On March 20th, Foreword Reviews announced that Johanna Stoberock’s PIGS was named a finalist for the 2019 Foreword Indies Award in Literary Fiction. The winners will be announced on June 17, 2020.

James Oseland’s JIMMY NEUROSIS has been named a finalist for the 2020 Lambda Literary Awards. The winners will be announced on June 8, 2020.

Lydia Davis’ ESSAYS ONE has been named a finalist for the 2019 National Book Critics Circle Award for Criticism. The winners will be announced on March 12, 2020.

Chanelle Benz’s THE GONE DEAD was longlisted for the Pen/Hemingway Award for Debut Novel, and Lydia Davis’ ESSAYS ONE was longlisted for the PEN/Diamonstein-Spielvogel Award for the Art of the Essay. In their announcement on December 13^th, PEN stated that “these longlisted books are dynamic, diverse, and thought-provoking examples of literary excellence”.

On December 2nd, the Artist Trust named Johanna Stoberock as the recipient of the 2019 LaSalle Storyteller Award. The unrestricted grant recognizes a Washington State artist engaged in storytelling.

The Whiting Foundation announced Jess Row as one of six recipients of the Whiting Creative Nonfiction Grant for WHITE FLIGHTS: RACE, FICTION, AND THE AMERICAN IMAGINATION, which will be published by Graywolf Press in 2019. This grant supports writers as they complete a book of well-researched and innovative nonfiction.

A SIMPLE FAVOR based on the bestselling book by Darcey Bell will be released on September 14th, 2018. The film stars Anna Kendrick, Blake Lively and Henry Golding. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rAqMlh0b2HU&t=17s

The American Academy in Rome announced Kiristin Valdez Quade as a 2018 Fellow in Literature. She won the Rome Prize for her forthcoming novel. This highly competitive fellowship supports advanced independent work in writing, and includes months’ long residence in Rome.

The Washington National Opera in D.C. presented their adaptation of “Proving Up” by Karen Russell (from her collection VAMPIRES IN THE LEMON GROVE). The Washington Post praised it as “a work for its time: Its subject, at bottom, is the promises politicians make to the American people, and the staggering human cost to those who don’t realize that their efforts go against their own self-interest.”

The film adaptation of Darcey Bell’s A SIMPLE FAVOR began filming in Toronto on Monday.  The film is directed by Paul Feig and the studio is Lionsgate.  Anna Kendrick, Blake Lively, and Michael Golding have the major roles.