Free e-books offer selections of upcoming releases
A pair of free e-books will offer excerpts from forthcoming releases by Dennis Lehane, Ann Packer and more than 60 other writers. Buzz Books 2015: Spring/Summer and Buzz Books 2015: Young Adult Spring, available on Friday on Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble.com and other major e-platforms, feature a wide range of anticipated fiction and nonfiction releases. Notable works include Lehane's World Gone By, Packer's The Children's Crusade and nonfiction books by Maria Bello and Mika Brzezinski. Louis Sachar's Fuzzy Mud, David Levithan's Another Day and Sarah Dessen's Saint Anything will be among the books featured in the young adult collection. Publishers Lunch, an industry newsletter, compiled the books. – AP
Actor Alec Baldwin to write memoir Nevertheless
The Emmy-winning actor and reputed hothead Alec Baldwin (pictured) is putting his actions into words. A memoir about his life, the ups and downs of his career and his struggles with addiction is due out next year, according to the publisher HarperCollins. The book, titled Nevertheless, is scheduled for launch in the autumn of 2016. The star of the TV show 30 Rock will write the book himself and include stories about his childhood in New York, his early career as a soap-opera star, to his marriage to his acrimonious divorce from the actress Kim Basinger, and his second marriage to the yoga instructor Hilaria Thomas in 2012. Last year Baldwin, 56, said he had considered leaving New York, partly because of how he has been depicted in the press. – Reuters
Confrontational novelist wins new French book award aimed at English market
Virginie Despentes, a former prostitute who became an award-winning novelist and filmmaker, has won a new prize dedicated to boosting the stature of French writers in the English-speaking world.
A jury of French writers and English and American literary agents voted to give the first Anaïs Nin Prize to Despentes for her latest novel, Vernon Subutex 1, a fast-paced thriller set in a typically grimy underworld. The award is named after the famed mid-20th-century French writer Anaïs Nin, who wrote in both English and French and was translated in both directions. As part of the award, which aims to put the spotlight on Francophone writers yet to make a splash in the huge English-language market, Vernon Subutex 1 will be translated into English. – AFP