Summer 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.
Spring 2011
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.
Winter 2011
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.
Fall 2010
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 Novemeber 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.
Summer 2010
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.
Spring 2010
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.
Winter 2010
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, and was chosen as an Editor's Choice in the January 1st edition of The New York Times Book Review.
Peter Bognanni has a playlist on The New York Times Book Review blog Paper Cuts. Peter's debut novel The House of Tomorrow is forthcoming from Amy Einhorn/Putnam in March.
Kevin Wilson's debut collection Tunneling to the Center of the Earth has received a 2010 Alex Award, given by the American Library Association to books written for adults that have special appeal to young adults.
Fall 2009
Lauren Grodstein is profiled in the September 21st issue of Publisher's Weekly. Her forthcoming novel, A Friend of the Family is a November Indie Next Pick, and was selected as one of Sara Nelson's 15 Hottest Books of Fall on The Daily Beast. A Friend of the Family has also been selected as one of Amazon.com's Best Books of the Month for November 2009.
Joshua Ferris is appearing at the 2009 New Yorker Festival on Friday, October 16th, along with Alexander Hemon. He will be reading from his forthcoming novel The Unnamed, which is to be published in January 2010 by Reagan Arthur Books. You can read an interview with Joshua in the November 16th issue of Publisher's Weekly.
The Heretic's Daughter by Kathleen Kent has been released in paperback by Little,Brown/Back Bay Books in the US and Pan Macmillan in the UK, debuting at #19 on the Sunday Times bestseller list in the UK. The Heretic's Daughter is also featured in the October issue of Costco Connection Magazine, and is listed as a Buyer's Pick by Costco book buyer Pennie Clark Ianniciello. Also, you can read "My Mother, The Showgirl," a new essay by Kathleen on More.com.
Kevin Wilson's story collection Tunneling to the Center of the Earth received Honorable Mention as one of Publisher's Weekly's Best Books of 2009.
Spring/Summer 2009
Gina Ochsner is profiled in the June 29th issue of Publisher's Weekly featuring ten promising fiction debuts.
Finding Nouf by Zoe Ferraris has won the Los Angeles Times Art Seidenbaum Award for First Fiction, and was recently released in paperback by Mariner Books. The Sunday Times (UK) also picked it as one of their 100 best holiday reads. Finding Nouf is also a finalist for the Macavity Award for Best First Mystery by Mystery Readers International.
Read Bret Anthony Johnston's essay about Farrah Fawcett on National Public Radio.
"A Night Out", a new short story by Joshua Ferris, was published in the 10th Anniversary issue of Tin House. Also, "The Valetudinarian" was published in the July 27th issue of The New Yorker.
Ru Freeman is profiled as one of six debut novelists in the July/August issue of Poets & Writers Magazine. Her novel A Disobedient Girl, which is coming out from Atria/Simon & Schuster in July, was hailed as "An earnest, worthy, well-crafted debut" by Kirkus. Publisher's Weekly has said "Freeman illustrates contemporary Sri Lankan life through the battles waged between lovers, friends and strangers alike in this study in dignity, strength of character, tolerance, and perseverance."
The Heretic's Daughter by Kathleen Kent is a Boston Globe bestseller.
Winter 2009
Read an interview with Julie Barer and three other literary agents in the January/February 2009 issue of Poets & Writers Magazine.
Joshua Ferris is a finalist for a National Magazine Award for his story "The Dinner Party", which appeard in the August 11th & 18th issue of The New Yorker.
Gina Ochsner's debut novel The Russian Dreambook of Color and Flight has been longlisted for The 2009 Orange Prize for Fiction. Recently published in the UK by Portobello Books, The Russian Dreambook of Color and Flight will be published in the US in January 2010 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.
Read "Battling Lightning" by Randi Davenport in the February 22nd issue of The Washington Post Magazine. Randi's memoir is forthcoming from Algonquin Books in 2010.
Read "No Joke This Is Going to Be Painful" by Kevin Wilson in the current issue of Tin House and Kevin's New York Times Magazine "Lives" piece in the February 22nd issue of the magazine. Kevin also has a short story in the current issue of The Southeast Review.
Lauren Fox's essay "My Friend's Divorce Almost Ruined My Marriage" appears in the February issue of Marie Claire.
Finding Nouf by Zoë Ferraris is a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Art Seidenbaum Award for First Fiction and a winner of the Alex Award, given by the American Library Association.
Read an interview with Will Allison in the Spring issue of Glimmertrain.
The Heretic's Daughter by Kathleen Kent has won the David J. Langum, Sr. Prize for American Historical Fiction.
Fall 2008
"On Principle" by Gina Ochsner has been selected by Narrative Magazine as a winner of their first person short story contest. Gina's debut novel The Russian Dreambook of Color and Flight is forthcoming from Houghton Mifflin Harcourt in the U.S and Portobello Books in the UK in 2009.
Listen to Kevin Wilson read from his short story "You Amaze Me, You Do" at the New York Public Library as part of CLMP's Periodically Speaking series (available on iTunes). Publisher's Weekly says "Kevin Wilson's captivating debut collection paints an everyday world filled with characters obsessed by weird impulses...Wilson creates a lively landscape with rich and twisted storytelling..." Tunneling to the Center of the Earth will be published by Ecco/HarperPerennial in April 2009.
The Heretic's Daughter by Kathleen Kent (Little, Brown) is an Indie Next Book selection. Published on September 3rd the book has been reprinted five times and become an instant bestseller.
Kelly Braffet and Lauren Grodstein are both contributors to Who Can Save Us Now? Brand New Superheroes and Their Amazing (Short) Stories edited by Owen King and John McNally, published by Free Press in August.
Read "The Dinner Party" by Joshua Ferris in the August 11th issue of The New Yorker and his essay on Florida, part of State by State: A Panoramic Portrait of America edited by Matt Weiland and Sean Wilsey. An excerpt from Then We Came to the End was featured as part of the Selected Shorts series at Symphony Space.
Finding Nouf by Zoë Ferraris was picked as a Crime Fiction Favorite of 2008 by the Los Angeles Times. A San Francisco Chronicle Bestseller, it was selected for the BBC Radio's Book at Bedtime series.
Read "The Close-Nit Family" by Paula McLain in the Washington Post Magazine.
Spring/Summer 2008
Joshua Ferris has won the PEN/Hemingway Award and the Barnes & Noble Discover Award for his novel Then We Came to the End. He was also a finalist for the PEN/Robert Bingham Fellowship for Writers. Read Josh's short story "More Afraid of You" in the latest issue of Granta.
Finding Nouf by Zoë Ferraris has been chosen as a Book Sense Pick for June and a Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers selection.
Will Allison's debut novel What You Have Left, which was named one of 2007's notable books by the San Francisco Chronicle, will be released in paperback by Simon and Schuster's Free Press in June.
Read Paula McLain's "Life Lessons" essay in the June issue of Real Simple.
Winter 2008
Read Paula McLain's Modern Love essay "The Holiday of My Dreams That Was Just That" in The New York Times. Paula's debut novel A Ticket to Ride will be published by Ecco/HarperCollins in January.
Then We Came to the End by Joshua Ferris was picked as one of the Ten Best Books of 2007 by The New York Times, Time Magazine, Salon, New York Magazine, Entertainment Weekly, and The Christian Science Monitor. It was selected by Richard and Judy for their 2008 Book Club. Read a short story by Joshua Ferris in the latest issue of Tin House.
The Time it Takes to Fall, Margaret Lazarus Dean's debut novel about the Challenger disaster, will be released in paperback from Simon and Schuster in February. Margaret was recently awarded a creative writing fellowship from the National Endowment of the Arts.
The Romantic Times 2007 Reviewers' Choice Award Nominees are out, and Frenemies by Megan Crane is nominated in the Best Mainstream & Chick Lit Fiction category.
"At-Talifoon" an essay by Zoë Ferraris about her time living in Saudi Arabia, will be published by the literary magazine A Public Space in their February issue. Waterstone's Booksellers has picked Zoë as one of their twelve "New Voices" for 2008.
Read Lauren Fox's dispatches from Wisconsin in The New York Times Op-Ed series "Battlegrounds" about the 2008 elections. Lauren is the author of the novel Still Life With Husband which Knopf published last year.
Fall 2007
Joshua Ferris is a finalist for the National Book Award for his debut novel Then We Came to the End.
Will Allison's debut novel What You Have Left has been selected as a Fall 2007 Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers pick.
Last Seen Leaving by Kelly Braffet, which Entertainment Weekly called a "compelling tale of mother-daughter estrangement" is out in paperback from Mariner/Houghton Mifflin.
Gina Ochsner's story "Song of the Selkie" is included in the new anthology Best American Fantasy.
Finding Nouf, a literary mystery set in Saudi Arabia by Zoe Ferraris has just been published in Germany and the Netherlands. Houghton Mifflin will publish Finding Nouf in the US in June 2008, and Little, Brown UK will publish under the title The Night of the Mi'Raj in April 2008.