Barer Literary, LLC

The Family Fang (Ecco) by Kevin Wilson is a Barnes and Noble Discover pick for Fall 2011. The Family Fang was also chosen as one of Time Magazine’s Top 10 of 2011  and as a Barnes and Noble Best of 2011. The novel is also one of Amazon.com’s Top 100 books of 2011. Bookpage and Booklist also selected the novel as one of the year’s best. Nick Hornby selected The Family Fang as one of his favorite books from 2011 in the Guardian, and Ann Patchett selected the novel as one of her top reads for both Salon.com and Southern Living. Screen rights to the novel have been optioned by Olympus Films and Blossom Films; the project will be developed as a starring vehicle for Nicole Kidman.

Ann Napolitano‘s A Good Hard Look (Penguin Press) was selected by NPR as a Booksellers’ Pick of 2011.

Bret Anthony Johnston’s “Soldier of Fortune” is included in The Best American Short Stories 2011 (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt). “Soldier of Fortune” was first published in Glimmer Train. Bret’s essay “Danny Way and the Gift of Fear”, originally published in Men’s Journal, is included in The Best American Sports Writing 2011 (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt).

Megan Mayhew Bergman‘s “Housewifely Arts” is also included in The Best American Short Stories 2011 (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt). “Housewifely Arts” was first published by One Story, and is part of Megan’s collection Birds of a Lesser Paradise, forthcoming from Scribner in 2012. Publishers Weekly calls Birds of a Lesser Paradise a “stellar debut.”

Publishers Weekly says Lauren Fox‘s Friends Like Us (Knopf) is “funny and bittersweet… a thoughtful, delicate book.” Booklist writes, “the hard emotional truths go down easily amind the smart, rapid-fire wit. A pure if heartbreaking pleasure.” Kirkus also says Friends Like Us is “moving… artfully written.”

Madeline Miller‘s debut novel, The Song of Achilles (Bloomsbury UK) was selected by Amazon as one of the top 50 books of 2011 in the UK. In the US, The Song of Achilles (Ecco) also received a starred review in Publishers Weekly, which says the novel “masterfully brings to life an imaginative yet informed vision of ancient Greece.” The novelist Donna Tartt picked The Song of Achilles as her Book of the Year in the Times (UK), calling it “captivating… a hard book to put down.” Read an essay by Madeline Miller, written for the Guardian on her top 10 classical books, here.

Paula McLain‘s The Paris Wife (Ballantine) won the 2011 Goodreads Reader’s Choice Award in the Historical Fiction category. The novel was also selected as one of Barnes & Noble’s Best of 2011, and as one of Amazon.com’s Best Books of 2011. Read a Goodreads interview with Paula here. Film rights to The Paris Wife have been optioned by Amber Entertainment.

Helen Simonson‘s Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand is a BBC Radio Book At Bedtime pick for December. Listen to the program here.

Will Allison, author of What You Have Left and the New York Times bestseller Long Drive Home, has joined One Story magazine as a Contributing Editor.

The paperback edition of Kathleen Kent‘s The Traitor’s Wife (Reagan Arthur Books / Little, Brown) debuted on the New York Times bestseller list. The book was originally published as The Wolves of Andover.

Anna North‘s America Pacifica (Reagan Arthur Books/Little, Brown) was selected as one of the Chicago Tribune’s Best Books of 2011.

The Family Fang (Ecco) by Kevin Wilson is an instant bestseller, debuting on the New York Times Bestseller list and on the Nationwide Independent Bestseller list. The Family Fang was selected as an Amazon.com Best Book of the Month and an Indie Next Pick for August. Read an excerpt from the novel online at The Collagist and a profile of Kevin in the New York Times.

Will Allison‘s Long Drive Home (Free Press) is an instant bestseller, debuting on the New York Times Bestseller list. People Magazine calls Long Drive Home “A gripping morality tale that raises questions about race, conscience and the responsibilities of parenthood.”

Alicia Oltuski‘s Precious Objects (Scribner) is a Barnes and Noble Discover pick for Fall 2011. Read Alicia’s essay “Diamond Girl” in W Magazine, and a profile of Alicia in the Wall Street Journal.

Gina Ochsner‘s “Song of the Selkie” is included in the anthology Fantastic Women (Tin House Books).

The Paris Wife (Ballantine) by Paula McLain is a Real Simple August Book Club Pick, and has been on the New York Times Bestseller list for twenty weeks. The Paris Wife also won the Cleveland Arts Prize for Literature.

Ann Napolitano‘s A Good Hard Look (Penguin) is an Indie Bestseller. The Washington Post says that A Good Hard Look is “An absorbing, old-fashioned tale about how, as in Flannery O’Connor’s stories, ‘Grace changes a person…. And change is painful.’”

Helen Simonson‘s Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand (Random House) received the 2011 Waverton Good Read Award in the United Kingdom. The paperback edition has been on the New York Times Bestseller list for 36 weeks.

Zoë Ferraris‘s Finding Nouf (Little, Brown) was selected for One City One Book 2011 in La Canada Flintridge, California.

Read Anna North‘s “The Pilot” at Five Chapters. Anna is the author of America Pacifica (Little, Brown), which The Rumpus calls “an adventure story with a literary personality.” Read an interview with Anna on the Huffington Post.

Peter Bognanni‘s debut novel The House of Tomorrow (Putnam/Amy Einhorn Books) received the 2010 LA Times Art Seidenbaum Award for First Fiction.

Advance praise for Kevin Wilson‘s forthcoming debut novel The Family Fang (Ecco, August 2011) includes starred reviews in both Publisher’s Weekly and Kirkus. Kirkus says, “The subtlety of the comedy is flawless, channeling the filmmaking of Wes Anderson or Rian Johnson.” Read an interview with Kevin in the May 2 edition of Publisher’s Weekly.

Read “My Editor, My Wife” by Will Allison on Slate.com . Will’s second novel, Long Drive Home, will be published by Free Press in May 2011. Publisher’s Weekly praised Long Drive Home, stating “Allison’s effortless prose and playful genre mixing showcase a burgeoning talent.” Free Press reissued the paperback edition of Will Allison’s What You Have Left this spring.

Paula McLain‘s The Paris Wife (Ballantine) is an instant bestseller, debuting at #1 on the American Booksellers Association bestseller list, and at #9 on the New York Times bestseller list. In anticipation of Mother’s Day, O Magazine listed The Paris Wife as one of the top “Books Mom Will Love.”

Read Luis Alberto Urrea‘s short story “Chametla” in the Spring 2011 issue of Tin House.

Helen Simonson‘s Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand (Random House) received an Honorable Mention from the 2011 Hemingway Foundation/PEN Award.

Zoe Ferraris‘s City of Veils (Little, Brown) was nominated for a NCIBA Award in the Fiction category.

In April, Michael Crummey’s Galore (Other Press) was selected as one of Amazon.com’s Best Books of the Month. The novel has also been shortlisted for the 2011 International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award.

An article by Alicia Oltuski, “In Search of the Modern Engagement Ring,” was published by The Faster Times in March. Alicia’s debut, Precious Objects: A Story of Diamonds, Family, and a Way of Life, will be published by Scribner this July.

Dyan deNapoli’s The Great Penguin Rescue and Kathleen Kent’s The Wolves of Andover were both named “Must-Read” books by the annual Massachusetts Book Awards Committee. Dyan’s The Great Penguin Rescue also received a Nautilus Book Award, winning a Silver award in the Animals and Nature category.

Read “The Autobiography of Allegra Byron” by Megan Mayhew Bergman on the Five Chapters website. Megan’s debut collection Birds of a Lesser Paradise will be published by Scribner in 2012.

A new short story by Gina Oschner,”Break,” appears in the Glimmer Train Spring 2011 issue.

Read an excerpt of Paula McLain‘s forthcoming novel The Paris Wife in this month’s issue of Good Houskeeping. Publisher’s Weekly says Mclain “offers a vivid addition to the complex-woman-behind-the-legendary-man genre, bringing Ernest Hemingway and his first wife, Hadley Richardson, to life.”

The Winter 2011 issue of Glimmer Train features an interview with Bret Anthony Johnston as well as his latest short story, “Soldier of Fortune.”

Randi Davenport’s memoir The Boy Who Loved Tornadoes was selected by the Great Lakes Colleges Association for their New Writer’s Award.

Helen Simonson’s Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand (Random House) was featured as one of the Top Ten Novels of the Year by Janet Maslin at the New York Times, the Christian Science Monitor, the Washington Post and Amazon.com. In December, Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand debuted at #10 on the New York Times Paperback Bestseller list, #2 on the Heartland Indie bestseller list and #15 on the Publishers Weekly paperback bestseller list. Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand is a Pennie’s Pick at Costco and in England the Richard and Judy Book Club selected it for their Spring list.

The Unnamed by Joshua Ferris was among The New Yorker‘s “Reviewers Favorites of 2010,” and the Economist and Time Out New York named the novel one of the best books of 2010. Joshua Ferris’s story “The Pilot” is included in the anthology 20 Under 40: Stories from the New Yorker (Farrar, Straus & Giroux), edited by Deborah Treisman.

Library Journal picked Peter Bognanni‘s House of Tomorrow, Zoe Ferraris’s City of Veils and Kathleen Kent’s The Wolves of Andover as three of the Best Adult Books for Teens in 2010 .

The Great Penguin Rescue by Dyan deNapoli was listed as one of Library Journal’s Best Sci-Tech Books of 2010. A profile of Dyan was also featured in the Boston Globe.

Peter Bognanni’s House of Tomorrow received an Alex Award from the American Library Association.

Randi Davenport‘s memoir The Boy Who Loved Tornadoes is a finalist for the 15th Annual Books for a Better Life Award.

Joshua Ferris‘s story “The Valetudinarian” is appearing in the 2010 edition of Best American Short Stories, edited by Richard Russo. The story was originally published in August 2009 in the The New Yorker.

The Wolves of Andover by Kathleen Kent has been named a November 2010 Indie Next Pick, and is due to be published November 8th by Reagan Arthur Books/ Little, Brown & Co.

Stories by Kevin Wilson, Bret Anthony Johnston, and Megan Mayhew Bergman were selected for the 2010 edition of New Stories From the South, edited by Amy Hempel. The collection is in stores now from Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill.

Peter Bognanni has been awarded the 2010 Emerging Author Award at this year’s Iowa Author Awards. Past winners include Marilynne Robinson and Jane Smiley.

Ru Freeman‘s novel A Disobedient Girl has been included on the long list for the DSC prize for South Asian Literature.

Lauren Grodstein’s novel A Friend of the Family, Helen Simonson’s novel Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand, and Joshua Ferris’ novel The Unnamed are all being released in paperback this Fall.

Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand by Helen Simonson and The Unnamed by Joshua Ferris have been named two of Amazon.com‘s ten best fiction books of 2010 so far.

Listen to an interview with Randi Davenport, author of the recently published memoir The Boy Who Loved Tornadoes (Algonquin Books, March 2009), on NPR’s The State of Things.

Kevin Wilson’s collection Tunneling to the Center of the Earth has received the 2009 Shirley Jackson Award for single-author collection, given for outstanding achievement in the literature of psychological suspense, horror, and the dark fantastic.

Zoë Ferraris’ forthcoming novel City of Veils (Little, Brown, August 2010) has been named a “nail-biting summer read” by Salon.com. Read an interview with Zoë in Publisher’s Weekly, which also gave the novel a starred review in their June 14th issue. Also, read a playlist of Zoë’s favorite music from across the world on The New York Times blog Paper Cuts.

Joshua Ferris is featured in The New Yorker‘s 20 Under 40 issue, highlighting important fiction writers under the age of 40. Read his story The Pilot in the June 14th/21st issue of the magazine.

Kevin Wilson’s story Housewarming will appear in the 2010 edition of New Stories from the South, edited by Amy Hempel. Read the review in Publisher’s Weekly, and look for the collection on sale August 17th from Algonquin Books.

Listen to an interview with Helen Simonson on The Diane Rehm Show that aired on National Public Radio. Helen’s novel Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand has gone back to print five times, and was an instant bestseller on lists by The New York Times, The Washington Post, and The Los Angeles Times. Major Pettigrew is also the top Indie Next Pick for March, a Barnes & Noble Discover pick, and has been named one of Amazon.com’s Best Books of the Month.

Read an article by Peter Bognanni on the relationship of books and music at The Huffington Post. Peter’s debut novel The House of Tomorrow is an Indie Next Pick for March, as well as a Barnes & Noble Discover pick and a Borders Original Voices pick. Make sure to watch The House of Tomorrow’s wonderful book trailer on YouTube.

Read a playlist of songs about New Jersey byLauren Grodstein on The New York Times Book Review blog Paper Cuts.

Read Paula McLain’s story “Trust” on Narrative Magazine Online. Paula’s novel The Paris Wife is forthcoming from Ballantine Books in February 2011.

Joshua Ferris’s The Unnamed is the #1 Indie Next Pick for January and has been chosen as one of Amazon.com‘s Best Books of the Month. Read which books Joshua couldn’t live without and hear him read a selection from Thomas Pynchon’s The Crying of Lot 49 on the New York Times Room for Debate Blog. You can also listen to Leonard Lopate interview Josh on WNYC. An excerpt from The Unnamed appears in the latest issue of Granta.

Helen Simonson’s forthcoming novel Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand was Publisher’s Weekly’s Pick of the Week in their January 4th issue.

Lauren Grodstein’s A Friend of the Family was named one of the best books of 2009 by January Magazine.