The “Alternative Nobel Prize” in literature has been awarded to the Guadeloupean novelist Maryse Condé, author of novels including Desirada, Segu, and Crossing the Mangrove. The New Academy Prize was created after the Nobels were canceled this year, and serve “as a reminder that literature should be associated with democracy, openness, empathy and respect.” According to the chair of judges Ann Pålsson, Condé is a “grand storyteller” who “describes the ravages of colonialism and the post-colonial chaos in a language which is both precise and overwhelming.”
According to Publisher’s Weekly, “a sense of calm has returned” to the Frankfurt Book Fair, “despite lingering political uncertainty across Europe, the U.K., and in the U.S.”
On Sunday, October 21, at Books Are Magic in Brooklyn, author and Tin House editor Rob Spillman will offer a seminar on “establishing authority for writers.” Spillman writes: “As someone who receives upwards of twelve thousand submissions a year, what makes me turn the page? We’ll take a close look at the first 300 words of published stories, essays, memoir, and novels and examine how the authority was established.” How do you get in? Send Spillman a screenshot of a check you have made to a progressive candidate of your choice.
Novelist Javier Marias says he gave up on Knausgaard 300 pages in.
Penguin Press has purchased the rights to actor Will Smith’s memoir for a reported seven figures.
This Wednesday at Columbia University, poets Ariana Reines and Joshua Beckman will read their work.