For the second consecutive year, Maxim Loskutoff's work has been nominated for a High Plains Book Award. Winner of the 2020 Short Stories Award for his debut collection COME WEST AND SEE, Loskutoff is now one of three finalists for the 2021 Fiction Award for his first novel, RUTHIE FEAR. The High Plains Books Awards recognize “regional literary works which examine and reflect life on the High Plains, including the states of Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Wyoming, Nebraska, Colorado and Kansas, and the Canadian provinces of Alberta, Manitoba and Saskatchewan.” The final winners will be announced at a ceremony in September during the High Plains BookFest. W.W. Norton & Company published RUTHIE FEAR on September 1, 2020.

PHALLACY author Emily Willingham joined FATHER FIGURE author Jordan Shapiro on the Ologies with Alie Ward podcast to discuss sex, gender, and feminism. Avery published PHALLACY on September 22, 2020.

LOVE AND FURY by Samantha Silva received a glowing review in The Wall Street Journal. Sam Sacks praises the book’s “stirring and occasionally hagiographic episodes,” adding: “While the novel is decidedly an homage, it is also a study of false steps and evolving ideas.” Flatiron Books published the novel on May 25, 2021.

The revised edition of Kiese Laymon’s critically acclaimed first novel, LONG DIVISION, published this week to a flurry of positive press. The New York Times featured the book on its list of “New and Noteworthy” titles, praising the way the book “probes fame, creativity, and the toll of racism.” Meanwhile, in a review for the Chicago Tribune, author John Warner writes: “It is rare that I will purchase a second copy of a book that I already own and have read more than once, but I am making an exception with the recently revised and re-issued edition of Kiese Laymon’s LONG DIVISION…Laymon is a singular voice in American literature.” The book has also been featured on must-read lists for June from Bustle, Entertainment Weekly, and LitHub. Scribner published LONG DIVISION on June 1, 2021.

John Branch was interviewed by John Canzano for his BFT Podcast about his latest book, SIDECOUNTRY. Canzano notes: “Branch wrote beautifully in the book about the people, places, and circumstances that provide uplifting, powerful, and occasionally tragic outcomes…The interview is well worth your time.” W.W. Norton & Company published the book on June 1, 2021.

Rosecrans Baldwin’s EVERYTHING NOW was featured on Vulture’s list of “35 Books We Can’t Wait to Read This Summer.” They write: “[Baldwin] manages to define, and, perhaps, redefine, the most undefinable of cities with a fresh and sometimes startling inquisitiveness. Ambitious in a way that seems to mirror L.A.’s sprawl, the story is told through a series of vignettes, combining deft on-the-ground reporting, hazy personal memories, and snippets of overheard conversations that read, appropriately, like film scripts." MCD will publish the book on June 15, 2021.

Maurice Carlos Ruffin's forthcoming novel THE ONES WHO DON’T SAY THEY LOVE YOU was featured on the Observer’s list of “Best New Summer Reads.” They call the book “vibrant…deeply empathetic and achingly winning,” noting that “[t]his glimpse into New Orleans beyond Bourbon Street reminds you how books sometimes offer a deeper experience of a place than passive tourism.” One World will publish the book on August 17, 2021.

Sunjeev Sahota was profiled by Publishers Weekly about his latest novel, CHINA ROOM. Sahota told the interviewer that the novel is “very much alive to questions of authorship, and storytelling, and the rights and wrongs of who gets to tell the story…If I look at my three novels, the thing that seems to connect them, to me – and this wasn’t obvious to me before – is ideas of freedom, ideas of connection, ideas of trying to find the place you call home.” Publishers Weekly also gave the novel a glowing review, noting that it is “engaging” and “well worth the time.” Viking will publish the novel on July 13, 2021.

Dawnie Walton joined Terry Gross on NPR’s Fresh Air podcast to discuss her electrifying debut novel, THE FINAL REVIVAL OF OPAL & NEV. 37 Ink published the novel on March 30, 2021.

Tara Parker-Pope shared UNWINDING ANXIETY author Judson Brewer’s five-finger breathing exercise for Day 6 of The New York Times’s “Fresh Start Challenge.” She writes: “Dr. Brewer, who is also a neuroscientist, says it’s important to remember that your brain is like a computer, and it has only a certain amount of working memory. Anxiety, worry and other negative emotions can take over, giving your brain less room for other tasks that require thinking and problem solving... Dr. Brewer suggests five-finger breathing because it’s a multisensory task.” Avery published UNWINDING ANXIETY on March 9, 2021.