Pantheon has announced that it will publish a new book by Nobel Laureate Wole Soyinka, his first novel in forty-eight years. Set in an “imaginary Nigeria,” Chronicles from the Land of the Happiest People on Earth, which will be released on September 28, 2021, is “at once a savagely witty whodunit and a corrosively satirical examination of corruption, both personal and political.”
In an opinion piece at the New York Times, poet and essayist Cathy Park Hong (author of, most recently, Minor Feelings: An Asian American Reckoning) writes about right-wing conspiracy theories that are reaching Asian and Latino communities via platforms like WeChat, KakaoTalk, Facebook, and WhatsApp—and calls for progressives to put an end to this. “Asian-Americans and Latinos both comprise dozens of different nationalities, making it difficult to draw broad conclusions about their voting patterns,” Park Hong writes. “But anti-communism has traditionally been part of the Republican Party’s appeal to older immigrants, and disinformation that paints the Democratic Party’s platform as socialist has reinforced that appeal, especially among some older Korean, Chinese, Taiwanese and Vietnamese immigrants who fear anything left-of-center teeters too close to the Chinese Communist Party.”
Sister, the production company behind the miniseries Chernobyl, has optioned Lydia Millet’s novel of teens and climate change, A Children’s Bible. Tayarisha Poe will write and direct the miniseries. As Deadline points out, “It is the latest book being adapted by Sister, which has also optioned James McBride’s Deacon King Kong and is working on an adaptation of The Power for Amazon and Adam Kay’s This Is Going to Hurt for BBC and AMC.”
Barack Obama has named his favorite books of 2020. “I’ll start by sharing my favorite books this year, deliberately omitting what I think is a pretty good book—A Promised Land—by a certain 44th president. I hope you enjoy reading these as much as I did.”
Elizabeth Warren has sold a book to Metropolitan. According to the publisher, Persist, which is scheduled to come out in April 2021, will cover “six experiences and perspectives that have influenced Warren’s life and advocacy.”