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 by Jocelyn Nicole Johnson, due for release on October 5, is on Esquire’s list of the Best Books of Fall 2021 and Time’s Most Anticipated list. A public-school art teacher, Johnson lives in Charlottesville, Virginia.
Vulture’s Fall Preview of 40 Books We Can’t Wait to Read This Fall includes Bessie Smith: A Poet’s Biography of a Blues Legend by Jackie Kay, scheduled for release on September 21.