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The Lonely Letters by Ashon Crawley (pictured above) won the 2021 Lambda Literary Award for LGBTQ Nonfiction and the Believer Book Award for nonfiction. Crawley teaches at the University of Virginia. Finalists for the Library of Virginia Literary Award in poetry include two poets who work for the University of Virginia in Charlottesville. Annie Kim is the Assistant Dean for Public Service at the University of Virginia School of Law. Her poetry book is Eros Unbroken. Kiki Petrosino directs the Creative Writing Program at U.Va.  Her book is White Blood a Lyric of Virginia. My Monticello, a short story collection...

The Patron Saint of Ugly  the novel by Marie Manilla (pictured above)  is West Virginia’s One Book One West Virginia statewide book discussion book for 2021. David Joy’s When These Mountains Burn has won the Hammett Prize from the International Association of Crime Writers honoring the book of the year that best represents literary excellence in the genre. Betty by Tiffany McDaniel made the American Bookseller’s Association’s Indie Next list for August as one of the 6 Now in Paperback Titles. Crystal Wilkinson is the 2021 recipient of the Thomas D. Clark Medallion for  Perfect Black (out 8/3).  This award...

In their June 21st edition, Publishers Weekly’s Fall 2021 Announcements included Make Me Rain: Poems and Prose by Nikki Giovanni (pictured) as a top 10 selection in Poetry, English Lit by Bernard Clay was one of the additional poetry books recognized. The Taking of Jemima Boone: Colonial Settlers, Tribal Nations and the Kidnap that Shaped a Nation by Matthew Pearl achieved a top 10 rating in history. In Literary Fiction, My Monticello by Jocelyn Nicole Johnson was one of the books selected. In Politics and Current Events, Quiet Zone; Unraveling the Mystery of a Town Suspended in Silence by Stephen...

Robert Gipe has won Transylvania University’s 2021 Judy Gaines Young Book Award for his Canard County Trilogy which he completed in 2021 with Pop, which followed Weedeater (2020) and Trampoline (2015).   The American Booksellers Association’s Indie Next list for June includes Bewildeness a novel by Karen Tucker in a fictional setting inspired by living in Asheville, North Carolina.   The “Read This Next” for Spring 2021 list from the Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance includes: The Killing Hills, a novel by Chris Offutt set in Eastern Kentucky.   Crystal Wilkinson has successfully sold her culinary memoir with recipes at auction...

Each issue of Publishers Weekly ends with a one-page essay on the last page, called Soapbox. The April 5th issue was written by Anjali Enjeti, who grew up in Chattanooga. It is entitled, “The Cost of the Deal.” Southbound  by Anjali Enjeti made "The Million’s Most Anticipated Books for April 2021" list and "Electric Lit’s list of 43 Books by Women of Color to Read in 2021." The Wife Upstairs by Rachel Hawkins is number 4 on the Good Housekeeping "Best Books to Read in 2021 So Far" list. The 2021 Lambda Literary Awards Finalists have been announced, and include:...