The longlist for the 2022 International Booker Prize has been announced. The thirteen novels include work by Olga Tokarczuk, Bora Chung, David Grossman, Fernanda Melchor and more. The prize’s shortlist will be announced on April 7th and the winner on May 26th.
On the new episode of the Fiction/Non/Fiction podcast, filmmaker and Forbes editorial director Katya Soldak talks about the war in Ukraine. Soldak, who grew up in the country, told hosts Whitney Terrell and V. V. Ganeshananthan, “Ukrainian people will die, but they’re not going to stop. This is the spirit that is in Ukraine right now, and this is what I saw everywhere.”
Jewish Currents magazine has announced a special double issue on the experiences of post-Soviet Jews.
The New York Times is hiring an editor to lead the Book Review.
For the New Yorker, Becca Rothfeld reviews Heather Havrilesky’s comedic memoir about marriage. Rothfeld writes that previous reviewers—including the hosts of The View and the New York Post—seemed to miss the obvious fact that Havrilesky is joking about her husband’s shortcomings. Rothfeld observes, “If Havrilesky’s descriptions of marital exasperation are extreme, it is because choosing to remain in close quarters with another person for a lifetime is extreme.”
Tressie McMillan Cottom—author of Lower Ed and Thick—has joined the New York Times as an op-ed columnist. Cottom said on Twitter, “I am thrilled to work with this team, in this moment, on the ideas that I am deeply passionate about.”