Welcome to Today in Books, our daily round-up of literary headlines at the intersection of politics, culture, media, and more.
THE HUNGER GAMES: ON STAGE Will Premiere at Specially-Built Venue in London
It looks like the IP-machine behind The Hunger Games took notice at how well Harry Potter and the Cursed Child done as a massive theatrical production. The Hunger Games: On Stage looks to be an equally staggering production, with a headline-grabbing bespoke new theater purpose built for it. Judging from the promo video, much of that bespokeness is to accommodate full-theater aerial stunts and action. Makes me wonder how/if a traveling production would be managed if this proves popular.
2025 Winners of the Newbery, Caldecott, King, Belpre & More Awards from the American Library Association
The American Library Association administers the two most prestigioius awards in children’s books, The Newberry Medal (for children’s literature) and The Caldecott Medal (for picture books). Those winners, along with the other children’s awards the ALA conducts, were announced earlier this week. I know these have meant something to my own book buying during my kids’ younger days. The thought occurs to me: does the ALA have an award for adult books? I am going to look it up immediately after finishing this sentence. OK, found the answer. And it is “no.” Interesting.
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Reflections on Four Years of Counter Craft
Lincoln Michel’s Counter Craft newsletter isn’t just a good read for people interested in books and publishing, I think it is also the best example of a writer making use of the direct-to-reader possibilities of the modern email newsletter. And his four-year retrospective shows why. He’s informative, consistent, passionate, and writes broadly about issues most readers of books might be interested in. It is not one of the largest literary examples (Roxane Gay or George Saunders come to mind), but I do think it is should be the model for someone trying to build a readership, rather than someone, like Gay or Saunders I would say, more trying to harness what they already have.
