55+ min ago (420+ words) The Footnote x Counterpoints prize is intended to uncover new literary voices whose work reflects the experiences of migration Footnote Press and Counterpoints Arts have announced a new fiction award celebrating writers from refugee and migrant backgrounds, offering a "15,000 prize and a publishing deal for the winner. The Footnote x Counterpoints prize for fiction, launching on Thursday, marks the second time the two organisations have collaborated on a prize. In 2023, writers were invited to submit narrative nonfiction, but now the prize will focus on fiction for the first time. Open to writers living in the UK or Ireland, the prize is intended to uncover new literary voices whose work reflects the experiences of migration. Footnote Press, an imprint of Bonnier Books UK, and Counterpoints Arts, a national organisation focusing on arts, migration and cultural change, say the award will highlight…...

55+ min ago (238+ words) The debut novel took the top prize while The Caf" at the Edge of the Woods by Mikey Please was named children's book of the year The Artist by Lucy Steeds has been named this year's Waterstones book of the year. The novel, which is set in 1920s Provence and blends mystery with a love story, also took home the Waterstones debut fiction prize earlier this year, and was longlisted for the Women's prize for fiction. Waterstones' head of books, Bea Carvalho, described it as a "gorgeously escapist novel which seamlessly transports the reader to the sticky heat of sun-soaked 1920s southern France." Steeds "is a writer of staggering, rare talent and it has been a joy to see this bookseller favourite become a word-of-mouth sensation," she added. Meanwhile, The Caf" at the Edge of the Woods by Mikey Please was named…...

56+ min ago (268+ words) Commentator: "When you were starting out as a writer, you were Black, impoverished, and homosexual. You must have said to yourself, "Gee, how disadvantaged can I get?" James Baldwin: "No, I thought I had hit the jackpot. It was so outrageous, you had to find a way to use" A collaborative public program hosted by the Leon Levy Center for Biography, it was held at the imposing CUNY Graduate Center on Fifth Avenue (the former landmarked B. Altman Store). An at-capacity crowd seemed to hang onto every word, and rightly so, as we were hearing from two excellent storytellers, who are two of the most distinguished scholars in their fields. One false note seemed to be when Dr. McWhorter asked if Boggs, through a decade of painstaking research and writing, had come to "love Baldwin?" He wondered, "Because with some of…...

1+ hour, 1+ min ago (374+ words) Tech News News: Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates unveiled his 2025 holiday reading list, featuring five books designed to spark curiosity. His selections delve into f Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates has revealed his annual holiday reading list as the 2025 comes to a close Gates has recommended five books and he believes that all these titles spark curiosity and reflection during the quieter days of the winter season "Each of these books pulls back the curtain on how something important really works: how people find purpose later in life, how we should think about climate change, how creative industries evolve, how humans communicate," wrote Gates In the blog post, Gates has also explained that holidays are the perfect tome to slow down and also catch up on reading "There's something about the quieter days around the holidays that makes it easier to sit…...

1+ hour, 26+ min ago (659+ words) After winning over Nigella and Gillian Anderson, what's left " apart from writing another great book? Madeleine Gray has just released her second novel, Chosen Family.Credit: Steven Siewert Fast-forward to now, and Gray is back with her second novel, Chosen Family. The "sophomore slump" " that grim little spectre hovering over any successful debut " is very real, she says, though in her case it helped sharpen to resolve to push her work somewhere new. Madeleine Gray says she wanted to turn her attention to female relationships after the success of Green Dot. Credit: Steven Siewert But a conversation with a friend eventually set things in motion: the notion that maybe the neat nuclear-family blueprint was overrated, and that there was something richer in considering families forged rather than forced, and exploring what contemporary platonic co-parenting might look like. Gray's second novel…...

2+ hour ago (692+ words) Just in time for the Holidays, Books to Light'US has launched its complete on-line catalogue of English-language texts by German Luminary B" Yin R" (Joseph Anton Schneiderfranken, 1876-1843). These are books that have been available in German for over a century, but are now being translated in multiple languages worldwide. English-language editions were first offered by Kober Press. Now, among other offerings, Books to Light'US is making available the complete 32-volume edition of B" Yin R's spiritual guidance, entitled Hortus Conclusus (The Enclosed Garden), in a new translation both in separate volumes and, for the first time, as a single bound edition. Separate editions of individual volumes both in English and German are likewise available, all from Books to Light'US. The availability of the German text will help readers who wish to do so to implement B" Yin R's strong recommendation…...

2+ hour, 33+ min ago (488+ words) There are books that inform " and there are books that awaken. Progressive Prejudice: Exposing the Devouring Mother by Leslie Corbly is the latter. It's a clarion call to the sleeping church, a piercing trumpet in a nation lulled into moral amnesia. It's not merely a book about politics, feminism, or abortion " it is a confrontation with the spiritual black hole that is pulling at modern America.(RELATED: The Slow Suffocation of Christian America) She writes as one who has walked through the valley of the shadow of death " literally. Which has continued its perversion so completely that the Hollywood "in" crowd now contains hordes of women subjecting their kids to chemical castration and medical mutilation in the name of the satanic ideology of transgenderism.(RELATED: The Bizarre Phenomenon of Celebrity Transgender Children Confronts Changing Attitudes) She calls abortion what it…...

2+ hour, 37+ min ago (361+ words) In his latest novel, 'Lies, Spies and Nuclear Rise', Juggi Bhasin returns to the charged landscape of India's first nuclear test, weaving fact and imagination to explore why leaders take nation-altering decisions. In this conversation, he breaks down the power games, intelligence rivalries and human vulnerabilities that drive the story. What compelled you to centre this political thriller around India's first nuclear test, and how did you balance fact with fictional tension? Priya Kaul is a leader under siege'what larger commentary were you making about power, vulnerability, and political survival in India? Your story interlocks CIA, ISI and RAW'what did you want readers to understand about the real dynamics of intelligence warfare in South Asia? The sub " continent has always been the playground of countless battles of attrition and domination between these three intelligence agencies. At the time of the…...

2+ hour, 44+ min ago (700+ words) Excellent modern marketing is the "golden rule" for self-publishing as the author becomes entrepreneur When Jupiter Phaeton quit her job in France with just six months" savings, she faced a stark choice: make a living from writing or return to the nine-to-five grind. "Going back to traditional jobs was Plan B. But the most horrible Plan B for me. It was out of the question," she says. Today, that gamble looks prescient. Phaeton has published more than 60 fantasy novels on Amazon, selling over 190,000 eBooks and 55,000 print copies, with 645,000 reads via Kindle Select and 135,000 audiobook listeners. Her success is not just literary; it is entrepreneurial. "It"s entrepreneurship," she insists. "You"re not just selling your product or building your products; you have to learn about accounting, marketing, and how the publishing industry works." Her characters are often strong women " a deliberate…...

2+ hour, 48+ min ago (80+ words) Give the gift of a great story to a child in your life. Our expert readers recommend the best new books for the littlest readers through young adult readers. IPR's 2025 holiday book guide for kids of all ages Give the gift of a great story to a child in your life. Our expert readers recommend the best new books for the littlest readers through young adult readers. - Molly Roberts, Prairie Lights bookstore, manger of children's books and bookseller...