Katy Simpson Smith's FREE MEN is Released to Glowing Reviews

Katy Simpson Smith's stunning second novel, FREE MEN, is out today from HarperCollins. From the author of the highly acclaimed The Story of Land and Sea comes a captivating novel, set in the late eighteenth-century American South, that follows a singular group of companions—an escaped slave, a white orphan, and a Creek Indian—who are being tracked down for murder.

"a brilliant, wild ride....not only does Smith step boldly into the terrain of the classics of the American canon, her novel feels like one of those classics. Smith has succeeded in writing a novel of American masculinity that deserves comparison with Cormac McCarthy, Jim Harrison and Herman Melville. The bar is set that high and the canvas stretched that broad. Beyond the enjoyment of the characters and story, half the pleasure in reading "Free Men" is the sensation that, as the pages turn, one is witnessing the development of a powerful — even major — career.” - The Jackson Clarion-Ledger

"…glimpses into a vanished but fully realized world, one which has completely engaged us by [the] novel's satisfying end" - The Minneapolis Star Tribune

Check out this full review from Lemuria Books in Jackson, MI here.

 

Jean Stein's WEST OF EDEN In Bookstores Tuesday February 9th

Jean Stein's new book WEST OF EDEN: AN AMERICAN PLACE hits shelves today. Already rising on Amazon's Best Seller list, WEST OF EDEN has been touted as "One of the best books ever written about Hollywood" (Gaby Wood, the Telegraph) 

WEST OF EDEN is a vivid, addictive oral history of Hollywood and Los Angelese, capturing a mythic cast of characters: their triumphs and ambitions, as well as their desolation and grief. Jean Stein weaves together the personal recollections of an array of individuals to create and astonishing tapestry of a place like no other. 

"Now Stein delivers a calm Götterdämmerung that can be read as the fearsome annals of a haunted Hollywood, as well as an adroit response to John Steinbeck’s East of Eden (1952), earlier proof of California’s soft spot for fallen angels." - The New Statesman, David Thompson

 

Read the review in the LA Times here

FATES AND FURIES and EILEEN both finalists for National Book Critics Circle Award

We are delighted to announce that Lauren Groff's FATES AND FURIES and Ottessa Moshfegh's EILEEN have both been named finalists for the National Book Critics Circle Award for fiction. The winner will be announced on March 17. We are absolutely ecstatic to see these amazing novels recognized by such a prestigious award. We want to wish a heartfelt congratulations and good luck to both Ottessa and Lauren. 

You can read more about FATES AND FURIES, EILEEN and the other finalists here.

David Levithan receives the 2016 Margaret Edwards Award for Lifetime Achievement in Writing for Young Adults

We're absolutely thrilled to announce that David Levithan has been awarded the prestigious Margaret Edwards award by the American Library Association recognizing his significant and lasting contribution to young adult literature. Previous Margaret Edwards award recipients include Terry Pratchet, Susan Cooper, Marcus Zusak and Jacqueline Woodson. 

For more on the 2016 American Library Association Youth Media Awards, click here.