Kobby Ben Ben

Mar 6, 2024 | theguardian.com | Kobby Ben Ben

With his fourth novel, which won the Prix Goncourt, France’s most prestigious book prize, in 2021, the Senegalese writer Mohamed Mbougar Sarr has erected a literary headstone for the Malian author Yambo Ouologuem. In 1968, Ouologuem won the Prix Renaudot, another celebrated French literary honour, for his debut Bound to Violence, reissued this month by Penguin Classics, and was nicknamed the African Proust.

Dec 1, 2023 | publishersweekly.com | Percival L. Everett |Maura Cheeks |Kobby Ben Ben |Marosia Castaldi

Sarah Ruiz-Grossman. Harper, $25.99 (208p) ISBN 978-0-06-330542-7Ruiz-Grossman’s captivating debut chronicles a wildfire’s impact on a diverse set of residents of Berkeley, Calif. Abigail, 50, organizes a fund-raiser at a friend’s house in the Berkeley Hills for a mixed-income apartment building on the city’s west side. She hires Willow, a young woman who ran away from home as a teen and who Abigail met while volunteering at a soup kitchen, to serve drinks and food at the party.

Nov 27, 2023 | publishersweekly.com | Percival L. Everett |Maura Cheeks |Kobby Ben Ben |Marosia Castaldi

Jessi Jezewska Stevens. And Other Stories, $19.95 (304p) ISBN 978-1-913505-84-4Stevens (The Visitors) returns with a skillful and expansive collection ranging from Nabokovian confessions to fabulist sketches. In the standout “Rumpel,” a man on trial for an unspecified crime tells his story from the witness stand, complete with prurient digressions about his virtual reality porn habits. The brief “Letter to the Senator” portrays a gathering of friends in which the narrator feels inconsequential.

Nov 21, 2023 | publishersweekly.com | Percival L. Everett |Maura Cheeks |Marosia Castaldi |Kobby Ben Ben

Alexandra Tanner. Scribner, $27 (304p) ISBN 978-1-66801-861-3In Tanner’s mordant debut, two sisters deal with their anxiety and depression while rooming together. Jules, 28, is less than thrilled when her younger sister, Poppy, moves into her Brooklyn apartment—temporarily, Poppy assures her. The sisters were close while growing up in their Jewish household in South Florida, and Poppy looked up to Jules. After Poppy finished college, however, she sank into a depression and moved back home.