Cleyvis Natera’s highly anticipated debut NERUDA ON THE PARK received a positive review from Kirkus. They praise: “Natera plays with definitions of home and material and spiritual success, showing how the personal and political can become confused even when a cause, or a crime, seems straightforward. A savvy melodrama, warmhearted and as astute as a lawyer’s brief.” Ballantine Books will publish the novel on May 17, 2022.

Election-law professor Rick Hasen appeared on the Slate podcast Amicus with Dahlia Lithwick to discuss his latest book, CHEAP SPEECH, and “the speech that’s undermining elections, and what to do about it.” Yale University Press published the book on March 8, 2022.

THE WORLD CANNOT GIVE by Tara Isabella Burton is accumulating a wealth of positive press in the lead-up to its publication. The novel was featured on Entertainment Weekly’s must-read list for March, praised as “equal parts dangerous and delicious.” Vogue describes the novel as “THE SECRET HISTORY meets THE PRICE OF SALT,” while The Millions describes it as “THE SECRET HISTORY meets FIGHT CLUB, but younger, more feminine, more queer,” and Harper’s Bazaar “THE GIRLS meets FIGHT CLUB...plung[ing] readers into a vortex of dark academia and queer desire." Booklist’s review of the novel raves: “Burton writes with a heart-stopping understanding of the micro-dynamics among adolescents still uncentered at their cores. The insular campus setting and small scenes in crypts, libraries, and dorm rooms contain big emotions and powerful dialogue...Burton skillfully offers readers treacherous and believable adolescent experiences surrounding sex and suicide.” Lastly, Vanity Fair’s March preview praising the way “Burton harnesses the fresh desire of teenage-dom in this story of a boarding school on the coast of Maine.” Simon & Schuster will publish the book on March 8, 2022.

THE BEAUTY OF LIVING TWICE by Sharon Stone published in paperback this week. The book was featured on Vogue’s best-of list for 2021, praised as “[t]rim and elegantly written with [Stone's] wicked sense of humor on full display...[and] catnip for fans who have never managed to crack the exterior of the elusive star…[THE BEAUTY OF LIVING TWICE] will leave readers with a renewed appreciation for Stone and her tenacity.” Knopf published the hardcover edition on March 30, 2021, and the paperback on March 1, 2022.

Dawnie Walton’s THE FINAL REVIVAL OF OPAL & NEV is a finalist for the 2022 Aspen Words Literary prize, which is awarded annually for “an influential work of fiction focused on vital contemporary issues.” The jury’s citation for the book reads: “As innovative in form as it is soulful in delivery, THE FINAL REVIVAL OF OPAL AND NEV is a dazzling exploration of the spectacular and eerie complications of the way race, gender and punk rock necessarily collide. What can these collisions produce? The book is a tutorial in the possibilities and terrifying limitations of an interracial duo who seem to move in two very different directions upon their breakup. Dawnie Walton blurs the lines between revelation and realization in a book that witnesses, and really undulates under, the weight of professional and personal secrets, while picking away at the very real desire for American progress with few substantial models for reciprocal American reckoning.” The winner will be announced at an awards ceremony on April 21 at The Morgan Library in New York City. THE FINAL REVIVAL OF OPAL & NEV was also featured on People magazine’s round-up of “Contemporary Black Authors…Loved by Kerry Washington, Barack Obama, and More,” alongside quotes from Barack Obama’s Twitter (“Art always sustains and nourishes the soul. But for me, music and storytelling felt especially urgent during this pandemic year”) and Stacey Abrams’ review for Politico (“Walton's story tackles complicated issues of race and success using music as its crucible — and the fractious 1970s as a galvanizing point”). 37 Ink published the novel on March 30, 2021.

THE MOVEMENT MADE US, the forthcoming book by Black Lives Matter icon David Dennis Jr. in collaboration with his father, David Dennis Sr., received a Kirkus starred review that heralds the book as “[t]imely in an era of renewed disenfranchisement and an instructive, important addition to the literature of civil rights.” Harper will publish the book on May 10, 2022.

Vanity Fair included THE STARS ARE NOT YET BELLS by Hannah Lillith Assadi on its staff’s list of “9 Books [They] Couldn’t Put Down This Month.” Staff writer Erin Vanderhoof praises: “Assadi’s second novel…[is a] melancholic tableau spiced up with a few unexpected plot lines.” Riverhead Books published the novel on January 11, 2022.

THE ONES WHO DON’T SAY THEY LOVE YOU was longlisted for the 2021 The Story Prize award, Bookshop.org’s annual award for book-length short story collections. One World published the book on August 17, 2021.

Sarah Manguso’s debut novel VERY COLD PEOPLE was featured in The New Yorker’s Briefly Noted segment. They praise: “In minimalist, austere prose, Manguso conjures the torpor, stasis, and ambient suffering that envelop a whole town: ‘The background of my life was white and angry, with violent weather.’” Hogarth published the novel on February 8, 2022.

HOW YOU GET FAMOUS by Nicole Pasulka received a glowing review from Library Journal. Reviewer Rosy Brewer writes: “Journalist Pasulka has put together a lively and intricate history of drag…An entertaining, absorbing behind-the-scenes look at drag that will especially appeal to fans of [RUPAUL’S] DRAG RACE and the TV drama POSE.” Simon & Schuster will publish the book on June 7, 2022.