Hello all, Stephanie here! There’s been a lot going on in the book world lately, from more award announcements to surprising industry collaborations. So, let’s get right to it with this week’s Book Beat!
Double Book Birthdays for Nnedi Okorafor
Fans of Dr. Nnedi Okorafor have a lot to celebrate right now. Her latest novel Akata Warrior, the sequel to Akata Witch, came out on Tuesday to rave reviews. And it’s official – there will be a third Akata book added to the acclaimed series! Dr. Okorafor recently contributed to 40 Stories Celebrating 40 Years of STAR WARS, which was also released this week. If you ever wondered about the backstory of the trash compactor monster that grabbed Luke back in “A New Hope,” pick it up!
My 12th book is out today. TWELFTH! Akata Warrior, the sequel to Akata Witch, took me 6 yrs to write. So proud of this book. #AkataWarrior pic.twitter.com/74FKQXhQqX
— Nnedi Okorafor, PhD (@Nnedi) October 3, 2017
Industry Partnerships and Other Book News
Elsewhere in YA, author Becky Albertalli has been having a pretty great week as well. First, she announced on Tuesday that the movie adaptation of her book Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda is now called “Love, Simon.” It was also announced this week that Albertalli has partnered with fellow YA author Adam Silvera to co-write a book called What If It’s Us. The collaborative novel will be released in fall 2018 by the two HarperCollins imprints that published Silvera’s and Albertalli’s debut novels, HarperTeen and Balzer + Bray respectively. And yes, it’s going to be a gay YA romance. But whether it will end happily or not is still a mystery… for now, anyway.
Speaking of cool partnerships, indie comics publisher Oni Press has also recently partnered with Simon & Schuster. Starting March 1, 2018, Simon & Schuster will be responsible for the sale and distribution of all Oni Press book trades, which includes fan-favorites such as Scott Pilgrim and Invader Zim.
Unfortunately, I also have some sad book news. Under the Same Stars, the eagerly anticipated memoir by “My Immortal” fanfic author Rose Christo, won’t be published after all. Christo updated her followers about the situation on her Tumblr page this week, which you can read here. Guess some things really will stay a mystery…
Book Award Announcements
BREAKING NEWS The 2017 #NobelPrize in Literature is awarded to the English author Kazuo Ishiguro pic.twitter.com/j9kYaeMZH6
— The Nobel Prize (@NobelPrize) October 5, 2017
Editor’s Note: Breaking news – English author Kazuo Ishiguro has just won the Nobel Prize in Literature! Ishiguro is best-known for his Man Booker Prize award-winning novel, The Remains of the Day, as well as his most recent works Never Let Me Go and The Buried Giant. With fellow esteemed authors like Margaret Atwood and Haruki Murakami also considered for the Nobel Prize this year, it is clear that Ishiguro has truly earned this great honor. Check out this New York Times article to learn more.
Meanwhile, the finalists for the 2017 National Book Awards have been announced. The shortlist continues to mirror the diversity of the longlist that fellow Book Beat writer Ashley pointed out in last week’s column, and I’m hopeful that this focus on diverse voices will continue in the publishing world. Finally, the 2018 Andrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence in Fiction and Nonfiction have also finally been announced! That’s 46 books that are now on my (ever expanding) to-read list. I wonder how many I can get through before the shortlist is announced on October 25th. I have a bad feeling that I’ll need to fight a lot of other readers at my local library to get to the good stuff. To save yourself the trouble, I encourage you to reserve these books online.
Happy Thursday!
