Happy Friday!
A few programming notes:
- Some of you were asking if we could have a spoiler-y chat about The Heir Affair. Our publisher is kindly hosting a read-a-long of the book this month and facilitating discussion in a Facebook group! It starts on Monday, and you can join here.
- we’ve got another virtual event on the docket next week. On Tuesday, at 4pm PT, we’re going to be part of Warwick’s Couch-Surfing Tour, discussing The Heir Affair with Liz Fenton and Lisa Steinke (whose new book, How to Save a Life, came out yesterday). It’s a free Zoom event and you can get all the details here!
A massive thank you to everyone who’s bought the book, or borrowed it or requested it from their library. We are delighted to say that the book hit #13 overall on Apple Books, and #26 on USA Today, the latter of which is a mixed list — when you scrub out non-fiction, we ended up at #11 in the country, and the #2 new fiction book! None of that would have happened without your support, and we’re incredibly grateful.
If you haven’t bought the book yet, and you’d like to, it’s available in all these places:
- Bookshop.org (which also aids indie bookstores)
- Amazon: Hardcover and Kindle
- Barnes & Noble: Hardcover and Nook
- For our Canadian friends, Chapters/Indigo: Paperback or Hardcover or Kobo
- Yes, also at Books-a-Million!
- Via iBooks?
- Here’s your link for Google Play
- How about Walmart?
- Or Target?
On to the links!
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar writes, for The Hollywood Reporter: Where Is the Outrage Over Anti-Semitism in Sports and Hollywood?
Related, by the always must-read Soraya Nadia McDonald, at The Undefeated: I’m a Jew of color. I won’t be quiet about anti-Semitism.
This is a tremendously good interview, at Zora: A Former Black Panther Party Leader Reflects on Her Revolutionary Work
Naya Rivera’s death is absolutely tragic. This is a lovely personal remembrance of what her work on Glee meant, at Vulture.
This is juicy, at Vanity Fair: “In the fall of 1966, billionaire Doris Duke killed a close confidant in tony Newport, Rhode Island. Local police ruled the incident ‘an unfortunate accident.’ Half a century later, compelling evidence suggests that the mercurial, vindictive tobacco heiress got away with murder.”
Via CNBC the U.S. Navy finally has its first Black female tactical jet pilot (aka fighter pilot). Congrats, LTJG Swegle!
This is so good, at the New Yorker: How to Extract a Mother’s Rogan Josh Recipe Over Zoom
At Lainey: Oh great, another bad man. (It’s Kevin Connolly, allegedly.)
15 women have alleged that they were sexually harassed while working for Washington’s NFL team. Ugh. [Washington Post]
This is really interesting, at the LA Times: L.A.’s independent bookstores reckon with diversity (or the lack of it)
Also at Lainey: Brooklyn and Nicola: The Next Generation of Gossip is Now. Cue the “I’M OLD” gif from Freaky Friday.
At Elle: Everything You Need To Know About The Newly Formed Black In Fashion Council
So good, at LitHub: On the Igbo Art of Storytelling
Fascinating, at ESPN: The Hero of Goodall Park: Inside a true-crime drama 50 years in the making
Great, over at Shondaland: With ‘The Old Guard,’ Gina Prince-Bythewood Is Directing the World She Wants to See
Really interesting, at Smithsonian: Native Americans and Polynesians Met Around 1200 A.D.
At Vulture: The Bold Type’s Aisha Dee Calls For More Diverse Storytelling, Way Less Kat and Ava.
At The New Yorker: The Art of the Uncooked Summer Dinner
The Cut talked to the person behind that Ana des Armas stan Twitter account!
At Jezebel: Director Smriti Mundhra On New Dating Show and the Business of Indian Matchmaking
The NYT reports: It’s a Tough Time to Be a Street Musician with a 900-Pound Piano.
I don’t think I knew about this couple?!?! I’m into it. Via Celebitchy: Tom Hiddleston & Zawe Ashton are living together in Atlanta right now??
I loved this interview with romance novelist Rebekah Weatherspoon, at Bitch. To wit, “I would love to see a funny, upbeat, sexy movie. People fall off the bed sometimes. People laugh during sex because it’s awkward a lot of the time. When you write sex that’s funny and awkward, it’s more accessible to readers because we don’t always meet guys in business suits who have sex dungeons.”
At Bust: We Know The Schuyler Sisters — Now, Meet The Other Real-Life Women Behind “Hamilton”
At Town & Country: It’s a $40 Million Question: Was This 35-Carat Pink Diamond Stolen?
At the Washington Post: The pandemic will change Hollywood — forever. Five writers and actors predict what’s next.
Related, at the New York Times: How to Shoot a Sex Scene in a Pandemic: Cue the Mannequins
Vogue has been covering some truly beautiful weddings lately. This couple is so gorgeous!
