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☆ His Novel Sold a Million Copies. James McBride Isn’t Sure How He Feels About That.
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-23 | by ( Elizabeth A. Harris | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

When people ask the author James McBride what he does for work, he tells them he’s a saxophone player. But McBride, 66, makes his living as an author — and right now, that living is very good. His latest novel, “The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store,” which follows the Black and Jewish residents of a Pennsylvania town in the early 20th century, hit a milestone: Since its release last summer, it has sold more than a million copies. His novel “The Good Lord Bird” won the National Book Award. Eventually, it sold more than 2 million copies.

Persons: James McBride, he’s, McBride, —, Bird ”, “ Deacon King Kong ”, Ruth Organizations: New York Times Locations: Brooklyn, New Jersey, Pennsylvania

NEW YORK (AP) — Novels by James McBride and Alice McDermott and a short story collection by Jamel Brinkley are among the 10 books on the longlist for one of the literary world's top prizes, the PEN/Faulkner award for fiction. The settings for nominated books range from a 1930s Pennsylvania community in McBride's “The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store” to 1960s Saigon in McDermott's “Absolution.” The list also includes, Brinkley's “Witness,” Catherine Lacey's “Biography of X,” Emma Cline's “The Guest,” Daniel Clowes' “Monica” and Claire Jiménez's “What Happened to Ruthy Ramirez.”The other nominees are Henry Hoke's “Open Throat," Nishanth Injam's “The Best Possible Experience" and Colin Winnette's “Users.”"This year’s list is a powerful reminder that American literature matters more than ever,” awards committee chair Louis Bayard said in a statement Tuesday. “We are delighted to celebrate these gifted authors and the multivarious worlds they have brought to life.”The list will be pared to five finalists next month, with the winner to be announced in April. Previous PEN/Faulkner winners include Philip Roth, Ann Patchett and Imbolo Mbue,Photos You Should See View All 45 Images

Persons: James McBride, Alice McDermott, Jamel Brinkley, Faulkner, Brinkley's, ” Catherine Lacey's “, Emma Cline's “, ” Daniel Clowes, Monica ”, Claire Jiménez's, Ruthy Ramirez, ”, Henry Hoke's, Colin Winnette's “, Louis Bayard, “, Philip Roth, Ann Patchett, Imbolo Organizations: PEN Locations: Pennsylvania, McBride's, Saigon, McDermott's

She is one of this year's winners of an Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence, presented by the American Library Association. The fiction medal was awarded to Amanda Peters for her novel “The Berry Pickers,” a multi-generational story centered around the disappearance of a young Mi’kmaq girl from a blueberry field in Maine. “Amanda Peters’ stunning prose and evocative narrative enraptured us with the grief and longing of her characters. “I was 16 and sitting in the library and it changed the trajectory of my reading career," said Peters, who read the book at home. The Carnegie Medals were established in 2012 with the help of a grant from Carnegie Corporation of New York.

Persons: Roxanna Asgarian, ”, Andrew Carnegie, Roald Dahl's, Asgarian, Hart, Amanda Peters, “ Amanda Peters, Christina Wong’s, Daniel Innes ’, Jake Bittle’s “, Darrin Bell’s “, Peters, John Steinbeck's, “, ” Peters, ” Asgarian, Jennifer Egan, James McBride, Bryan Stevenson Organizations: —, Las Vegas, American Library Association, Carnegie, Dalhousie University, Acadia University, New York Public Library, History Research, Town, Carnegie Corporation of New Locations: Las, Dallas, America, Maine, San Diego, United States, Falmouth , Nova Scotia, Wolfville , Nova Scotia, New York City, New York, Carnegie Corporation of New York

NEW YORK (AP) — Three books that explore and celebrate the diversity of American culture were awarded Kirkus Prizes on Wednesday night, with each winner receiving $50,000. James McBride's “The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store,” a novel set in an eclectic Pennsylvania town in the 1930s, won in the fiction category. The awards were presented by the trade publication Kirkus Reviews. “History and community emerged as central themes in the most outstanding works of literature published this year. Previous winners of the Kirkus Prize, established in 2014, include Hanya Yanagihara's “A Little Life,” Jason Reynolds' “As Brave as You" and Susan Faludi's “In the Darkroom.”Political Cartoons View All 1207 Images

Persons: James McBride's “, ”, Ariel Aberg, ” Meg Kuehn, ” Jason Reynolds, Susan Faludi's “ Organizations: Kirkus Locations: Pennsylvania

NEW YORK (AP) — Historical novels by Jayne Anne Phillips and Paul Harding and Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah’s dystopian prison novel “Chain-Gang All-Stars” are among the nominees on the National Book Awards long list for fiction. The judges, who include authors, critics and booksellers, will narrow the lists to five next month, and winners will be announced Nov. 15 during a dinner ceremony in downtown Manhattan. The foundation also will present honorary awards to poet Rita Dove and bookseller Paul Yamazaki of the famed City Lights store in San Francisco. Drew Barrymore had been scheduled to host the ceremony but was dropped by the foundation after she resumed her talk show in the midst of the Hollywood actors and writers strike. The foundation has not yet named a replacement.

Persons: Jayne Anne Phillips, Paul Harding, Nana Kwame Adjei, Phillips, Harding, ”, Mona Susan Power's multigenerational, ” Eliot Duncan’s, Hanna Pylväinen’s, Tania James’s, Justin Torres, Aaliyah, LaToya Watkins, “, Jesmyn, James McBride's “, Lauren Groff's “, Wilds, Jamel Brinkley's, Rita Dove, Paul Yamazaki, Drew Barrymore Organizations: National, Foundation, of Dolls, Book Foundation, Hollywood Locations: Manhattan, San Francisco

☆ James McBride Doesn’t Read Reviews. Here’s Why.
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-24 | by ( Elisabeth Egan | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Between these poles are all forms of social media; and, on a different continent but still the same planet, reviews printed in the font you’re reading now. When it comes to all of the above, James McBride takes a page from Herman Melville’s short story “Bartleby, the Scrivener.” Like the titular clerk, McBride prefers not to — in his case, read reviews. I’m grateful that people read the work. If you’re writing about humans, you’ve got to be around humans. The big secret to writing good books is to stay around people, and not stay around what they write on the internet.”

Persons: James McBride, Herman Melville’s, Scrivener, McBride, “ I’m, ”, Danez Smith, ” McBride, “, I’m, I’ve, —, you’ve Locations: Columbia

☆ James McBride’s Latest Is a Murder Mystery Inside a Great American Novel
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-06 | by ( Danez Smith | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

THE HEAVEN & EARTH GROCERY STORE, by James McBrideA few weeks ago, around the same time I was working on this review, I visited the Guggenheim with my fiancé. Her work speaks to a deep curiosity about the interrelation of shapes, things and the dimensions created by those relationships. “The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store,” the latest novel from the best-selling, National Book Award-winning author James McBride, moves with the precision, magnitude and necessary messiness of some of Gego’s most inspired structures. The book is a murder mystery locked inside a Great American Novel. The identity of the corpse is unknown but the few clues found (a belt buckle, a pendant and a mezuza) lead authorities to question the only Jewish man remaining from the town’s formerly vibrant Jewish community.

Persons: James McBride, Gego, Moshe Ludlow, Chona, Moshe Organizations: Guggenheim, Jewish Locations: Venezuelan, Nazi, Europe, Venezuela, America, Pottstown, Pa, Chicken, It’s, Romanian

☆ Opinion: A rookie officer ran toward semi-automatic gunfire. It was his job
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-16 | by ( Michael Fanone | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

The job carries unavoidable risks, but to the extent that we can keep them safe we owe them that much. Too many times toward the end of my career I heard politicians, media pundits and even executives in my own department prioritize optics over officer safety. In fact, every single firearms transfer in this country should begin with a background check. As I thought about Officer Wilt, I recalled my own experiences as a rookie cop working in the inner city. This is the job, and this is what is asked of these officers.

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