A Diverse Set of Winners for The 2015 Kirkus Prize
Three people of colour and three women (two on Echo). A diverse crew of winners for this year’s Kirkus Prize and all stellar books or so I’ve heard (I’m currently reading Ta-Nehisi Coates’ Between The World And Me and it’s fantastic). If you get the chance, pick up all three!
- BETWEEN THE WORLD AND ME: NOTES ON THE FIRST 150 YEARS IN AMERICA by Ta-Nehisi Coates
- A LITTLE LIFE by Hanya Yanagihara
- ECHO by Pam Muñoz Ryan, illustrated by Dinara Mirtalipova
Toronto Star Increases Its Book Coverage
Listen to this news! This IS a big deal. The Toronto Star is expanding their two page print books coverage to two pages and moving it from the Sunday paper to the Saturday paper.
The newspaper will also run extended bestseller lists, featuring categories such as original fiction and nonfiction, Canadian fiction and nonfiction, kids’ and young adult books, and rotating lists from various subgenres. The section, led by books editor Deborah Dundas, will include more book reviews, excerpts, and event listings, and will move from the Sunday paper to the Saturday paper.
Why is this the big deal that I’ve made it out to be? Newspapers in North America are cutting down their books sections due to financial reasons (books always have to be the first to go, huh?) so it’s exciting to see the Toronto Star INCREASING its books section as well as doing more Canadian coverage. I love that the reasoning behind it was due to reader surveys which had said they wanted more books, more authors and especially Canadian ones! Woot! Go Toronto Star!
ICYMI
- Justine Larbalestier on “Writing PoC When You Are White”
- These Two Book Publishers Got Into The Cutest Little Twitter Spat
- Doctors Without Borders Joins Wattpad
- Goosebumps Tops The Box Office
Banned/Unbanned Books Corner
- Into the River book ban lifted
- N.J. school district brings back ‘Looking for Alaska’ after brief ban
The best part of the TorStar increased book section? A bestseller list for kids/YA books! Finally! So good to see these amazing authors being celebrated instead of marginalized.