Concurrent but independent of the National Book Award semi-finalists serial rollout, this week also brings news, from London, of the shortlisted six nominees for the 2017 Man Booker Prize, literary fiction’s highly coveted international annual recognition. 

Here are our finalists, announced today, across our U.S., Canada, and UK companies:

Penguin Random House U.S.:
AUTUMN by Ali Smith (Pantheon Hardcover & E-Book; Anchor Paperback)
EXIT WEST by Mohsin Hamid (Riverhead Hardcover & E-Book; Penguin Audio download)
LINCOLN IN THE BARDO by George Saunders (Random House Hardcover & E-Book; Random House Audio)

Penguin Random House Canada.:
4 3 2 1 by Paul Auster (McClelland & Stewart)
AUTUMN by Ali Smith (Hamish Hamilton Canada)
EXIT WEST by Mohsin Hamid (Riverhead edition distributed by Penguin Random House Canada)
LINCOLN IN THE BARDO by George Saunders (Penguin Random House Canada distribution of Random House edition)

Penguin Random House UK:
AUTUMN by Ali Smith (Hamish Hamilton UK )
EXIT WEST by Mohsin Hamid (Hamish Hamilton UK)

Our congratulations to our Shortlist Finalists, as well as our Longlisted authors, and all among us who make their publication possible.

First awarded in 1969, the Man Booker Prize for Fiction is open to writers of any nationality, writing originally in English, and published in the U.K.

The 2017 Prize will be bestowed at the Man Booker Dinner in London on Tuesday, October 17.

The complete 2017 Man Booker Prize shortlist:  http://themanbookerprize.com/

Hit television series based on Margaret Atwood’s THE HANDMAID’S TALE (Anchor) and Liane Moriarty’s BIG LITTLE LIES (Berkley) won a combined 11 awards at the 69^th annual Emmy Awards Sunday night, September 17, in Los Angeles.  

Photo Credit: Inwood/AP

The Handmaid’s Tale, airing on Hulu, won in six categories:  Outstanding Drama Series; Lead Actress, Drama Series (Elisabeth Moss); Supporting Actress, Drama Series (Ann Dowd); Guest Actress, Drama Series (Alexis Bledel); Directing for a Drama Series (Reed Morano); and Writing for Drama Series (Bruce Miller).   Several acceptance speeches praised and expressed gratitude to Ms. Atwood. Ms. Moss said, “”Thank you for what you did in 1985 and thank you for what you continue to do.”  Ms. Atwood received a standing ovation as she walked onto the stage when The Handmaid’s Tale  won Outstanding Drama Series.

Big Little Lies, airing on HBO, won in five categories: Outstanding Limited Series; Lead Actress, Limited Series or Movie (Nicole Kidman); Supporting Actress, Limited Series or Movie (Laura Dern), Supporting Actor, Limited Series or Movie (Alexander Skarsgard); and Directing for a Limited Series (Jean-Marc Vallée).  BIG LITTLE LIES author Liane Moriarty was thanked a number of times, including by Nicole Kidman, who thanked Ms. Moriarty for writing a book “that presented strong, multi-dimensional women.”

Also, Alec Baldwin, author of the upcoming Penguin Press book, YOU CAN’T SPELL AMERICA WITHOUT ME, won the Emmy Award for Best Supporting Actor, Comedy (Saturday Night Live).  W. Kamau Bell, author of the Dutton title, THE AWKWARD THOUGHTS OF W. KAMAU BELL, won the Emmy for Unstructured Reality Program (United Shades of America with W. Kamau Bell).  And  Aziz Ansari, Penguin Press author of MODERN ROMANCE, won the Emmy for Writing for a Comedy Series (Master of None).

Kirkus Reviews has announced its 2017 Kirkus Prize finalists, with four titles published by Penguin Random House imprints among the nominated titles. Books that earned the Kirkus Star, with publication dates between September 1, 2016 and August 31, 2017, were nominated for the prize, created in 2014 to celebrate quality writing and Kirkus Reviews’ more than 80-year legacy of literary criticism.

Here are our finalists in the following categories:

Fiction

• WHAT IT MEANS WHEN A MAN FALLS FROM THE SKY by Lesley Nneka Arimah (Riverhead)
• EXIT WEST by Mohsin Hamid (Riverhead)
• WHITE TEARS by Hari Kunzru (Knopf)

Nonfiction

• PRIESTDADDY by Patricia Lockwood (Riverhead)

Congratulations to our finalists as well as their editors and publishers.

To view a complete list of finalists, click here.

Winners, each receiving a $50,000 prize, will be named on November 2 at a ceremony in Austin, Texas.

Penguin Random House author and Comedy Central Network Daily Show host Trevor Noah has won the 2017 Thurber Prize for American Humor, sponsored by Thurber House, for his bestselling memoir, BORN A CRIME: Stories from a South African Childhood (Spiegel & Grau/Random House).  Mr. Noah received a $5,000 prize and a commemorative crystal plaque Monday, October 2, at a ceremony in New York City.   

In BORN A CRIME, told during the twilight of apartheid in South Africa and the tumultuous days of freedom that followed, Mr. Noah illuminates his curious world with an incisive wit and unflinching honesty. He weaves his stories together to form a moving and searingly funny portrait of a boy making his way through a damaged world in a dangerous time, armed only with a keen sense of humor and a mother’s unconventional, unconditional love.

Congratulations to Mr. Noah, his editor, Chris Jackson, and everyone at Spiegel & Grau and the Random House Publishing Group.

The Thurber Prize for American Humor was founded by Thurber House in 1997 in honor of James Thurber, one of the foremost American humorists of the 20th century, author of The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, and creator of numerous cartoons for The New Yorker  magazine. This prize annually recognizes excellence in humor writing.

Two widely acclaimed books published earlier this year by Penguin Random House imprints are among the finalists for the 2018  Andrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence in Fiction and Nonfiction, bestowed by the American Library Association:     

FICTION

LINCOLN IN THE BARDO by George Saunders (Random House)

NONFICTION

KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI by David Grann (Doubleday)

Mr. Saunders’s novel won the Man Booker Prize in October.  Mr. Grann’s work is a finalist for a 2017 National Book Award in the Nonfiction category.

View the complete list of finalists here.

Established in 2012, the Andrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence serve as an ALA guide to help adults select quality reading material.

The newest winners will be announced on February 11, 2018 during the ALA Midwinter Meeting & Exhibits in Denver. Each Carnegie Medal winner will receive $5,000.

PEN Center USA, The West Coast center of PEN International, which is the world’s oldest international literary and human rights organization, held their 27^th annual Literary Awards last Friday, October 27 in Beverly Hills, California. Hosted by Nick Offerman, the ceremony honored Margaret Atwood with a Lifetime Achievement Award and winners in 8 categories were announced. Congratulations to all winners and finalists!

WINNERS

PEN Award for Creative Nonfiction:

WHEN BREATH BECOMES AIR by Paul Kalanithi, Abraham Verghese (Random House)

Also a finalist for the Pulitzer, this deeply humane memoir by a young neurosurgeon faced with a terminal diagnosis attempts to answer the questions: given that all organisms die, what makes a meaningful life? And, as a doctor, what does it mean to hold mortal—and moral—responsibility for another person’s identity? For readers of Atul Gawande and Siddhartha Mukherjee.

PEN Award for Research Nonfiction:

THE PERFECT HORSE: THE DARING U.S. MISSION TO RESCUE THE PRICELESS STALLIONS KIDNAPPED BY THE NAZIS by Elizabeth Letts (Ballantine)

The daring behind-Nazi-lines rescue of priceless pedigree horses by American soldiers in the closing days of World War Two—a riveting equine adventure story from the author of The Eighty-Dollar Champion.

PEN Award for Young Adult Fiction:

OUTRUN THE MOON by Stacey Lee (Speak)

Critically acclaimed author Stacey Lee continues to weave adventure and romance in a novel set during the 1906 San Francisco earthquake: A spot at St. Clare’s School is off limits for all but the wealthiest white girls. However, fifteen-year-old Mercy Wong knows that education is the best way out of Chinatown’s squalor.

FINALISTS

THE ASSOCIATION OF SMALL BOMBS: A NOVEL by Karan Mahajan (Viking)

Also a finalist for the National Book Award, The Association of Small Bombs is an expansive and deeply humane novel that is at once groundbreaking in its empathy, dazzling in its acuity, and ambitious in scope.

COCKROACHES by Scholastique Mukasonga, translated by Jordan Stump (Archipelago)

Scholastique Mukasonga’s Cockroaches is the story of growing up a Tutsi in Hutu-dominated Rwanda—the story of a happy child, a loving family, all wiped out in the genocide of 1994. A vivid, bittersweet depiction of family life and bond in a time of immense hardship, it is also a story of incredible endurance, and the duty to remember that loss and those lost while somehow carrying on.

For more on these titles visit the collection: PEN Awards 2017

Stay tuned for this week’s Friday Reads wherein we will honor the work of Margaret Atwood.

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Semifinalists for the 2017 Goodreads Choice Awards have been announced and feature more than 90 titles published by Penguin Random House imprints across such categories as Fiction, Mystery & Thriller, Historical Fiction, Fantasy, Romance, Science Fiction, Horror, Humor, Nonfiction, Memoir & Autobiography, History & Biography, Science & Technology, Food & Cookbooks, Debut Goodreads Author, Young Adult Fiction, Young Adult Fantasy & Science Fiction, Middle Grade & Children’s Books and Picture Books.  Semifinalst votes can be cast for the Goodreads Best Books of the Year through November 12.  

Here are our Goodreads Choice Awards 2017 semifinalists:

 Fiction

LITTLE FIRES EVERYWHERE by Celeste Ng (Penguin Press)

ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE by Elizabeth Strout (Random House)

WHAT IT MEANS WHEN A MAN FALLS FROM THE SKY by Lesley Nneka Arimah (Riverhead)

MY NOT SO PERFECT LIFE by Sophie Kinsella (Dial Press Trade)

EXIT WEST by Mohsin Hamid (Riverhead)

ELEANOR OLIPHANT IS COMPLETELY FINE by Gail Honeyman (Pamela Dorman Books/Viking)

RICH PEOPLE PROBLEMS by Kevin Kwan (Doubleday)

HOME FIRE by Kamila Shamsie (Riverhead)

Mystery & Thriller

THE GIRL BEFORE by J.P. Delaney (Ballantine)

INTO THE WATER by Paula Hawkins (Riverhead)

GOLDEN PREY by John Sanford (G.P. Putnam’s Sons)

ORIGIN by Dan Brown (Doubleday)

Historical Fiction

THE HEART’S INVISIBLE FURIES by John Boyne (Hogarth)

A COLUMN OF FIRE by Ken Follet (Viking)

LINCOLN IN THE BARDO by George Saunders (Random House)

BEFORE WE WERE YOURS by Lisa Wingate (Ballantine)

THE STARS ARE FIRE by Anita Shreve (Knopf)

WE WERE THE LUCKY ONES by Georgia Hunter (Viking)

Fantasy

FEVERSONG by Karen Marie Moning (Delacorte Press)

RED SISTER by Mark Lawrence (Ace)

ASSASSIN’S FATE by Robin Hobb (Del Rey)

THE BEAR AND THE NIGHTINGALE by Katherine Arden (Del Rey)

THE WITCHWOOD CROWN by Tad Williams (DAW Books)

SILENCE FALLEN (Mercy Thompson #10) by Patricia Briggs (Ace)

ETCHED IN BONE (The Others #5) by Anne Bishop (Roc)

Romance

BLOOD VOW By J.R. Ward (Ballantine)

SILVER SILENCE by Nalini Singh (Berkley Books)

Science Fiction

ALL OUR WRONG TODAYS by Elan Mastai (Dutton)

WALKING GODS by Sylvain Neuvel (Del Rey)

AMERICAN WAR by Omar El Akkad (Knopf)

THRAWN (Star Wars) by Timothy Zahn (Random House)

ARTEMIS by Andy Weir (Crown)

Horror

WHITE TEARS by Hari Kunzru (Knopf)

LOST BOY: The True Story of Captain Hook by Christina Henry (Berkley Books)

FINAL GIRLS by Riley Sager (Dutton)

MEDDLING KIDS by Edgar Cantero (Doubleday)

PRINCE LESTAT AND THE REALMS OF ATLANTIS by Anne Rice (Knopf)

FULL WOLF MOON (Jeremy Logan #5) by Lincoln Child (Doubleday)

Humor

TALKING AS FAST AS I CAN by Lauren Graham (Ballantine)

BELIEVE ME by Eddie Izzard (Blue Rider Press)

VACATIONLAND by John Hodgman (Viking)

ONE DAY WE’LL ALL BE DEAD AND NONE OF THIS WILL MATTER by Scaachi Koul (Doubleday Canada)

UNQUALIFIED by Anna Faris (Dutton)

THE AWKWARD THOUGHTS OF W. KAMAU BELL by W. Kamau Bell (Dutton)

WE ARE NEVER MEETING IN REAL LIFE by Samantha Irby (Vintage)

I’M FINE…AND OTHER LIES by Whitney Cummings (G.P. Putnam’s Sons)

Nonfiction

HALLELUJAH ANYWAY: REDISCOVERING MERCY by Anna Lamott (Riverhead)

DEAR IJEAWELE, OR A FEMINIST MANIFESTO IN FIFTEEN SUGGESTIONS by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (Knopf)

THE STRANGER IN THE WOODS: The Extraordinary Story of the Last True Hermit by Michael Finkel (Knopf)

WE WERE EIGHT YEARS IN POWER: An American Tragedy by Ta-Nehisi Coates (One World/Random House)

DARING TO HOPE: Finding God’s Goodness in the Broken and the Beautiful by Katie Davis Majors (Multnomah)

OPTION B Facing Adversity, Building Resilience and Finding Joy by Sheryl Sandberg, Adam Grant (Knopf)

HOW TO BE A BAWSE: A Guide to Conquering Life by Lilly Singh (Ballantine)

AMERICAN KINGPIN: The Epic Hunt for the Criminal Mastermind Behind the Silk Road by Nick Bilton (Portfolio)

Memoir & Autobiography

THE RULES DO NOT APPLY by Ariel Levy (Random House)

PRIESTDADDY: A Memoir by Patricia Lockwood (Riverhead)

History & Biography

 GRANT by Ron Chernow (Penguin Press)

ON TYRANNY: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century by Timothy Snyder (Tim Duggan Books)

THE GATEKEEPERS: How the White House Chiefs of Staff Define Every Presidency by Chris Whipple (Crown)

LAST HOPE ISLAND: Britain, Occupied Europe, and the Brotherhood That Helped Turn the Tide of War by Lynne Olson (Random House)

KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI by David Grann (Doubleday)

VICTORIA: THE QUEEN: An Intimate Biography of the Woman Who Ruled an Empire by Julia Baird (Random House)

Science & Technology

THE CASE AGAINST SUGAR by Gary Taubes (Knopf)

BEHAVE: The Biology of Humans at Our Best and Worst by Robert M. Sapolsky (Penguin Press)

INFERIOR: How Science Got Women Wrong—and the New Research That’s Rewriting the Story by Angela Saini (Beacon Press)

HIT MAKERS: The Science of Popularity in an Age of Distraction by Derek Thompson (Penguin Press)

IRRESISTIBLE: The Rise of Addictive Technology and the Business of Keeping Us Hooked by Adam Alter (Penguin Press)

WE HAVE NO IDEA: A Guide to the Unknown Universe by Jorge Cham, Daniel Whiteson (Riverhead)

SOONISH: Ten Emerging Technologies That’ll Improve and/or Ruin Everything by Kelly Weinersmith, Zach Weinersmith (Penguin Press)

Food & Cookbooks

CORK DORK: A Wine-Fueled Adventure Among the Obsessive Sommeliers, Big Bottle Hunters, and Rogue Scientists Who Taught Me to Live for Taste by Bianca Bosker (Penguin Books)

GIVE A GIRL A KNIFE by Amy Thielen (Clarkson Potter)

WHOLE NEW YOU: How Real Food Transforms Your Life, for a Healthier, More Gorgeous You by Tia Mowry, Jessica Porter (Ballantine)

THE WELLNESS MAMA COOKBOOK by Katie Wells (Harmony)

SMITTEN KITCHEN EVERYDAY: Triumphant and Unfussy New Favorites by Deb Perelman (Knopf)

COMING TO MY SENSES: The Making of a Counterculture Cook by Alice Waters (Clarkson Potter)

Debut Goodreads Author

MY ABSOLUTE DARLING by Gabriel Tallent (Riverhead)

AMERICAN WAR by Omar El Akkad (Knopf)

WHAT WE LOSE by Zinzi Clemmons (Viking)

STAY WITH ME by Ayobami Adebayo (Knopf)

THE CHILBURY LADIES’ CHOIR by Jennifer Ryan (Crown)

THE BEAR AND THE NIGHTINGALE (The Winternight Trilogy #1) by Katherine Arden (Del Rey)

ALL OUR WRONG TODAYS by Elan Mastai (Dutton)

WE WERE THE LUCKY ONES by Georgia Hunter (Viking)

THE ANIMATORS by Kayla Rae Whitaker (Random House)

Young Adult Fiction

TURTLES ALL THE WAY DOWN by John Green (Dutton Books for Young Readers) 

GEEKERELLA by Ashley Poston (Quirk Books)

ONE OF US IS LYING by Karen M. McManus (Delacorte Press)

GOODBYE DAYS by Jeff Zentner (Crown Books for Young Readers)

ONCE AND FOR ALL by Sarah Dessen (Viking Books for Young Reasders)

Young Adult Fantasy & Science Fiction

 CRYSTAL STORM (Falling Kingdoms #5) by Morgan Rhodes (Razorbill)

 WARCROSS (Warcross #1) by Marie Lu (Putnam Books for Young Readers)

THE BOOK OF DUST: La Belle Sauvage by Philip Pullman (Knopf Books for Young Readers)

FLAME IN THE MIST (Flame in the Mist #1) by Renee Ahdieh (Putnam Books for Young Readers)

TRAITOR TO THE THRONE (Rebel of the Sands #2) by Alwyn Hamilton (Viking Books for Young Readers)

Middle Grade & Children’s Books

 FLYING LESSONS & Other Stories by Ellen Oh (Editor), Kwame Alexander, Kelly J. Baptist, Soman Chainani, Matt de la Pena, Tim Federle, Grace Lin, Meg Medina (Crown Books for Young Readers)

 BEYOND THE BRIGHT SEA by Lauren Wolk (Dutton Books for Young Readers)

SEE YOU IN THE COSMOS by Jack Cheng (Dial Books for Young Readers)

Picture Books

 A GREYHOUND, A GROUNDHOG by Emily Jenkins, Chris Appelhans (Illustrations) (Schwartz & Wade Books)

LITTLE FOX IN THE FOREST by Stephanie Graegin (Schwartz & Wade Books)

THE BOOK OF MISTAKES by Corinna Luyken (Dial Books for Young Readers)

SHE PERSISTED: 13 American Women Who Changed the World by Chelsea Clinton, Alexandra Boiger(Illustrator) (Philomel)

WE’RE ALL WONDERS by R.J. Palacio (Knopf Books for Young Readers)

The longlist for the 11^th annual 800-CEO-READ Business Book Awards includes 14 books published by Penguin Random House imprints and one Penguin Random House Publisher Services client title.  800-CEO-READ General Manager Sally Haldorson commented, “This year’s longlist strikes me as particularly eclectic, and as a result, tremendously exciting. Every business reader whose curiosity and love of learning drives them to seek new approaches, to strive for better, to push a little further in their own lives and their own companies will find a book here well-suited to their needs.”  

Here are our longlisted titles in the following categories:

Management & Workplace Culture

OWN IT: The Power of Women at Work by Sallie Krawcheck (Crown Business)

THE STARTUP WAY: How Modern Companies Use Entrepreneurial Management to Transform Culture and Drive Long-Term Growth by Eric Ries (Currency)

Marketing & Sales

HIT MAKERS: The Science of Popularity in an Age of Distraction by Derek Thompson (Penguin Press)

THE LOST ART OF CLOSING: Winning the Ten Commitments That Drive Sales by Anthony Iannarino, (Portfolio)

PERENNIAL SELLER: The Art of Making and Marketing Work that Lasts by Ryan Holiday (Portfolio)

THE TRANSFORMATIONAL CONSUMER: Fuel a Lifelong Love Affair with Your Customers by Helping Them Get Healthier, Wealthier, and Wiser by Tara-Nicholle Nelson (Berrett-Koehler, a PRHPS client publisher)

Innovation & Creativity

HACKING GROWTH: How Today’s Fastest-Growing Companies Drive Breakout Success by Sean Ellis & Morgan Brown (Crown Business)

HUNCH: Turn Your Everyday Insights Into The Next Big Thing by Bernadette Jiwa (Portfolio)

Personal Development & Human Behavior

BRAVING THE WILDERNESS: The Quest for True Belonging and the Courage to Stand Aloneby Brené Brown (Random House)

INSIGHT: Why We’re Not as Self-Aware as We Think, and How Seeing Ourselves Clearly Helps Us Succeed at Work and in Life by Tasha Eurich (Crown Business)

Current News & Public Affairs

THE CEO PAY MACHINE: How it Trashes America and How to Stop it by Steven Clifford (Blue Rider Press)

WORLD WITHOUT MIND: The Existential Threat of Big Tech by Franklin Foer (Penguin Press)

Narrative & Biography

THE CUBS WAY: The Zen of Building the Best Team in Baseball and Breaking the Curse by Tom Verducci, (Crown Archetype)

Big Ideas & New Perspectives

THE POWER OF ONLYNESS: Make Your Wild Ideas Mighty Enough to Dent the World by Nilofer Merchant (Viking)

SCALE: The Universal Laws of Growth, Innovation, Sustainability, and the Pace of Life in Organisms, Cities, Economies, and Companies by Geoffrey West (Penguin Press)

View the complete 2017 800-CEO-READ Business Book Awards Longlist here.

The winners in each of eight categories will be announced on December 5.  From among those category winners, the 800-CEO-READ Business Books of the Year will be picked and announced at an event on January 18 in New York City. That night the organization will also celebrate the fourth annual Jack Covert Award for Contribution to the Business Book Industry.

800-CEO-READ identifies current trends in business literature, and also handles bulk book sales.

Poets & Writers, the distinguished nonprofit literary organization that fosters the professional creative development of poets as well as fiction and nonfiction writers, has announced its annual awards recipients:  

Penguin Random House authors Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie and Richard Russo will receive the 2018 Writers for Writers Awards, “recognizing authors who have given generously to other writers or to the broader literary community.”

Rebecca Saletan, Vice President, Editorial Director, Riverhead Books, will receive the 2018 Editor’s Award, which “honors a book editor who has made an outstanding contribution to the publication of poetry or literary prose over a sustained period of time.”

Author Susan Isaacs, who chairs the Poets & Writers’ Board of Directors and the committee that annually selects the honorees, commented, “We receive nominations from writers, publishing professionals, and others in the literary community. From the information about the nominees and their accomplishments, we select three writers and an editor who exemplify Poets & Writers’ core values: service, integrity, inclusivity, and excellence. This year’s honorees are models of those qualities. The Board is delighted to be able to honor them. Their work makes me proud to be part of this community.”

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Photo Credit: Wani Olatunde

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie is the author of several acclaimed novels, including HALF OF A YELLOW SUN (Anchor) and  AMERICANAH (Anchor), as well as highly regarded essay collections, WE SHOULD ALL BE FEMINISTS (Anchor) and DEAR IJEAWELE, or A Feminist Manifesto in Fifteen Suggestions (Knopf).  Poets & Writers salutes Ms. Adichie for how she “supports and encourages younger writers through her work with the Farafina Trust Creative Writing Workshop in Nigeria, widely regarded as the premier writing program in Africa.”

Richard Russo
Photo Credit: Elena Seibert

Richard Russo is the author of numerous bestselling novels, including the Pulitzer Prize-winning EMPIRE FALLS (Vintage) and, most recently, EVERYBODY’S FOOL (Vintage).  Poets & Writers notes that Mr. Russo “is renowned as an advocate for other writers. While many well-known authors will blurb an emerging writer’s book, Russo goes much farther, often planning joint appearances and hosting high-profile events to help bring attention to books and authors he believes in.”

Rebecca Saletan
Photo Credit: Louie Saletan

Ms. Saletan is being recognized for “her long-standing commitment to championing diverse voices and lowering barriers to publishing, as well as her exceptional ability to spot talent and to inspire her colleagues.”  During the course of her thirty-five-year career in publishing, she has worked with a wide range of authors, including 2017 National Book Award-winning author, journalist and social critic Masha Gessen; the late National Book Award-winning writer and environmentalist Peter Matthiessen; and internationally bestselling novelist and essayist Mohsin Hamid.

Also being honored with a 2018 Writers for Writers award is Steve Cannon, who created “A Gathering of the Tribes,” a New York City multi-cultural East Village institution since 1991. This performance venue and meeting place is for artists and audiences to come together across all artistic disciplines.

The awards will be presented at Poets & Writers’ annual dinner, In Celebration of Writers, on Wednesday evening, March 28, 2018, in Manhattan.

Winners of the 2017 Goodreads Choice Awards have been announced and feature 7 books published by Penguin Random House imprints in the Fiction, Mystery & Thriller, Historical Fiction, Science Fiction, Humor, Nonfiction, and Picture Books categories. Heralded as the only major book prizes determined by readers, the Goodreads Choice Awards are a true reflection of public opinion.  Congratulations to all of our award-winning authors as well as their editors and publishers.   

Here are our 2017 Goodreads Choice Awards 2017 winners, in the following categories:

Fiction

• LITTLE FIRES EVERYWHERE by Celeste Ng (Penguin Press)

Mystery & Thriller

• INTO THE WATER by Paula Hawkins (Riverhead)

Historical Fiction

• BEFORE WE WERE YOURS by Lisa Wingate (Ballantine)

Science Fiction

• ARTEMIS by Andy Weir (Crown)

Humor

• TALKING AS FAST AS I CAN by Lauren Graham (Ballantine)

Nonfiction

• HOW TO BE A BAWSE: A Guide to Conquering Life by Lilly Singh (Ballantine)

Picture Books

• WE’RE ALL WONDERS by R.J. Palacio (Knopf Books for Young Readers)

To view the complete list of 2017 Goodreads Choice Awards winners, click here.

The National Book Critics Circle has announced the finalists for the 2017 John Leonard Prize, which honors the first book in any genre, with Penguin Random House imprints publishing three of the six nominated titles: 

WHAT IT MEANS WHEN A MAN FALLS FROM THE SKY by Lesley Nneka Arimah (Riverhead)

WHAT WE LOSE by Zinzi Clemmons (Viking)

MY ABSOLUTE DARLING by Gabriel Tallent (Riverhead)

This year’s Leonard Prize winner will be selected by an NBCC judging panel and announced in January with the finalists in the other 2017 NBCC Award categories, and presented at the NBCC Awards Ceremony at The New School in Manhattan on March 15, 2018.

View the complete list of 2017 John Leonard Prize nominees here.

PEN America has announced the longlists for its 2018 Literary Awards in the categories of debut fiction, essay, diversity, science, sports writing, biography, and translation. The 21 longlisted titles published by Penguin Random House imprints are presented below, with some of the category winners to be publicly revealed on February 20. 

PEN/Robert W. Bingham Prize for Debut Fiction

•  SOUR HEART by Jenny Zhang (Lenny/Random House)

PEN Open Book Award

• EASTMAN WAS HERE by Alex Gilvarry (Viking)

• AUGUSTOWN by Kei Miller (Pantheon)

PEN Translation Prize

• THE BOOK OF EMMA REYES by Emma Reyes (Penguin)
  Translated from Spanish by Daniel Alarco

• A HORSE WALKS INTO A BAR by David Grossman (Vintage)
  Translated from Hebrew by Jessica Cohen

• OUT IN THE OPEN by  Jesus Carrasco (Riverhead)
  Translated from Spanish by Margaret Jull Costa

PEN/Diamonstein-Spielvogel Award for the Art of the Essay

• HOMING INSTINCTS by Sarah Menkedick (Pantheon)

PEN/Bograd Weld Prize for Biography

• 
  GRANT by Ron Chernow (Penguin Press)

• RICHARD NIXON: The Life by John A. Farrell (Doubleday

• THE KELLOGS: The Battling Brothers of Battle Creek by Howard Markel (Pantheon)

• THE FAR AWAY BROTHERS: Two Young Migrants and the Making of an American Life by Lauren Markham (Crown)

• MARTIN LUTHER: Renegade and Prophet by Lyndal Roper (Random House)

• LENIN: The Man, the Dictator, and the Master of Terror by Victor Sebestyen (Pantheon)

PEN/E.O. Wilson Prize for Literary Science Writing

• WHERE THE WATER GOES: Life and Death Along the Colorado River by David Owen (Riverhead)

• THE EVOLUTION OF BEAUTY: How Darwin’s Forgotten Theory of Mate Choice Shapes the Animal World—And Us by Richard O. Prum (Doubleday)

• BEHAVE: The Biology of Humans at Our Best and Worst by Robert Sapolsky (Penguin Press)

PEN/ESPN Award for Literary Sports Writing

• OFF SPEED: Baseball, Pitching, and the Art of Deception by Terry McDermott (Pantheon)

• STING LIKE A BEE: Muhammad Ali vs. the United States of America, 1966–1971 by Leigh Montville (Doubleday)

• BONES: Brothers, Horses, Cartels, and the Borderland Dream by Joe Tone (One World/Random House)

• IRON AMBITION: My Life with Cus D’Amato by Mike Tyson & Larry “Ratso” Sloman (Blue Rider Press)

• THE CUBS WAY: The Zen of Building the Best Team in Baseball and Breaking the Curse by Tom Verducci (Crown Archetype)

Warm congratulations to all of our PEN longlisted authors, their editors and publishers.

To view the complete 2018 PEN Literary Awards longlists, click here.

Finalists for the 2018 PEN awards will be announced in January 2018. The winners will be celebrated at the 2018 PEN America Literary Awards Ceremony on February 20, 2018 at the NYU Skirball Center in NYC.

Winners of the 2017 Costa Book Awards, one of the UK’s most prestigious and popular literary prizes, have been announced and two Penguin Random House authors and their books topped the following categories:

First Novel

Gail Honeyman for ELEANOR OLIPHANT IS COMPLETELY FINE  (Pamela Dorman Books/Viking)

Biography

Rebecca Stott for IN THE DAYS OF RAIN  (Spiegel & Grau)

Congratulations to our authors as well as their editors and publishers.

View the complete list of Costa Book Awards winners here.

All category winners receive £5,000 (about $6,800) and are eligible for the £30,000 (about $40,795) Costa Book of the Year prize, which will be announced on January 30 in London.

Hit television series based on Liane Moriarty’s BIG LITTLE LIES (Berkley) and Margaret Atwood’s THE HANDMAID’S TALE (Anchor) took home a combined 6 awards at the 75th annual Golden Globe Awards, Sunday night, January 7, in Los Angeles.  

Big Little Lies, airing on HBO, won in four categories: Best Television Limited Series or Motion Picture Made for Television; Best Performance by an Actress in a Limited Series or Motion Picture Made for Television, (Nicole Kidman); Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Series, Limited Series or Motion Picture Made for Television (Laura Dern); and Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Series, Limited Series or Motion Picture Made for Television (Alexander Skarsgard).

The Handmaid’s Tale, airing on Hulu, won Best Television Series, Drama; and Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series, Drama (Elisabeth Moss).

In addition, Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series, Musical or Comedy went to Aziz Ansari for the Netflix series, Master of None. Ansari is the author of MODERN ROMANCE (Penguin Press).

The three finalists for the 2017 Story Prize, which annually honors authors of outstanding short story collections published in the prior year, are all published by Penguin Random House imprints:  

THE KING IS ALWAYS ABOVE THE PEOPLE by Daniel Alarcón (Riverhead Books)

HOMESICK FOR ANOTHER WORLD by Ottessa Moshfegh (Penguin Press)

ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE by Elizabeth Strout (Random House)

The Story Prize, now in its 14th year, announced that these finalists were chosen from 120 submissions representing 93 different publishers or imprints.  Three independent judges – Knopf/Vintage author and poet Susan Minot, critic and author Walton Muyumba, and Library Journal Associate Editor Stephanie Sendaula – will determine the winner, to be revealed at the Story Prize’s annual award event, co-sponsored by the Graduate Creative Writing Program, at The New School in Manhattan on February 28.   The finalists will read from and discuss their work with Larry Dark, director of The Story Prize.  Then Story Prize founder Julie Lindsey will present the 2017 winner with a check for $20,000.  The two runners-up will each receive $5,000.

Biographers International Organization (BIO) has nominated ten books as semi-finalists for its 2018 Plutarch Award, the only international literary prize for biography that is chosen by fellow biographers.   Four of the nominees are published by Penguin Random House imprints: 

GRANT by Ron Chernow (Penguin Press)

RICHARD NIXON: The Life by John Farrell (Doubleday)

LIONESS: Golda Meir and the Nation of Israel by Francine Klagsbrun (Schocken)

LENIN: The Man, the Dictator, and the Master of Terror by Victor Sebestyen (Pantheon)

View the complete list of nominees here.

The Plutarch Award Committee will announce four finalists the week of February 5.   All BIO members will then vote for the winning book, which will be revealed on May 19 at the Ninth Annual BIO Conference in New York.

Mystery Writers of America (MWA) has announced its nominees for the 2018 Edgar Allan Poe Awards, honoring the best in mystery fiction, nonfiction, and television published or produced in 2017.  Five books published by Penguin Random House imprints earned nominations in the following categories: 

Best Novel

PRUSSIAN BLUE by Philip Kerr (G.P. Putnam’s Sons)

THE TWELVE LIVES OF SAMUEL HAWLEY by Hannah Tinti (The Dial Press)

Best First Novel

LOLA by Melissa Scrivner Love (Crown)

IDAHO by Emily Ruskovich (Random House)

Best Fact Crime

KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI by David Grann (Doubleday)

View the complete list of nominees here.

This year’s Edgar Awards will be presented to the winners at MWA’s 72nd Gala Banquet on April 26 in Manhattan.

800-CEO-READ presented its annual awards ceremony and business book industry celebration in New York City on Thursday, January 18.   

THE STARTUP WAY: How Modern Companies Use Entrepreneurial Management to Transform Culture and Drive Long-Term Growth by Eric Ries (Currency) earned a Business Book of the Year award in the Management & Workplace Culture category.

Vintage author Tom Peters received the fourth annual Jack Covert Award for his Contributions to the Business Book Industry.

Our congratulations to Mr. Ries and Mr. Peters as well as their editors and publishers.

The National Book Critics Circle has announced the finalists for its 2017 awards.   Penguin Random House imprints publish six finalists for NBCC Awards in the following categories:  

FICTION 

Mohsin Hamid, EXIT WEST  (Riverhead)

Arundhati Roy, THE MINISTRY OF UTMOST HAPPINESS  (Knopf)

NONFICTION

Masha Gessen, THE FUTURE IS HISTORY: How Totalitarianism Reclaimed Russia (Riverhead)

BIOGRAPHY

Howard Markel, THE KELLOGGS: The Battling Brothers of Battle Creek (Pantheon)

Kenneth Whyte, HOOVER: An Extraordinary Life in Extraordinary Times (Knopf)

AUTOBIOGRAPHY

Ludmilla Petrushevskaya, THE GIRL FROM THE METROPOL HOTEL: Growin Up in Communist Russia (Penguin)

View the complete list of NBCC finalists here.

Winners of the NBCC awards will be announced on Thursday, March 15 in NYC at the New School’s Tishman Auditorium.  A finalists’ reading will be held on March 14 at 6:30 p.m. in the same location. Both events are free and open to the public.

The National Book Critics Circle was founded in 1974 at New York’s Algonquin Hotel by a group of the most influential critics of the day, and awarded its first set of honors in 1975.  The NBCC now comprises more than 1,000 working critics and book-review editors throughout the country.  The NBCC annually bestows its awards in six categories, honoring the best books published in the past year in the United States.

PEN America has announced the finalists for its 2018 PEN America Literary Awards, in the categories of debut fiction, diversity, translation, biography, essay, science and sports writing, as well as for the PEN/Jean Stein Award.  The shortlisted titles include 14 books published by Penguin Random House imprints, as well as two books from PRHPS client publishers.   

Here is a reading list to be proud of:

FICTION

SOUR HEART: STORIES by Jenny Zhang (Lenny/Random House)

PEN/ROBERT W. BINGHAM PRIZE FOR DEBUT FICTION FINALIST

A debut story collection about a community of immigrants who have traded their endangered lives as artists in China and Taiwan for the constant struggle of life at the poverty line in 1990s New York City, Zhang’s exhilarating collection examines the many ways that family and history can weigh us down and also lift us up.

SONORA by Hannah Lillith Assadi (Soho Press, a PRHPS client publisher)

PEN/ROBERT W. BINGHAM PRIZE FOR DEBUT FICTION FINALIST

A fevered, lyrical debut about two young women drawn into an ever-intensifying friendship set against the stark, haunted landscape of the Sonoran desert and the ecstatic frenzy of New York City.

WHITE TEARS: A NOVEL by Hari Kunzru  (Vintage/Knopf)

PEN/JEAN STEIN BOOK AWARD FINALIST

Ghost story, murder mystery, love letter to American music—WHITE TEARS is all of this and more, a thrilling investigation of race and appropriation in society today.

THE CHANGELING: A NOVEL by Victor LaValle (Spiegel & Grau)

PEN/JEAN STEIN BOOK AWARD FINALIST

One man’s thrilling journey through an enchanted world to find his wife, who has disappeared after seemingly committing an unforgiveable act of violence, from the award-winning author of The Devil in Silver and Big Machine.

AUGUSTOWN: A NOVEL by Kei Miller  (Pantheon)

PEN OPEN BOOK AWARD FINALIST

Set in the backlands of Jamaica, AUGUSTOWN is a magical and haunting novel of one woman’s struggle to rise above the brutal vicissitudes of history, race, class, collective memory, violence, and myth.

OUT IN THE OPEN: A NOVEL by Jesús Carrasco, translated by Margaret Joll Costa  (Riverhead)

PEN TRANSLATION PRIZE FINALIST

OUT IN THE OPEN  tells the story of a young boy’s journey through an unnamed, drought-stricken country ruled by violence. A claustrophobic world where names and dates don’t matter, where morals have drained away with the water. In this landscape the boy, not yet a lost cause, has the chance to choose hope and bravery, or to live forever mired in the violence with which he grew up.

A HORSE WALKS INTO A BAR: A NOVEL by David Grossman, translated by Jessica Cohen  (Vintage)

PEN TRANSLATION PRIZE FINALIST

From the author of TO THE END OF THE LAND, the Man Booker International Prize-winning novel about the tragicomic life of a standup comedian.

KATALIN STREET by Magda Szabo, translated by Len Rix (NYRB Classics, a PRHPS client publisher)

PEN TRANSLATION PRIZE FINALIST

From the author of The Door, selected as one of the New York Times “10 Best Books” of the year, this is a heart-wrenching tale about a group of friends and lovers torn apart by the German occupation of Budapest during World War II.

NONFICTION

WE WERE EIGHT YEARS IN POWER: AN AMERICAN TRAGEDY by Ta-Nehisi Coates (One World)

PEN/JEAN STEIN BOOK AWARD FINALIST

A powerful portrait of the historic Obama era that provocatively combines award-winning journalism with the introspective, searching voice of Ta-Nehisi Coates’ memoir, the National Book Award-winning BETWEEN THE WORLD AND ME.

GRANT by Ron Chernow (Penguin Press)

PEN/BOGRAD WELD PRIZE FOR BIOGRAPHY FINALIST

Pulitzer Prize-winner and biographer of ALEXANDER HAMILTON, George Washington, and John D. Rockefeller, Ron Chernow returns with the definitive biography of Ulysses S. Grant, a grand synthesis of painstaking research and literary brilliance that makes sense of all sides of Grant’s life, explaining how this simple Midwesterner could at once be so ordinary and so extraordinary.

RICHARD NIXON: THE LIFE by John A. Farrell (Doubleday)

PEN/BOGRAD WELD PRIZE FOR BIOGRAPHY FINALIST

From a prize-winning biographer comes the defining portrait of a man who led America in a time of turmoil and left us a darker age. We live today, John A. Farrell shows, in a world Richard Nixon made.

LENIN: THE MAN, THE DICTATOR, AND THE MASTER OF TERROR by Victor Sebestyen  (Pantheon)

PEN/BOGRAD WELD PRIZE FOR BIOGRAPHY FINALIST

LENIN is a brilliant portrait of a complex and ruthless dictator, while also bringing to light important new revelations about the Russian Revolution, a pivotal point in modern history.

THE BOOK OF EMMA REYES: A MEMOIR by Emma Reyes, translated by Daniel Alarcón (Penguin)

PEN TRANSLATION PRIZE FINALIST

This astonishing memoir of a childhood lived in extreme poverty in Latin America was first published in 2012 in Colombia, where it was greeted as a literary discovery. Its author, whose writing had been encouraged by Gabriel García Márquez, had passed away nearly a decade earlier, and in the letters that comprise her memoir, she describes being an illegitimate child, living in a windowless room with no water or toilet and only ingenuity to keep her and her sister alive. Far from self-pitying, the portrait that emerges from this picaresque yet lucid unraveling of anecdotes inspires awe at the stunning early life of a gifted writer whose talent remained hidden for far too long.

BEHAVE: THE BIOLOGY OF HUMANS AT OUR BEST AND WORST by Robert M. Sapolsky (Penguin Press)

PEN/E.O. WILSON PRIZE FOR LITERARY SCIENCE WRITING FINALIST

From the great neurobiologist and primatologist, a landmark, genre-defining examination of the decisive factors that dictate the boundaries of human behavior, both good and bad. Sapolsky wrestles with some of our deepest and thorniest questions relating to tribalism and xenophobia, hierarchy and competition, morality and free will, and war and peace. Wise, humane, often very funny, BEHAVE is a towering achievement, powerfully humanizing, and downright heroic in its own right.

STING LIKE A BEE: MUHAMMAD ALI VS. THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, 1966-1971 by Leigh Montville (Doubleday)

PEN/ESPN AWARD FOR LITERARY SPORTS WRITING FINALIST

An insightful portrait of Muhammad Ali which centers on the cultural and political implications of Ali’s refusal of service in the military—and the key moments in a life that was as high profile and transformative as any in the twentieth century.

BONES: BROTHERS, HORSES, CARTELS, AND THE BORDERLAND DREAM by Joe Tone (One World)

PEN/ESPN AWARD FOR LITERARY SPORTS WRITING FINALIST

A cinematic true-crime story set at the Mexican-American border about two very different brothers whose lives intertwine in an FBI drug investigation and a champion race horse.

To view the complete 2018 PEN Literary Awards finalists, click here.

The winners will be announced and celebrated at the 2018 PEN America Literary Awards Ceremony on February 20, 2018 at the NYU Skirball Center in NYC.

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