By Sophie If these Bookbits appear a little disjointed, please forgive me: I've been counting books for the past 3 days on account of inventory and may still have little flashbacks (2-15-3 times). - Perhaps a little unsurprisingly, Publishers Weekly reports a spike in US sales of dystopian novels in January 2025, [...]
By Sophie. A special day today: it's my daughter's birthday! (If you thought I was going to talk about the U.S. Elections, see below.) - First up: ABC's co-director Martijn was a guest on the Bookshop Podcast! Listen here to hear what he has to say about working in the best [...]
By Sophie. AAAaaand the Bookbits are back, after my vacation last month. ^^ - Let's start off with a great interview by Booker Prize shortlisted Rachel Kushner which immediately made me want to read Creation Lake. - If you like to discover new writing talent, check out these 10 Promising New [...]
Writtten by Sophie. I am currently in Olympics heaven! They are always the highlight of every 4th summer for me. Hope you are enjoying all the amazing feats of sportmanship as well! And a note: no Bookbits next month, as I'll be on vacation. Longlists! The Booker Dozen has been announced, [...]
By Sophie. Hey there folks! I hope you're enjoying the summer as much as I am, now that it's finally here. :-) First off, awards. The Women's Prize for Fiction was handed out to Brotherless Night by V. V. Ganeshanathan. This year also saw the inaugural Women's Prize for Non-Fiction, which [...]
R.I.P. Alice Munro, who died on May 13th. She was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2013. For Independent Bookstore Day in the US (sadly no longer celebrated here on account of King's Day/Memorial Day/Liberation Day all happening then too), the president of children's book publisher Nosy Crow decided to visit [...]
R.I.P. Paul Auster, who died on 30 April of complications from lung cancer. NPR is one of the many sites with an obituary, and The Guardian gathered tributes by fellow authors. Awards! The Pulitzer Prizes were awarded last night, and the honorees are: Nightwatch (Fiction), Primary Trust (Drama), No Right to [...]
I hope everyone who celebrates had a lovely Easter and Holi, and a wonderful Eid al-Fitr to come next week to all who celebrate that! What do South Africa's former first couple, Black inexpression, and Uyghur poets have in common? Books about or by them were all National Book Critics Circle Award [...]
Let's start with bookish events in the country: Natali Simmonds hosts a resilience in writing workshop at ABC Amsterdam on 8 March, our Book Chats book club meets in Amsterdam on 22 March to discuss Scorched Grace, Emily Hund presents her book The Influencer Industry at the John Adams Institute on 18 [...]
Colombo, 1990. Maali Almeida, war photographer, gambler and closet queen, has woken up dead in what seems like a celestial visa office. His dismembered body is sinking in the Beira Lake and he has no idea who killed him. At a time when scores are settled by death squads, suicide bombers and hired goons, the list of suspects is depressingly long, as the ghouls and ghosts who cluster around him can attest. But even in the afterlife, time is running out for Maali. He has seven moons to try and contact the man and woman he loves most and lead them to a hidden cache of photos that will rock Sri Lanka. Winner of the 2022 Booker Prize.
