This week!
We’re getting into the summer publishing doldrums so not a huge amount of news, but I have some links to send your way. I will be taking a hiatus next week but will return later in August.
First up, I was negligent last week when I forgot to link to the really upsetting controversy about the Smithsonian abruptly canceling an upcoming Asian American Book Festival just weeks before it was to take place, my apologies. After the cancellation, a group of authors and poets subsequently wrote an open letter calling for the resignation of the acting director of the Smithsonian Institution’s Asian Pacific American Center, Yao-Fen You. News also emerged this week confirming what many suspected, which is that the organization had prepared a list of “potentially sensitive issues” prior to the cancelation. (The Smithsonian denies that the list factored in the cancellation).
Particularly with so many older editors taking buyouts amid a generational change in publishing, it’s poignant to see editor Jonathan Galassi remember Robert Gottlieb, one of the greats of the previous era who recently passed away.
Over in the UK, some upstart indie publishers are making waves, dare I say “disrupting” some of the old publishing guard. The publishing industry is absolutely overdue for some innovation, fresh approaches, and risk-taking and I’ll be curious to see if some new US ventures like Zando Project and 8th Note Press will similarly catch on.
And in writing advice news, I loved this look at Hayao Miyazaki’s use of the Japanese concept of “ma” as a storytelling tool, and Jennie Nash has some really good advice on the two temporal choices you need to make if you’re writing a memoir.
This week in bestsellers
Here are the top five NY Times bestsellers in a few key categories. (All links are affiliate links):
Adult print and e-book fiction:
- The Collector by Daniel Silva
- Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros
- Too Late by Colleen Hoover
- It Ends With Us by Colleen Hoover
- Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus
Adult print and e-book nonfiction:
- American Prometheus by Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin
- Killers of the Flower Moon by David Grann
- Jackie by J. Randy Taraborrelli
- Outlive by Peter Attia with Bill Gifford
- The Wager by David Grann
Young adult hardcover:
- Divine Rivals by Rebecca Ross
- Five Survive by Holly Jackson
- Solitaire by Alice Oseman
- Nick and Charlie by Alice Oseman
- The First to Die at the End by Adam Silvera
Middle grade hardcover:
- The Sun and the Star by Rick Riordan and Mark Oshiro
- Wonder by R.J. Palacio
- Refugee by Alan Gratz
- Odder by Katherine Applegate
- The Complete Cookbook for Young Chefs by America’s Test Kitchen Kids
This week on the blog
In case you missed them, here are this week’s posts:
Don’t forget that you can nominate your first page and query for a free critique on the blog:
And keep up with the discussion in all the places!
And finally, RIP to Sinead O’Connor, who protested sexual abuse in the Catholic Church long before many people wanted to hear it and suffered greatly for it, among other righteous stances. May we all have some of her bravery.
Have a great weekend!
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