Manjula Martin

1 month ago | fivebooks.com | Manjula Martin |Wei Tchou |Zito Madu |Erika Morillo

Thanks for talking us through the 2025 shortlist for the National Book Critics Circle Prize for Autobiography—has it been a good year for memoir and autobiography? It’s been one of the best years for memoir and autobiography in recent memory! It’s been a delight to read so many interesting, well-written, imaginatively constructed, and thought-provoking memoirs. What were the judges looking for, when they came to compile the shortlist? We weren’t looking for any one particular thing.

Jan 23, 2025 | publishersweekly.com | John Maher |Manjula Martin |Candida Royalle |Legacy Russell

The National Book Critics Circle has announced the finalists and special award winners for this year’s awards cycle, its 50th, honoring books published in 2024. A total of 31 publishers are represented across 42 finalists. Winners of the eight competitive categories will be named on March 20, 2025, at the New School in New York City, in a ceremony that will be free and open to the public.

Oct 28, 2024 | newyorker.com | Manjula Martin

Every autumn, I begin to crave generic seasonal comforts: the hues of turning leaves, the chill of sweater weather. I’m not really a pumpkin-spice person, but I’m a sucker for a classic u-pick apple orchard. In California, where I live, the weather in autumn is often more like summer, and seasonal discomforts include heat waves and wildfires. But apples remain one of the harbingers of the changing seasons. I live in what is called wine country, but it used to be known as apple country.

Feb 2, 2024 | newyorkfolk.com | James White |Manjula Martin

In his 1998 book, Ecology of Fear, Mike Davis, the late California muckraker and self-proclaimed Marxist environmentalist, made the case for “letting Malibu burn.” He pointed out that the city of Los Angeles devoted more resources to dealing with the wildfires that rage in the wealthy enclave of Malibu than to the ones that break out in downtown tenements. And yet, Malibu’s very design ensures the return of fire.

Jan 22, 2024 | union-bulletin.com | Manjula Martin

In December, as rains were predicted in California, I performed the annual ritual of removing my go bag from its place in the living room and stashing it in a storage closet. From spring until early winter the bag, filled with emergency supplies, sits just inside my front door, ready to grab in the event of a wildfire evacuation. As I put it away, I felt a wave of relief.