The Pen American Center announced its longlist for their 2015 literary awards and we were very happy to see several National Book Award and 5 Under 35 Honorees on the list.
The amazing Texas Book Festival is this weekend. And if you’re heading to Austin—or perhaps you’re already there—don’t miss these events featuring our fabulous National Book Foundation authors!
SATURDAY, OCT. 25
11:30 – 12:30
Bret Anthony Johnston at The Fiction of Unfamiliar Faces
Tiphanie Yanique at Constructing Racial Identity
12:00 - 1:00
Jacqueline Woodson at #WeNeedDiverseBooks
12:15 – 1:15
Rene Steinke at Homegrown
12:30 – 1:30
Lawrence Wright at Central Presbyterian Church, History
Colson Whitehead at Ante Up
12:45 – 1:45
Molly Antopol at Stories for a New World
Elizabeth McCracken at Mutual Appreciation Society
1:00 – 2:00
Kathi Appelt presents Mogie: The Heart of the House
1:30 - 2:15
Naomi Shihab Nye at The Turtle of Oman
2:30 - 3:30
Jacqueline Woodson at Poetry for You
3 – 4
Emily St. John Mandel at Aftermath and Armageddon
3:15 – 4:15
Merritt Tierce at Autobiographical Fiction
3:30 – 4:30
Josh Weil at Fantasy, Folklore, and Backwoods Mysticism
3:45 – 4:45
Valeria Luiselli at Festival Schedule - Texas Book Festival
Deborah Wiles at Eyes on the Prize
SUNDAY, OCT. 26
11:30 – 12:30
Kirstin Valdez Quade at O Henry Prize
1:30 – 2:30
Adele Griffin and Meg Wolitzer at Unfinished Business
Read the rest of Kristen Radtke’s book review of Merritt Tierce’s Love me Back.
Merritt Tierce contributed to our fall issue with Solitaire.
A review of Merritt Tierce’s 5 Under 35 Honored book Love Me Back in graphic form and it is awesome.
This morning I got to have breakfast with Merritt Tierce, a writer I admire immensely. She’s won some awards, been a 5 under 35 honoree, and is beloved by jamiatt, roxanegay, and many more of our favorites, so I’m not exactly breaking new ground here, but WOW, you guys. Just wow.
Her new novel Love Me Back is staggering, breathtaking, almost literally. Everyone’s going to say “unflinching” a lot. Unsentimental. Raw. Give Merritt the Nobel Prize in Smart Women Making Potentially Bad Decisions Without Apologizing to Anyone.
Merritt is also one of my feminist heroes for her work with the Texas Equal Access Fund, ensuring that women’s healthcare and reproductive freedom are for all women, not just those who can afford it. I was a fan of her writing and the TEAfund before I put it all together, and now I’m dazzled.
Congratulations to Merritt and Doubleday on the publication of this fantastic book! Don’t miss it, seriously.
The stark, self-destructive voice of her debut is unforgettable.
National Book Award Finalists Marilynne Robinson and Ben Lerner, and 2013 5 Under 35 Honoree Merritt Tierce are featured in the Huffington Post’s list of the “Best Books for Fall 2014”
“What if how well we performed as writers affected the self-esteem of each citizen of our nation, as it went without saying that each citizen as a child dreamed of growing up to be a writer and practiced writing as soon as a pen could be held…”
– Merritt Tierce, a 5 Under 35 Honoree, on the “Writers’ World Cup”
At home I do have an emergency writing closet in our bedroom, which my daughter refers to as The Annex. If I go in there it is known that people are to forget I exist until I come out.
alwaysbringabookwithyou
all-these-paperback-dreams
Barnes and Nobles is gonna start serving food and alcohol.
Everybody’s cracking jokes about how it’s a desperate attempt to stay relevant in the age of Amazon.
But you know what? Props to them. This is exactly what Blockbuster didn’t do. At no point was Blockbuster like “Hey, movie rentals aren’t the lucrative enterprise they once were. Perhaps it’s time we become known for our cheesy garlic bread.”
that’s a fantastic plan, honestly? i would 100% go sit at a bookshop, buy a glass of wine, and pick up the newest biography. 50/50 i’d decide to buy it after a couple chapters, and even if i don’t, that’s still money i spent at B&N!
They could host book clubs with food and drinks where one of the employees shares their experiences with a book of their choice and tries to convince the guests to buy it.
Barnes and noble realizing the only reason people go to brick and mortar stores is for the experience and access to an enjoyable physical space they can socialize in (sure isnt for the price) and capitalizing on that is a stroke of genius and a really refreshing approach to the dilemma of competing with online stores
