Back in high school, I took a semester of journalism. My teacher drilled into us the importance of answering the 5 W’s and an H (who, what, where, when, why and how) and the structure of a news story (most important information in the first paragraph, with a steady increase of interesting-but-less-important details with each subsequent paragraph). She warned that these were rules for writing news articles and never, ever should be applied to fiction.
Against a backdrop of rising tensions in the United States and around the world, books have become the weapon of choice for people of all ages to express their views and seek enlightenment. But even as a broad coalition of groups—from We Need Diverse Books to Authors Against Book Bans—has emerged to defend libraries, schools and readers’ freedom to choose what they read, the number of book bans is skyrocketing. Now, one publisher is taking a stand by creating a position dedicated to fighting against these bans.
This week’s book news includes the shortlists for the Forward Prizes for Poetry, New Hampshire Governor vetoes bill that would allow parents to request books be removed from their children’s classrooms, audiobook walking clubs take off, and more. Plus, JK Rowling’s The Cuckoo’s Calling will be broadcast as a TV series, Barnes and Noble reclaims its share of the Kindle, and a librarian returns a library book more than 65 years overdue. We also speak with authors Ed Park, Nicci Cloke, Sarah MacLean and James Grady about their latest novels and more.