Agency News
September
JUST BECAUSE is a #1 New York Times Bestseller

Matthew McConaughey's JUST BECAUSE debuted at #1 on the New York Times bestseller list.

Publishers Weekly Gives OUR MOON a Starred Review

Publishers Weekly gave a starred review to Rebecca Boyle’s OUR MOON (Random House) and said: “An excellent exploration of how the moon has shaped life on Earth…. Boyle’s dexterous blend of science and cultural history is elevated by her spry prose. This illuminates.”

School Library Journal Recognizes EVERYTHING IS OK

School Library Journal has named Debbie Tung’s EVERYTHING IS OK (Andrews McMeel) as one of “15 Visual Books to Help Students Grapple with Big Feelings.”  

MASTER OF CHANGE is a Publishers Weekly Bestseller

Brad Stulberg’s MASTER OF CHANGE (HarperOne) debuted on Publishers Weekly’s Hardcover Frontlist Nonfiction bestseller list at #18.

MASTER OF CHANGE is a USA Today Bestseller

Brad Stulberg’s MASTER OF CHANGE (HarperOne) debuted on USA Today’s Best-Selling Booklist at #106.

Ana María and the Fox on Booklist's Top 10 Romance Novels of 2023

Liana De la Rosa's ANA MARÍA AND THE FOX was named one of the Top 10 Romance Novels of 2023 by Booklist.

COMPANY Named an October Indie Next Pick

COMPANY has made the American Bookseller Association’s Indie Next List, which tallies support from indie booksellers across the country and promotes the top 20 books from all publishers released each month.

Here’s what one bookseller had to say:

“Members of a big, multigenerational Black family — with branches bohemian and bourgeois — live vibrantly in this debut collection of fiction. Linked together in a glittering chain of language, their stories create a treasured heirloom.”
—James Crossley, Madison Books, Seattle, WA

The Boston Globe interviews Tori Anne Martin

The Boston Globe interviews Tori Anne Martin on her newly published novel, THIS SPELLS DISASTER.

Brad Stulberg in the New York Times

Brad Stulberg’s guest essay, “Stop Resisting Change,” adapted from his new book, MASTER OF CHANGE: How to Excel When Everything Is Changing—Including You (HarperOne), appeared in the New York Times

COMPANY Featured in Publishers Weekly's Preview "Big Indie Books of Fall 2023"
COMPANY Receives a Starred Review in Booklist

"Sanders’ remarkable, aptly titled short-story collection centers around a compelling Black family and the varied company it keeps...The characters throughout are expertly rendered and deeply relatable...Sanders’ stories are unforgettable, making this a strong and promising debut."

August
FRIZZY on NYPL Vibrant Voices List 2023

The New York Public Library's Vibrant Voices book list is created by the Library’s expert staff to amplify and celebrate diverse voices, promote discussion, and expand understanding. Presented by the Center for Educators and Schools.

Genevieve Plunkett's essay "Fiction Is a Hallucination, Packaged for Public Consumption" in Electric Literature

On how delusional thinking helped her write her debut novel IN THE LOBBY OF THE DREAM HOTEL

KIND OF A BIG DEAL Reviewed in the Los Angeles Times

Saul Austerlitz’s KIND OF A BIG DEAL (Dutton) is reviewed in the Los Angeles Times: “A wickedly sharp, discursive study of a movie that has cast a long shadow on 21st-century comedy.”

KIND OF A BIG DEAL excerpted in Vulture

Read an excerpt from Saul Austerlitz’s KIND OF A BIG DEAL (Dutton) in Vulture.

KIND OF A BIG DEAL excerpted in Vanity Fair

Read an excerpt from Saul Austerlitz’s KIND OF A BIG DEAL (Dutton) in Vanity Fair

BRAVE THE WILD RIVER Reviewed in The New Yorker

Melissa L. Sevigny’s BRAVE THE WILD RIVER (W.W. Norton) is featured in the August 28 issue ofThe New Yorker. “[Brave the Wild River] makes the case that Clover and Jotter’s study, conducted shortly after the construction of the Hoover Dam, provides a crucial benchmark in assessing human impact on the environment.”

EMPIRE OF THE SUM Reviewed in the New York Times Book Review

Alexander Nazaryan reviewed Keith Houston’s EMPIRE OF THE SUM (W.W. Norton) for the New York Times Book Review and said: “[Empire of the Sum] may not be erotica, but it is good writing—and these days the latter is rather more rare.” For the context of that quote, you’ll need to read the full review.

Cosmopolitan Reviews DYKETTE

"If a beach read is like eating a tasty little snack, reading Dykette was like huffing drugs: noxious and mildly euphoric."

DYKETTE in The New Yorker's Briefly Noted

"[A] biting gay millennial comedy of manners..."

BESSIE THE MOTORCYCLE QUEEN Wins 2023 NCSS Septima B. Clark Book Award, Elementary Category

The National Council for Social Studies established the Septima P. Clark Book Award for nonfiction trade books that accurately reflect women’s issues, perspectives, and stories (including expansive views of gender identity and expression). Named for educator and civil rights activist Septima Clark, books chosen for this honor must be thoroughly researched, well written, and indicate originality.

The New York Times Reviews IN THE LOBBY OF THE DREAM HOTEL

"Plunkett applies a soft touch when rendering minds in turmoil, offering both reader and character relief through the escapes of music, love and small-town landscape."—Wadzanai Mhute, The New York Times Book Review

IN THE LOBBY OF THE DREAM HOTEL Named a September Indie Next Pick

IN THE LOBBY OF THE DREAM HOTEL has made the American Bookseller Association’s Indie Next List, which tallies support from indie booksellers across the country and promotes the top 20 books from all publishers released each month.

Here’s what one bookseller had to say:

"In the Lobby of the Dream Hotel—a place two lovers who can't be together in the real world might meet—is a beautiful meditation on love, madness, motherhood, and art. Plunkett's writing is achingly gorgeous and Portia is a character for the ages”

—Stefanie Kiper, Water Street Bookstore, Exeter, NH

COMPANY Receives a Starred Review in Publishers Weekly

“Sanders excels in this masterly debut collection about a Black extended family and their triumphs, problems, and secrets. . . . She also exhibits great care and love for them, describing their slights, heartaches, and misbehavior with exquisite emotional acuity. This is a winner.”—Publishers Weekly, Starred Review

July
FRIZZY Wins an Eisner

FRIZZY written by Claribel Ortega and illustrated by Rose Bousamra won the 2023 Eisner for Best Publication for Kids (9-12).

OZ Nominated for an Ennie Award

Andrew Kolb’s OZ (Andrews McMeel) has been nominated for a 2023 Ennie Award for Best Art, Interior. Voting by the general public is from July 14 through July 23.

BRAVE THE WILD RIVER Celebrates Two Weeks as an Indie Bestseller

Melissa L. Sevigny’s BRAVE THE WILD RIVER (W.W. Norton) appears at #12 on the Mountains and Plains Indie Bestseller List for the week ending June 25, 2023. 

GETTING OUT OF SAIGON is a Library Journal Shining Star

Library Journal has selected Ralph White’s GETTING OUT OF SAIGON (Simon & Schuster) as a Shining Star, one of the “Best History Books of the Year (So Far).”

KIND OF A BIG DEAL Receives a Starred Kirkus

Kirkus Reviews has given a starred review to Saul Austerlitz’s KIND OF A BIG DEAL (Dutton), saying: “Austerlitz… assembles an impressive amount of research and reporting about the 2004 movie into an exhaustive, yet fast-paced text about how it was made and why.... This surprising history doesn’t just stay classy; it reveals how remarkably deep the Ferrell comedy really was."

Publishers Weekly Reviews IN THE LOBBY OF THE DREAM HOTEL

"[A] perceptive debut novel . . . An incisive portrait of mental health and the search for autonomy."

COMPANY named a Most Anticipated Book by The Millions in their 2023 Preview

"At the center of Sanders’s debut is the Collins family, whose members and acquaintances are the recurring cast of this collection’s 13 stories. In each story, a guest arrives at someone’s home—sometimes invited, sometimes unexpected—and some conflict emerges. It’s a great premise for a collection, as master short-fictioneer Deesha Philyaw can attest: 'Shannon Sanders’s stories simply blew me away.'"

A Booklist Starred Review for IF THE RIVERS RUN FREE

"Making key points while moving steadily toward the conclusion, the book's rhymed couplets vary in tone from lyrical visions to plainspoken truths. The same tones resonate through Wong’s graceful illustrations, which contrast smoggy, overcrowded cityscapes with peaceful scenes of rivers winding through idyllic landscapes filled with sunlight, warmth, and life. A captivating, persuasive picture book."

Shannon Sanders named a Fall 2023 Writer to Watch in Publishers Weekly

PW interviews Shannon Sanders as one of their ten "Writers to Watch" with promising debut fiction coming out in Fall 2023. Her story collection, COMPANY, publishes in October with Graywolf Press.

June
GETTING OUT OF SAIGON Is a Guaranteed Page-Turner

Kirkus Reviews has named Ralph White’s GETTING OUT OF SAIGON (Simon & Schuster) to its list of “11 Guaranteed Page-Turners."

BRAVE THE WILD RIVER Is an Indie Bestseller

Melissa L. Sevigny’s BRAVE THE WILD RIVER (WW Norton) debuted at #9 on the Mountains and Plains Indie Bestseller List for the week ending June 11, 2023. 

BRAVE THE WILD RIVER Is an Amazon Best Book of the Year (So Far)

Amazon has named Melissa L. Sevigny’s BRAVE THE WILD RIVER (WW Norton) as a Best Book of the Year (So Far) in the category of Biographies and Memoirs.

Kirkus Recommends BRAVE THE WILD RIVER as a Summer Read

Kirkus Reviews selected "10 Nonfiction Books to Broaden Your Summer Reading” and included Melissa L. Sevigny’s BRAVE THE WILD RIVER (Norton). 

THE GRIEVING BRAIN featured in the Washington Post

Rachel Zimmerman’s Washington Post article, “Dinner Parties and Vulnerability: How a New Generation Has Changed Grief,” features Mary-Frances O’Connor, PhD, and her book THE GRIEVING BRAIN (HarperOne). 

DYKETTE is One of The Rolling Stone's Favorite New Reads

The Rolling Stone joins the list of magazines who have fallen in love with DYKETTE. Rolling Stone names the novel one of the best queer novels out now.

"If you’re an LGBTQ person who’s ever lived in Brooklyn, you’ll probably see yourself in this biting tale of two young queer couples who go upstate with an older lesbian couple."-The Rolling Stone

KIND OF A BIG DEAL Is a Chicago Tribune “52 Books for Summer 2023"

The Chicago Tribune calls Saul Austerlitz’s KIND OF A BIG DEAL: How Anchorman Stayed Classy and Became the Most Iconic Comedy of the Twenty-First Century (Dutton) "a well-reported, if fawning making-of Anchorman that’s a more insightful history of the (now broken) comedy partnership of Will Ferrell and Adam McKay." 

KIND OF A BIG DEAL Is a Best New Book for Summer 2023

The Boston Globe has included Saul Austerlitz’s KIND OF A BIG DEAL: How Anchorman Stayed Classy and Became the Most Iconic Comedy of the Twenty-First Century (Dutton) on its Best New Books for Summer 2023 list. 

MARY-FRANCES O’CONNOR Gives TEDxUArizona Talk

Neuroscientist Mary-Frances O’Connor gave a talk based on her book THE GRIEVING BRAIN: The Surprising Science of How We Learn from Love and Loss (HarperOne) to TEDxUArizona.

GETTING OUT OF SAIGON Featured on Today

NBC’s Vicky Nguyen interviewed Ralph White and several of the Vietnamese refugees he rescued and wrote about in GETTING OUT OF SAIGON: How a 27-Year-Old Banker Saved 113 Vietnamese Civilians (Simon & Schuster) for a segment on Today

The Cut Loves DYKETTE

The Cut loves DYKETTE!

"Davis gives us honest if sometimes jumbled insights into a queer domestic fantasy stuck in a version of the past that has never really existed."- The Cut

Electric Lit Calls DYKETTE One of the Most Anticipated LGBTQ+ Books of the Summer

Electric Lit recommends reading DYKETTE this summer.

"The Big Chill goes gay in Davis’s raunch-com about six queer Brooklynites spending the holidays at a Hudson farmhouse. Come for the sometimes-riotous relationship drama, stay for the myriad cultural in-jokes..."-Electric Lit

W Magazine Recommends DYKETTE

W Magazine recommends diving into DYKETTE this summer.

"At heart a love story, Dykette seductively examines themes like queer nonconformity and its place in a heteronormative world."-W Magazine

The Washington Post Loves DYKETTE

The Washington Post approves of Dykette as a great poolside read.

"This is a book full of queer vocabulary and gossip written in a bold, unapologetic way. And why should it be otherwise? With 'Dykette,' Davis has filled what has been mostly an empty shelf in the literary world." -The Washington Post

May
New York Times Reviews BRAVE THE WILD RIVER

The New York Times Book Review featured Melissa L. Sevigny’s BRAVE THE WILD RIVER: The Untold Story of Two Women Who Mapped the Botany of the Grand Canyon (Norton). Reviewer Deborah Blum said: “[A] cascade of a story, colored by sun and water and driven by courage and determination.”

Vogue Interviews Jenny Fran Davis

Vogue interviews Jenny Fran Davis on her newly published novel, Dykette.

Vanity Fair Interviews Jenny Fran Davis

Vanity Fair interviews Jenny Fran Davis on her new novel DYKETTE.

"Davis’s new novel reads like a taxonomy of queer theory, references, and history, while offering up wholly new words and takes on contemporary lesbian life."- Svetlana Kitto, Vanity Fair

Dr. Thema Bryant Joins CBS Mornings on an Expert Panel

Dr. Thema Bryant appears on CBS Mornings on an expert panel to discuss finding mental health care, healing trauma, and supporting the mental health of teens for "Wellness Week" during Mental Health Awareness Month.

Kirkus Names GETTING OUT OF SAIGON to “10 Most Addictive"

Kirkus Reviews named Ralph White’s GETTING OUT OF SAIGON (Simon & Schuster) one of the “10 Most Addictive Books of 2023 (So Far).” In its starred review, Kirkus said: "White tells his inspiring story with wit, panache, humility, and a captivating sense of time and place. A fantastic read."

April
Christian Science Monitor Selects GETTING OUT OF SAIGON as a Best Book of April

Christian Science Monitor named its 10 Best Books of April and included Ralph White’s GETTING OUT OF SAIGON (Simon & Schuster). They said: “His well-documented, true story offers a gripping play-by-play about the choice to do what’s right instead of what’s authorized.”

Norton Young Readers Presents the Book Trailer for WHITE HOUSE CLUBHOUSE by Sean O'Brien

"That's the story that we're telling within White House Clubhouse: of all the great dreamers who decided to dare greatly."

Former White House speechwriter Sean O'Brien discusses his debut middle grade series. In WHITE HOUSE CLUBHOUSE, First Daughters Marissa and Clara discover a hidden tunnel that leads to an underground clubhouse full of antique curiosities, with doors heading in all directions—and a mysterious document addressed to them for their signatures. Upon signing, the girls find themselves transported back to 1903, to Teddy Roosevelt's White House. Marissa and Clara, along with Roosevelt's irrepressible children, are swept up on a cross-country railroad adventure to save California's redwoods from destruction.

Publishers Weekly Explores Sean O'Brien's Forthcoming Middle-grade Series, WHITE HOUSE CLUBHOUSE

From the imagination of a former White House speechwriter—and his own kids—comes an inside look at White House administrations throughout history through the eyes of its youngest residents.

Oprah Daily names THE GRIEVING BRAIN a "Best Book to Comfort a Grieving Friend”

Oprah Daily selected ten books to consider giving a grieving friend, including Mary-Frances O’Connor PhD’s THE GRIEVING BRAIN: The Surprising Science of How We Learn from Love and Loss (HarperOne). About the book, they say: "For those who want to understand what’s happening to them and why grief is so confounding, this is a fascinating and comforting read."

A Booklist Starred Review for BRAVE THE WILD RIVER

Booklist bestows a star on Melissa Sevigny’s BRAVE THE WILD RIVER: The Untold Story of Two Women Who Mapped the Botany of the Grand Canyon (Norton): “A spellbinding writer of informed and ardent attentiveness, wit, and empathy, Sevigny splendidly conveys the dramatic beauty of this unique riverscape and casts light on the Indigenous people who cultivated plants in the canyonlands for millennia before being forced off the land… A breath-catching, enlightening, and significant work of scientific, environmental, and women's history.”

Booklist (starred review)

March
The Washington Post Praises GETTING OUT OF SAIGON

Writing for the Washington Post, Mark Atwood Lawrence said of GETTING OUT OF SAIGON: How a 27-Year-Old American Banker Saved 113 Vietnamese Civilians (Simon & Schuster): “Ralph White’s captivating memoir shows that fresh revelations [about America’s war in Vietnam] are still possible… White is at his storytelling best when recounting his frenetic shuttling between the U.S. Embassy, the Saigon airport, hotel cafes and seedy bars in search of clear-eyed American officials who might help. This ‘pinball odyssey’ includes wary encounters with a Viet Cong operative, a run-in with South Vietnamese police and a chaste infatuation with a teenage Vietnamese prostitute, a cast of characters reminiscent of The Quiet American, Graham Greene’s classic 1955 novel of wartime Saigon.”

DIRECT is a Gold Medalist for the 2023 Axiom Awards

Kathryn Judge’s DIRECT: The Rise of the Middleman Economy and the Power of Going to the Source (HarperBusiness) has been named a Gold Medalist for the 2023 Axiom Awards in the Business Theory category. According to Axiom: "The Axiom Business Book Awards are intended to bring increased recognition to exemplary business books and their creators. The awards were created in 2007, and have since become the largest and most respected critical guidepost for business books in today's new world of publishing. These prestigious and competitive awards are presented in 25 business categories and serve as the premier list to help readers discover new and innovative works."

Oprah Daily Raves about GETTING OUT OF SAIGON

"An edge-of-your-seat, too-insane-not-to-be-true story,” says Oprah Daily about Ralph White’s GETTING OUT OF SAIGON (Simon & Schuster). 

Booklist Loves DYKETTE!

Booklist writes a glowing review of Dykette.

The review will appear in the April 15, 2023, issue of Booklist, scheduled to mail and go live online, on April 13.

"An engagingly self-aware and entertainingly claustrophobic story of performance and realness."- Booklist

ANYBODY HERE SEEN FRENCHIE? is on the 2023 Notable Children’s Books in the Language Arts Award List!

Anybody Here Seen Frenchie?, written by Leslie Connor, is a 2023 Notable Children's Books in the Language Arts Award book.

I'M NOT BROKEN is a Lambda Literary Award Finalist!

I'M NOT BROKEN by Jesse Leon is a 2023 Lambda Literary Award Finalist. I'M NOT BROKEN is also on 2022 NPR's Books We Love and 2022 Best of San Francisco Chronicle. It won the 2022 San Diego Writers Festival Memoir Writer of the Year Award. 

TELL THE REST by Lucy Jane Bledsoe Is Featured in The New York Times Book Review's "New This Week" Column

"Decades after they escape from a church-supported conversion therapy program, two old friends reunite as adults and come to terms with their shared trauma."

KGWTV Interviews Lucy Jane Bledsoe About Title IX and Her Novel NO STOPPING US NOW

Nearly 50 years after Lucy Jane Bledsoe helped convince Portland leaders to create the first girls’ basketball league in Oregon, she returned to Ida B. Wells High, her alma mater, to mark Women’s History Month and discuss her new YA novel, NO STOPPING US NOW.