Settlement in Alice Sebold Assault Case:
Anthony Broadwater, the man who was falsely convicted of sexually assaulting author Alice Sebold (The Lovely Bones) in 1981 when she was a freshman at Syracuse University, has agreed to settle a lawsuit against the state of New York for $5.5 million, the New York Times reports. Broadwater served 16 years in prison for the assault of the author. Sebold released a statement, saying, “No amount of money can erase the injustices Mr. Broadwater suffered. But the settlement now officially acknowledges them.”
Diana Gabaldon’s Works, Quirks and the Future of Outlander:
With over 50 million copies sold and a STARZ TV series based on her bestseller Outlander, Diana Gabaldon is a superstar in the book world. BookTrib had the chance to chat with her one on one in this exclusive interview.
Stranger Things Have Happened:
Actor Millie Bobby Brown will make her literary debut later this year with a historical novel set during World War II, titled Nineteen Steps. The novel tells the story of 18-year-old Nellie Morris, who lives with her family in Bethnal Green during the Second World War. After Nellie’s chance encounter with an American airman stationed nearby, a terrible incident occurs during an air raid with catastrophic consequences. William Morrow said the novel is slated for release on September 12.
‘Book Lovers’ at the Movies:
Emily Henry’s novel, Book Lovers, is headed to the big screen. The book, which was a fan-favorite on social media, follows Nora, a literary agent who takes a trip to North Carolina with her sister and keeps running into Charlie, an editor whom she dislikes. It would be a meet-cute if not for the fact that they’ve met many times and it’s never been cute, but as they are thrown together repeatedly, what they discover might just unravel the carefully crafted stories they’ve written about themselves.
Fear, Faith and Freedom:
Growing up is difficult enough without having any extra pressures to contend with, but for those who are raised in the limelight, under the scrutiny of millions of viewers, it’s unimaginably worse. For Jinger Duggar Vuolo, growing up on the hit TLC reality TV shows 19 Kids and Counting and Counting On brought insurmountable challenges as chronicled in her new memoir Becoming Free Indeed.
School Board Takes Over Book Vetting Process:
A Houston school board has taken over the district’s book vetting process for rest of the school year. The move will exclude parents, teachers and librarians from taking part in the process of deciding which books are deemed acceptable for students.
Warner Bros. Wins Heated Auction for ‘Drowning’:
Former flight attendant T.J. Newman, sold the film rights to her thriller novel, Drowning: The Rescue of Flight 1421, to Warner Bros. for $1.5 million after a competitive auction. The novel tells the story of a commercial airline flight that crashes into the Pacific Ocean, sinking to the bottom, and the efforts to save the trapped passengers. The book will be published on May 30.
The Winner’s Circle:
Here are the latest awards for books:
- Margo Jefferson’s Constructing a Nervous System has won the 2023 Rathbones Folio Prize Book of the Year. The memoir is a reflection of Jefferson’s life as seen through the musicians and authors who were important to her.
- Finding Me, the popular memoir by actor Viola Davis, took home the audiobook of the year prize at the Audie Awards.
- Arinze Ifeakandu and A Public Space Books won the first-ever Republic of Consciousness Prize, United States and Canada, for his debut story collection, God’s Children Are Little Broken Things, which is a collection of stories about queer love in modern-day Nigeria.
A Penetrating Consideration of Blanche Dubois:
In the introduction to her latest work of nonfiction Blanche: The Life and Times of Tennessee Williams’s Greatest Creation, author Nancy Schoenberger asks “Does Blanche DuBois Still Matter?” The answer, of course, is a resounding YES.
