In an attempt to keep track of Lookout’s first four prolific authors—Edith Pearlman, Steve Almond, John Rybicki, and Ben Miller—as well as the contributors to Astoria to Zion: Twenty-Six Stories of Risk and Abandon from Ecotone’s First Decade, we’re beginning a new weekly roundup department, featuring author news. We at Lookout and Ecotone are awfully proud of our growing family, and we hope you’ll show these authors some love by clicking through. Enjoy our first roundup.
- Karen E. Bender writes “The Emotional Power of Verbs” for the New York Times.
- The Express Tribune’s Nuzhat Saadia Siddiqi praises Maggie Shipstead’s book Seating Arrangements, saying that “the book under review steers so far away from the average chick lit bestseller that you’ll be left with a grin on your face and satisfaction over time well spent.
- Steve Almond offers advice to readers on Cognoscenti’s Heavy Meddle blog.
- Aspen Public Radio featured Ben Fountain and Rick Bass in their weekly show, First Draft, which “highlights the voices of writers as they discuss their work, their craft and the literary arts.”
- Rebecca Makkai was recently awarded a $25,000 Fellowship by the National Endowment for the Arts.
- Kevin Wilson’s novel, The Family Fang, is being made into a movie by Blossom Films, Nicole Kidman’s production company. The movie will star Nicole Kidman and Jason Bateman.
- Benjamin Percy is slated for the second annual Twitter Fiction Festival, “part of a larger trend in which aspiring and established authors test the benefits and limits of telling tales on Twitter.” Want to play along? #twitterfiction
- Percy is also featured in Ploughshares’ series One Year In: Writing the Novel.
That’s it for this week. Be sure to check our blog for additional posts and don’t forget to follow us on Facebook, Pinterest, and Twitter. Also, find us on Goodreads and enter our giveaway for the chance to win 1 of 20 early copies of Astoria to Zion. Happy weekend reading!