Southern Indie Booksellers Alliance | October 24, 2024
Brown Girl, Brown Girl is a Southern Independent Booksellers Association pick for their 2024 November/December “Read This Next” (RTN) Kids List!
Esquire | October 23, 2024
We recently caught up with the restaurateur and writer to talk about The Contemporary African Kitchen—“a book,” as he put it, “that I’ve been writing all my life.”
The Contemporary African Kitchen, the latest book from Alexander Smalls (out now), represents a cultural landmark and a professional milestone. Created in collaboration with writer Nina Oduro, the entrepreneur behind Dine Diaspora, it gathers recipes from chefs throughout the African continent—from Ghana and Uganda, Cameroon and Zambia, Burundi and Ethiopia, Nigeria and Senegal.
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Barnes & Noble | October 17, 2024
The Barnes & Noble list of the best mystery books of the year included This is Why We Lied by Karin Slaughter.
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USA Today | October 6, 2024
Reese Witherspoon's Hello Sunshine media company hosted its second annual Shine Away conference on Oct. 5-6, featuring a myriad of panels and activations to bring hundreds of guests together to connect and learn from one another.
DéLana R.A. Dameron, author of Redwood Court, attended. Redwood Court was a Reese's Book Club pick in February.
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black Enterprise | September 20, 2024
This Haitian-American author vows to set aside her fear and use her voice and privilege
Francesca Momplaisir has authored a thought-provoking opinion piece for Black Enterprise.
It always strikes me when I’m at a loss for words as a writer. It only happens when I’m afraid, and over the past weeks, I’ve found myself, my tongue, paralyzed with fear once again as Haitian people, my people, are being vilified and victimized.
We are under attack by a former president and right-wing Republicans – racist and xenophobic extremists – spewing hate, perpetuating lies, and issuing threats of violence against Haitian immigrants in Ohio whom they’ve accused of abducting and eating cats and dogs. My fear reached its height when I saw the KKK flyer commanding immigrants to go back to where we came from. The KKK? In broad daylight, in public, on social media?
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Publishers Weekly | September 16, 2024
Eli and the Uncles
Jehan Madhani, illus. by Rashin Kheiriyeh. Candlewick, $18.99 (32p) ISBN 978-1-5362-2811-3
Eli’s eight uncles live together in one house, and every summer Eli spends a day with them in this gleeful excursion from Madhani and Kheiriyeh. Watercolor, acrylic, and colored pencil illustrations show Eli running toward a house crammed with elaborately bearded uncles, “very big and very tall,” all portrayed with brown skin. Uncle Mahmoud “tells the best stories,” Uncle Salim cooks Eli’s favorite foods, Uncle Hanif sings, Uncle Aman dances, Uncle Riz tells jokes, Uncles Farouk and Aziz argue, and Uncle Nooru naps. Following these events, “eight uncles and one Eli” eat dinner together before Eli heads home. In an epic farewell chain, Eli kisses each uncle, while text details the qualities of their beards. (Uncle Mahmoud’s is “short and nicely groomed”; Uncle Salim’s is “so long and curly that Eli gets a little lost in it.”) It’s an affectionate, rhythmically told sequence that underlines time spent individually and collectively. Ages 3–7. (Nov.)
Publishers Weekly | September 13, 2024
Honoré’s energetic poem-turned– picture book debut offers a contemplative call-and-response-style ode to brown girls everywhere. Opening, a querying line asks, “Brown girl, brown girl,/ what did you see?” A page turn later, the answer appears, alongside images of a Black child curled in the fetal position: “a world that sees my skin/ before it sees me.” Subsequent lines beginning “brown girl, brown girl” ask, “what did you feel?” and “what did you do?”
In scene after scene, striking painterly acrylics by Caldecott Honoree Cabrera picture brown girls of myriad hair textures and skin tones joining together to dance, play, and stand tall. After text asks, “Brown girl, brown girl,/ what do you know?” the answer (“That there are strong women/ who want me to grow”) attends girls riding bikes by a mural of notable women of color, reflecting the aspirations and limitless possibility of individuals including Kamala Harris, Frida Kahlo, Toni Morrison, and Malala Yousafzai.
The response to a final question—“Brown girl, brown girl,/ who will you be?”—provides a meaningful vision of the future: “a powerful woman/ who is wonderfully free.” An author’s note concludes.
Austin Monthly | September 5, 2024
Best Author: May Cobb
It’s been a banner year for this local author, who’s making her mark in Texas and Tinseltown. In addition to publishing her fifth novel, The Hollywood Assistant, May Cobb served as executive producer for the adaptation of her popular book The Hunting Wives, which will become an eight-episode STARZ series with Malin Akerman and Brittany Snow. Featuring sex, murder, and misbehaving housewives, the upcoming drama is destined to be must-see TV.
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SLJ | August 27, 2024
They say the publishing world moves slow. I say it moves as fast as you need it to, depending on the circumstances.
Take a look at the description of Leslé Honoré and Cozbi A. Cabrera’s upcoming Brown Girl, Brown Girl and the words “Kamala Harris” will jump out at you immediately. . . .
One might justifiably argue that the time has never been better for this book to come out. But where precisely did it come from? I had the chance to ask some questions of its author and illustrator and they were quick to tell me its origin story:
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GMA | August 20, 2024
Bestselling author Karin Slaughter talks about the 12th book in the Will Trent series.
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Fox5 Atlanta | August 13, 2024
In the latest novel in Karin Slaughter's Will Trent series, the GBI special agent is on a honeymoon getaway that quickly turns into a murder mystery. The bestselling author joined Joanne Feldman to talk about the highly-anticipated ''This Is Why We Lied.''
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First for Women | August 2, 2024
Known for her complex, chilling crime thrillers, bestselling author Karin Slaughter has sold more than 40 million books worldwide and many of her novels have been adapted into hit TV shows, from Netflix’s ‘Pieces of Her’ starring Toni Collette to ABC’s ‘Will Trent.’ Slaughter’s forthcoming novel, This is Why We Lied, out August 20th, is the 12th installment of her fan-favorite Will Trent book series, which follows Georgia Bureau of Investigation agent Will Trent. Throughout Slaughter’s long-running series Trent is usually solving cases in Atlanta, but her upcoming book transports readers to an entirely new setting: McAlpine Lodge. This remote backdrop is partly inspired by Slaughter’s own real-life experience living in a secluded cabin in the North Georgia Mountains where she says she does all of her writing.
Yesterday, FIRST’s editor-in-chief, Liz Vaccariello, learned all this and more when she sat down with Slaughter ahead of her book’s release later this month. They discussed her beloved Will Trent character, her first favorite mystery book and how she prepares when writing a new novel.
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Parade | August 2, 2024
Will Trent is back! No, we’re not talking about the red-hot TV series. We’re talking about the ongoing thriller series by the acclaimed, best-selling writer Karin Slaughter. If you only know the TV series, be aware: you will enjoy the books, but they are quite different in the details. So either start from the beginning (they’re all really great) or just dive right in. In This Is Why We Lied, Will Trent is on his honeymoon with medical examiner Sara Linton at a pricey mountain retreat. A storm isolates the guests, someone is murdered and the idyllic honeymoon becomes a crime scene. As with all of Slaughter’s work, the violence is real and has a genuine impact. But here she’s also paying tribute to the “closed circle” mysteries made famous by Agatha Christie, where the suspects are limited to a handful of people and they all have a reason to kill the deceased. It’s funny, shocking, moving and filled with the sort of believable, grounded but still surprising twists that make Slaughter a master of the genre. Cozy? Hardly. Great fun, with great depth.
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New York Times, Datebook | July 27, 2024
Off the Books by Soma Mei Sheng Frazier has racked up two terrific book reviews. Here are a couple quotes:
“Frazier captures the relatable toggle between the private and the collective, between sinking into the anxieties of your life and grieving for the cruelties of the world.”—New York Times
“Frazier’s economical debut is many things at once: a tale of high stakes on the open road, a bighearted portrait of a frayed family, a slightly off-color comedy and an indictment of repressive political regimes.” —Datebook
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People | July 23, 2024
Alexander Smalls is cooking up a sweet new book.
The James Beard Award-winning chef is set to publish his debut children’s book, When Alexander Graced the Table, early next year. Co-written with bestselling author Denene Millner, and set to be published by her book imprint, Denene Millner Books, the project will hit shelves in January.
Featuring illustrations from Frank Morrison, the book is a celebration of family and tradition, per its description. Young Alexander always looks forward to weekly Sunday dinners, where his whole family gathers after church to share a meal together. When he’s tasked with preparing his own dish for the first time, he must figure out how to make a meal that will satisfy his family.
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American Book Fest | July 15, 2024
The Garden of Broken Things by Francesca Momplaisir is the Winner of the 2024 American Fiction Award for Multicultural Fiction. Congratulations Francesca!
This was the 7th Annual Awards Sponsored by American Book Fest. There were six other finalists in the Multicultural Fiction category.
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Austin Monthly | July 12, 2024
May Cobb
Buckle up for a thrilling double dose of Cobb. Starz is turning her engrossing novel The Hunting Wives into an eight-episode series. In the TV version, Brittany Snow stars as Sophie, a woman lured into a dark web of friendship with a captivating socialite (Malin Akerman) in East Texas. Filming is currently underway in North Carolina, with the author serving as executive producer. For those looking for a poolside read this summer, Cobb’s new novel, The Hollywood Assistant, hits shelves July 9. The plot follows an unassuming woman who nabs her dream job as an assistant to a Hollywood power couple, only to become embroiled in a murder investigation after dark secrets emerge. Via both page and screen, the writer is poised to keep fans on the edge of their seats all year long.
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Tribeza | July 9, 2024
Is Austin author May Cobb having the best year ever? Certainly the stars are aligning nicely for her. This week marks the publishing date for her fifth novel, The Hollywood Assistant. Even while she is busy mapping out bookstore appearances and author chats, she is flying back and forth from Austin to Charlotte, North Carolina, where STARZ is filming her second novel, The Hunting Wives, for a streaming thriller drama series starring Malin Ackerman, Brittany Snow, Chrissy Metz, and Dermot Mulroney, among others.
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