Mantel, Smith make shortlist
LONDON, April 16, (AP): Hilary Mantel, Barbara Kingsolver and Zadie Smith are among three British authors and three Americans shortlisted for the Women’s Prize for fiction.
Mantel’s “Bring Up the Bodies,” Kingsolver’s “Flight Behavior” and Smith’s “NW” are finalists for the award, previously known as the Orange Prize.
The other contenders announced Tuesday are A.M. Homes’ “May We Be Forgiven,” Kate Atkinson’s “Life After Life” and Maria Semple’s “Where’d You Go, Bernadette?”
Mantel, Smith and Atkinson are British, while Homes, Kingsolver and Semple — a former writer for TV shows including “Saturday Night Live” and “Arrested Development” — are American.
Newcomer Taiye Selasi and established best-seller Zadie Smith have been named to Granta magazine’s list of best young British novelists — a once-a-decade roster with a reputation for predicting literary stars.
The lineup of 20 writers under 40 announced Monday also includes Sarah Hall, Adam Foulds, Kamila Shamsie, Adam Thirlwell and Helen Oyeyemi.
The list includes 12 women and eight men, whose roots stretch from China, Bangladesh, Somalia and Canada to London and the north of England.
The best known is probably Smith, 37, who shot to fame in 2000 with her debut novel “White Teeth” and has gone on to write novels including “On Beauty” and “NW.”
The widow of Chris Kyle, the former Navy Seal and best-selling author shot dead in February, has contributed a foreword and afterword to a book her husband had been working on at the time of his death.
William Morrow, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers, announced Monday that Taya Kyle’s tribute will be included in “American Gun: A History of the US in Ten Firearms.” The book comes out June 4 and was written by Chris Kyle and William Doyle. Chris Kyle’s previous work was the million-selling autobiography “American Sniper.”
Taya Kyle writes that she hopes readers “feel the presence” of her husband while reading the new book, which covers innovations in weaponry from the Revolutionary War to modern times.
The publisher of Stephen King, Bob Woodward and other top-selling authors has changed its policy of withholding e-books from libraries.
Simon & Schuster announced a 1year pilot program Monday with library systems in three New York City boroughs: Manhattan, Brooklyn and Queens. Simon & Schuster had been the last of the “Big Six” publishers to keep its entire e-catalog off-limits from libraries. Publishers have worried that free library downloads could lead to lost sales.
Such popular Simon & Schuster books as Doris Kearns Goodwin’s “Team of Rivals” and Walter Isaacson’s “Steve Jobs” will be made available in digital editions. The pilot program begins April 30. Simon & Schuster CEO Carolyn Reidy said Monday that she hopes to add more libraries even before the 1-year trial period is over.