BTW News Briefs

Here’s what’s happening this week in the book industry:

On Monday, November 19, the New York Times published its list of 100 Notable Books of 2018, which included several Indie Next List number-one picks: My Year of Rest and Relaxation by Ottessa Moshfegh (Penguin), There There by Tommy Orange (Knopf), and Educated by Tara Westover (Random House).

Barnes & Noble is planning to open 10 to 15 stores next year, according to a transcript of a conference call with analysts on Tuesday, November 20. Three-quarters of those will replace stores with leases that have ended, while the others will be in new locations.

Crown announced that on the first day of publication, November 13, former First Lady Michelle Obama’s Becoming sold over 725,000 units in all formats and editions (including pre-orders) in the U.S. and Canada, the largest single-day sales total for any book published by Penguin Random House in 2018.

The five finalists for this year’s Prix littéraire des collégiens, a literary prize founded in 2003 to promote literature from Quebec, protested after finding out that the prize was sponsored by Amazon. The public outcry led to the suspension of the $5,000 prize.

Starting January 1, Independent Publishers Group will begin title distribution for three Spanish publishers: Ediciones Larousse, Cinco Tintas, and Akiara Books.

Canadian literary nonfiction publisher Sutherland House has signed agreements with the University of Toronto Press for distribution in Canada and with Baker & Taylor for distribution in the U.S., both effective January 1.

New York Times bestselling author Simon Sinek is partnering with his longtime publisher, Portfolio, to launch Optimism Press, a new imprint that will “look to the business world, the nonprofit world, the military, politics, education, the clergy, or elsewhere” for authors who inspire optimism.

At Simon & Schuster, Amanda Lang is being promoted to senior publicity manager.

Formerly director of publicity at Berkley, Heather Connor has joined Harlequin as vice president of publicity.

Aspen Words, a program of the Aspen Institute, has announced the longlist for the Aspen Words Literary Prize. On the longlist for the $35,000 annual award for a work of fiction that addresses a vital contemporary issue are Indie Next List number-one picks A Lucky Man by Jamel Brinkley (Graywolf) and There There by Tommy Orange (Knopf).

The Restless Books Prize for New Immigrant Writing was awarded to Priyanka Champaneri for her novel The City of Good Death, to be published by Restless Books in spring 2020. Each year, Restless Books will award $10,000 and publication to a first-time, first-generation American author.

Esi Edugyan was announced as the winner of Canada’s Scotiabank Giller Prize for her novel Washington Black (Patrick Crean Edition/HarperCollins Canada) on November 19. This is her second Giller Prize.

Maya Jasanoff has won the 2018 Cundill History Prize for The Dawn Watch: Joseph Conrad in a Global World (Penguin Press). The Harvard professor was awarded $75,000.

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