The winners of the 2017 Kirkus Prize have been announced: Lesley Nneka Arimah‘s What It Means When a Man Falls From the Sky for fiction; Jack E. Davis‘s The Gulf: The Making of an American Sea for non-fiction; and Cherie Dimaline‘s The Marrow Thieves for young reader’s literature. See also: Arimah’s short story collection was on our 2017 Great Book Preview.
And the Kirkus Prize Goes to…
Iconography
“…a range of products appeared on the market carrying Pushkin’s image to the masses – cigarettes, matches, candy, pens, stationery, inkstands, liqueur, knives, watches, vases, cups, shoes, dresses, lamps, fans and perfumes. There was even a board game called ‘Pushkin’s Duel.'” The omnipresent cultural status of Pushkin in Russia.
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Jack Jones Literary Arts Retreat Application
Are you a woman of color writer in need of the time and space provided by a writing retreat, ideally in October? Then you’re in luck, applications for the Jack Jones Literary Arts retreat have just opened! New York Times Magazine writer Jenna Wortham is this year’s Writer-in-Residence. Applications are due April 1st and there is a $35 application fee. But if you hurry you might be able to get your application fee waived thanks to generous donors. We urge you to apply now and wish you the best of luck!
Not the Same
Few things are more individual than your feelings about e-books. Dustin Illingworth can’t stand them — as he puts it, “books are meant to be handled and smelled.” At Full-Stop, he writes about what this preference reveals about himself. You could also read our tribute to e-book pioneer Michael Hart.
England’s Green and Pleasant Land
William Blake may have described its “green and pleasant land” but this week England had traded green for white, as you can see in this NASA photograph (c/o Gizmodo).