fiction

Stories 1 - 20 |  Next >>

Rookie Novelist Scores a National Book Award

Gunty's 'The Rabbit Hutch' won fiction prize; Imani Perry won for nonfiction for 'South to America'

(Newser) - Tess Gunty's The Rabbit Hutch, a sweeping debut novel set in a low-income housing community in Indiana, has won the National Book Award for fiction. The 30-year-old Gunty was among three writers nominated for their first published books, per the AP . The nonfiction prize went to Imani Perry's...

Remember 'Cat Person'? The Backstory Just Got Weird

Alexis Nowicki says Kristen Roupenian based short story on her

(Newser) - More than three years ago, at the peak of the #MeToo movement, a short story in the New Yorker went viral, earning Kristen Roupenian a book contract and movie deal . This week, however, a swerve: In an essay for Slate , Alexis Nowicki says the main female character in Roupenian's...

COVID Has Ruined One More Thing
COVID Has Ruined
One More Thing

COVID Has Ruined One More Thing

The Bad Sex in Fiction Awards will not take place this year

(Newser) - The year 2020 giveth, and it taketh away. Mostly taketh away, even in the world of literature, where an honor doled out annually for nearly 30 years has been nixed due to the coronavirus. The Guardian reports that the Literary Review has canceled its Bad Sex in Fiction Awards, which...

Before Writing Little Women, She Cut Her Chops on This

Unfinished early work by Louisa May Alcott is published in Strand Magazine

(Newser) - The current issue of Strand Magazine (subscription) will give readers the chance to discover an obscure and unfinished Louisa May Alcott work of fiction—and to provide a conclusion themselves. Alcott's Aunt Nellie's Diary has rarely been seen since she drafted what may have been a novel or...

Clinton-Patterson Thriller Jumps to the Top on Amazon

'The President is Missing' posted the biggest first week for adult fiction since Harper Lee's 'Go Set a Watchman'

(Newser) - Bill Clinton's debut novel had the year's biggest opening so far for a work of fiction, reports the AP . The President is Missing, a thriller he co-wrote with James Patterson, sold 250,000 copies its first week. Alfred A. Knopf and Little, Brown and Co., the book's...

'Billiard Rack' Genitals Win Bad Sex in Fiction Award

'Unsure as to how many testicles the character in question has'

(Newser) - Despite facing tough competition from novels featuring the phrases "mouth-machine" and "diabolical torso," Christopher Bollen took home the 2017 Bad Sex in Fiction award Thursday in London, courtesy of the Literary Review . NPR reports the passage that earned Bollen the prize comes from his novel The Destroyers....

Authors Are Writing 100 New Books—to Publish in 2114

Future Library will only unlock for future readers

(Newser) - Authors Margaret Atwood and David Mitchell have wrapped up new works of fiction, but unless there are major strides in longevity in the near future, you won't ever get to read them: They won't actually be released for another 98 years. Such is the plan of the Future...

In a First, 2 Americans Make Booker Shortlist

We are all completely beside ourselves for Karen Joy Fowler, Joshua Ferris

(Newser) - Three British writers, two Americans, and an Australian are the finalists announced today for the prestigious Booker Prize for fiction . The British nominees are Ali Smith's How to Be Both, Howard Jacobson's J, and Neel Mukherjee's The Lives of Others. The US is represented by Joshua Ferris'...

Snowden Stories, Coming-of-Age Novel Win Pulitzers

'The Goldfinch' by Donna Tartt wins prize for best fiction

(Newser) - A coming-of-age novel and groundbreaking reports on NSA surveillance took top billing today as the Pulitzer Board at Columbia University handed out its coveted prizes. Among the winners:
  • Fiction: The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt, a "beautifully written" novel about a grieving orphan in modern-day Manhattan, the Boston Globe reports.
...

'Bad Sex in Fiction' Winner Apparently Likes Science

Manil Suri's 'The City of Devi' takes the prize

(Newser) - Let's see how hot this gets you:
  • "Surely supernovas explode that instant, somewhere, in some galaxy. The hut vanishes, and with it the sea and the sands—only Karun's body, locked with mine, remains. We streak like superheroes past suns and solar systems, we dive through shoals
...

New York Times Leads Pulitzers With 4 Wins

Adam Johnson takes fiction prize for 'The Orphan Master's Son'

(Newser) - The New York Times flexed its journalistic muscle today with four Pulitzer Prizes, including investigative reports on Apple and Walmart's use of bribery in Mexico, the AP reports. The Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel won the public service Pulitzer for coverage of reckless driving by an off-duty police officer. The AP...

Dan Brown Has New Novel Coming in May

Brown-esque stunt helps launch 'Inferno' publicity blitz

(Newser) - Da Vinci Code author Dan Brown is bringing back fictional code-breaker Robert Langdon in a new novel in May. Inferno will center on Dante, taking its name from the first part of his 14th-century work, The Divine Comedy. Brown and Doubleday announced the title today in a social media stunt...

Nancy Huston Wins 'Bad Sex in Fiction' Prize

Infrared has some horrible lines about hanky panky

(Newser) - Want a good sex scene in your next read? Skip Nancy Huston's Infrared, which just nabbed the Literary Review's tongue-in-cheek award for Bad Sex in Fiction, reports the LA Times . Unlike last year's winner , Infrared—about a photographer who takes pictures of her lovers' bodies at intimate...

'Lost' F. Scott Fitzgerald Story Published

'New Yorker' un-rejects smoking story

(Newser) - This week, the New Yorker is publishing a never-before-seen F. Scott Fitzgerald short story—that it initially rejected back in 1936. It's a charming, brief piece about a saleswoman desperate for a cigarette in a disapproving town. In an internal memo at the time, the magazine wrote that the...

New Yorker Releasing Story in Tweets

Jennifer Egan's 'Black Box' serialized on Twitter

(Newser) - The latest story from a Pulitzer Prize-winning writer will appear in 140-character chunks. The New Yorker is publishing Jennifer Egan's "Black Box" in installments on Twitter, the New York Observer reports. The tweets, which began yesterday , will appear from 8pm to 9pm every day for nine days. They'...

Pulitzer Board Just Sucked Life Out of Book Industry
Pulitzer Board Just Sucked Life Out of Book Industry
Ann Patchett

Pulitzer Board Just Sucked Life Out of Book Industry

Prize injects needed excitement into world of literature: Ann Patchett

(Newser) - Sure, there's a possibility that when the Pulitzer Prize board failed to announce a fiction winner, the reason could have been a simple deadlock. But most who heard the news probably didn't assume that, and instead figured "it was a bum year for fiction," writes author...

The 3 Novels That Almost Won a Pulitzer

David Foster Wallace, Karen Russell, Denis Johnson were considered

(Newser) - For the first time in 35 years, no Pulitzer Prize for fiction was awarded —but that doesn't mean no works of fiction were considered. The Pulitzer jurors narrowed down the possibilities to three novels … and then the Pulitzer board decided, "after lengthy consideration," not to...

This Year's Winner for Bad Sex Writing Is ...

David Guterson, for an Oedipus-like shower scene in 'Ed King'

(Newser) - Ron Charles of the Washington Post wins the prognosticator award among book critics. When he reviewed (and panned) David Guterson's novel Ed King, he took note of one part: "What follows are three pages that might very well win the Literary Review’s annual Bad Sex Award."...

2011's Top 10 Books


 2011's Top 10 Books 
new york times LIST

2011's Top 10 Books

Stephen King, Christopher Hitchens make the cut

(Newser) - If you need a book recommendation for holiday reading, look no further than the New York Times ' list of the 10 best books of the year. Five are fiction and five non-fiction:
  • 11/22/63 by Stephen King: A time portal sends an English teacher back to 1958 to try and
...

New Authors Will Continue Parker’s Crime Novels

Spenser, Jesse Stone live on despite death of Robert B. Parker

(Newser) - The two most famous creations of late crime novelist Robert B. Parker will live on. His estate will allow two writers to continue the Spenser and Jesse Stone novels, reports Publishers Weekly . Michael Brandman will take over the Spenser series, which debuted in 1974 and now number 39. Ace Atkins...

Stories 1 - 20 |  Next >>