HBO to Air Television Miniseries of Ferrante Novels, Bro Books, and More
Black Mountain Institute acquires the Believer; American Prison Writing Archive receives a $262,000 grant; the public versus the private life of the writer; and other news.
Genre: Creative Nonfiction
The Zookeeper’s Wife
![THE ZOOKEEPER'S WIFE - Official Trailer [HD] - In Theaters March 2017](https://www.pw.org/files/styles/video_thumb_medium/public/media-oembed/i.ytimg.com/vi/rJNFeHHGGN4/hqdefault.jpg?itok=CR5NaAsP)
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Diane Ackerman’s The Zookeeper’s Wife: A War Story (Norton, 2007) recounts the true story of how keepers of the Warsaw Zoo saved hundreds of lives during the German invasion in Poland. The book has been adapted into a feature film directed by Niki Caro, and stars Jessica Chastain and Johan Heldenbergh.
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Nan Talese’s Rise to Success, Litbait, and More
Bob Dylan to finally accept Nobel Prize this weekend; a recently discovered cache of letters from the suffrage movement; Christopher Soto wins Split This Rock’s social justice and poetry award; and other news.
Pillar of the Community
Photographer Akasha Rabut has documented the Caramel Curves—New Orleans’s first all-female motorcycle club—in a series of portraits over several years. The club has become a unique pillar of their local community, with some seeing the women as role models. Write an essay meditating on a group or a person from your past who unexpectedly made an impact on your community. Were you personally affected by their actions?
AP Style Guide Adds “They” as Singular Pronoun, Writer Automatons, and More
Penguin Random House sales down in 2016; William McPherson has died; fourteen women essayists to read right now; and other news.
PEN Literary Awards, Amazon to Adapt The Underground Railroad, and More
Rigoberto González on the life of the poet outside of publications and awards; a survey of literary nonprofits fighting to protect free speech and the arts; the reality-bending writing of Julio Cortázar; and other news.
Upcoming Deadline: Whiting Creative Nonfiction Grant
Applications are currently open for the Whiting Foundation’s second annual Creative Nonfiction Grant. Individual awards of $40,000 are given to up to six writers in the process of completing a book of creative nonfiction.
Creative nonfiction writers currently under contract with a U.S. publisher and at least two years into their contract are eligible to apply. Using the online submission system, submit up to three chapters of a manuscript-in-progress, a signed and dated contract, a progress statement, a letter of reference from the publisher, and two additional letters of reference by May 1. A panel of five anonymous judges will select the winners; the grantees will be announced in the fall. For complete guidelines and eligibility requirements, visit the website or e-mail nonfiction@whiting.org.
Established in 2015, the Whiting Foundation Creative Nonfiction Grant provides support for multiyear book projects that require large amounts of research. The grant’s chief objective is to “foster original, ambitious projects that bring writing to the highest possible standard.” The inaugural grantees were Deborah Baker, Sarah M. Broom, Timothy N. Golden, Joshua Roebke, Sarah Elizabeth Ruden, and John Jeremiah Sullivan.
Chabon on Nostalgia, Brontë Sisters Movie, and More
Tournament of Books semifinals start today; Patti Smith purchases Arthur Rimbaud’s childhood home in France; KPMG gives away ten thousand books; and other news.
On Tyranny Street Installation, the Handmaid’s Tale Trailer, and More
San Francisco Renaissance poet Joanne Kyger has died; 2017 Anisfield-Wolf Awards announced; what makes poetry poetry; and more.
Winners of Anisfield-Wolf Book Awards Announced
The Cleveland Foundation has announced the winners of the 82nd annual Anisfield-Wolf Awards, given annually for books of poetry, fiction, and nonfiction published in the previous year that “confront racism and examine diversity.” The winners will be honored at a ceremony in Cleveland on September 7.
The winners are Tyehimba Jess in poetry for Olio (Wave Books), Margot Lee Shetterly in nonfiction for Hidden Figures: The American Dream and the Untold Story of the Black Women Mathematicians Who Helped Win the Space Race (William Morrow), and Peter Ho Davies and Karan Mahajan in fiction for The Fortunes (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt) and The Association of Small Bombs (Penguin), respectively. Isabel Allende received the Lifetime Achievement Award. Jess, Shetterly, and Allende will each receive $10,000; Davies and Mahajan will split the $10,000 fiction prize.
“The new Anisfield-Wolf winners broaden our insights on race and diversity,” said Henry Louis Gates Jr., who chairs the jury. “This year, we honor a breakthrough history of black women mathematicians powering NASA, a riveting novel of the Asian American experience, a mesmerizing, poetic exploration of forgotten black musical performance and a spellbinding story of violence and its consequences. All is capped by the lifetime achievement of Isabel Allende, an unparalleled writer and philanthropist.” Gates, along with Rita Dove, Joyce Carol Oates, Steven Pinker, and Simon Schama, judged the prize.
Established in 1935, the Anisfield-Wolf Book Awards have honored 236 writers, including Nobel laureates Gunnar Myrdal, Nadine Gordimer, Martin Luther King Jr., Toni Morrison, and Derek Walcott.
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