APPLESEED by Matt Bell is one of Amazon’s twenty Best Science Fiction & Fantasy titles of the year. The book was also nominated for the 2021 Goodreads Choice Awards for Best Science Fiction. The opening round of voting will conclude on November 28, and winners will be announced on December 9. Custom House published the novel on July 13, 2021.

THE PROPHETS by Robert Jones, Jr. is one of Amazon’s twenty Best Literature & Fiction titles of the year, as well as one of the top 100 overall books of the year. The book was also nominated for the 2021 Goodreads Choice Awards for Best Historical Fiction and Best Debut Novel. The opening round of voting will conclude on November 28, and winners will be announced on December 9. G.P. Putnam’s Sons published the book on January 5, 2021.

SCIENTIST: E.O. WILSON: A LIFE IN NATURE by Richard Rhodes is one of Amazon’s twenty Best Science books of the year. Doubleday published the book on November 9, 2021.

Alan Cumming will appear at the 38th annual Miami Book Fair on November 20 to discuss his memoir, BAGGAGE. The event will be moderated by author Julio Capó Jr., associate professor of history at Steven J. Green School of International & Public Affairs, and will be accessible both in person and via livestream. Dey Street Books published BAGGAGE on October 26, 2021.

Padma Lakshmi, whose TASTE THE NATION just launched its second season, discussed her inspirations and Thanksgiving cooking techniques with Genevieve Ko, a senior editor for The New York Times Food section and NYT Cooking. Ko writes: “Ms. Lakshmi, 51, was born in India, and returned regularly after moving to the United States as a toddler. There, she ground spices and simmered dal with her grandmother and aunts, an experience that inspired her children’s book, TOMATOES FOR NEELA.” Viking Books for Young Readers published TOMATOES FOR NEELA on August 31, 2021.

Adam Soto’s debut novel THIS WEIGHTLESS WORLD published this week to positive acclaim. Kirkus praises Soto’s “finely drawn” characters and “philosophically thorny conflicts,” adding: “Amid the discovery of alien life, [THIS WEIGHTLESS WORLD is] a touching meditation on humanity.” The book also received a glowing blurb from Locus’ Ian Monde: "Soto brilliantly inverts the inherently outward aspect of the first-contact trope—the idea of seeking salvation in the stars—by forcing his characters to look inward, to question their acquiescence on issues like climate change, police brutality, and the smothering influence of Big-Tech...It's precisely Soto's refusal to be 'weighted' down by decades of genre tradition, to instead turn the trope on its head and in doing so remind us that no-one but ourselves is coming to save us, that makes THIS WEIGHTLESS WORLD such an exciting and radical novel." Astra House published the book on November 9, 2021.

The Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance (SIBA) named Gabriela Garcia’s debut novel OF WOMEN AND SALT a finalist for the 2022 Southern Book Prize. The award celebrates “bookseller favorites from 2021 that are Southern in nature—either about the South or by a Southern writer. Nominations were submitted by bookstore members of SIBA and culled from books that received strong reviews from Southern booksellers. The 18 finalists which received the highest number of nominations are a collection of the most beloved ‘hand sells’ in fiction, nonfiction, and children’s literature of the year…Winners in each category will be chosen by popular vote from readers who support Southern independent bookstores.” Voting opened November 5, 2021 and will run through February 1, 2022, and the winners will be announced on February 14, 2022. Flatiron Books published OF WOMEN AND SALT on March 30, 2021.

Publishers Weekly awarded BOX 88 by Charles Cumming a starred review, proclaiming: “[An] excellent spy thriller from bestseller Cumming…Well-timed action scenes match focused glimpses into the world of spycraft. This outing cements Cumming’s place in the top rank of espionage writers.” Harper Collins will publish the book on January 1, 2021.

Dawnie Walton's THE FINAL REVIVAL OF OPAL & NEV has been longlisted for the 2022 Aspen Words Literary Prize, which is “one of the largest literary prizes in the United States, and one of the few focused exclusively on fiction with a social impact.” The shortlist will be shared on February 23, 2022, and the winner will be announced on April 21, 2022. 37 Ink published the novel on March 30, 2021.

Tanaïs' highly anticipated IN SENSORIUM received a glowing review from Publishers Weekly. The reviewer writes: “Novelist and perfumer Tanaïs (BRIGHT LINES) blends in this beautiful work memoir, history, and notes on perfuming to interrogate love, violence, and generational healing…Throughout, rich imagery and language are married as Tanaïs moves through their ancestral trauma to discover a place of healing, where, they write, 'a perfume emerges as a sensuous act of resistance.' Readers will find more than just their olfactory senses heightened by this beautiful meditation.” Mariner Books will publish the book on February 22, 2022.

Kiese Laymon sat down for an interview for The Ezra Klein Show podcast, guest-hosted by Tressie McMillan Cottom. In her introduction, Cottom raves: "Kiese Laymon is the most uncompromising artist I have had the pleasure of knowing...His nonfiction tackles race, gender, sports, popular culture, the politics of literary publishing and, above all, his relationship with his home state of Mississippi. His writing expresses a radical hope that Mississippi, and by extension America, can change for the better. Kiese’s prose crackles with wit, resistance and revolution, yes. But it also simmers with wisdom, vulnerability, empathy and even love. Breaking from iconoclastic American novelists like Hemingway and Faulkner, Kiese Laymon is not afraid to love on the page for all of us to see. His style of courageous art takes conviction and a very clear idea of who you are." Scribner published the reissue of HOW TO SLOWLY KILL YOURSELF IN AMERICA AND OTHERS on November 10, 2020.

Lauren Etter’s THE DEVIL’S PLAYBOOK was selected as finalist for the Society for Advancing Business Editing and Writing’s second annual Best in Business Book Awards. The book was amongst titles selected by SABEW that “demonstrat[e] the power of business news in this critical era.” Crown published the book on May 25, 2021.