside in a quiet town under the presumption that he is a writer working on a new story. But his target is also a hitman, claiming to have information that could incriminate whoever hired Billy. Ed Zwick and Marshall Herskovitz will adapt the novel, with Zwick directing the episodes.

How Does the Harlem Renaissance Resonate 100 Years Later?

The Harlem Renaissance period was a full century ago. How, after all this time, do the writings of this period still resonate today?