HBG Big News This Week: September 16-20, 2019

Following is a recap of major news at Hachette Book Group for the week of September 16-20, 2019:

#1 Bestseller: Talking to Strangers by Malcolm Gladwell (LB) debuts this week at #1 on both the New York Times Print Hardcover Nonfiction and Combined P&E NF bestseller lists! Malcolm also debuts at #1 on the Globe & Mail bestseller list (think the NYT list for Canada), even before he heads there at the end of the month for several days of major national media and events.

More bestseller news: also debuting on the New York Times bestsellers list this week are LB’s Killer Instinct by James Patterson & Howard Roughan (#4 on Print Hardcover Fiction, #6 on Combined P&E); LBYR’s The Proudest Blue by Ibtihaj Muhammad with S.K. Ali (#8 on Children’s Picture Books) and The Magic Misfits: The Minor Third by Neil Patrick Harris (#7 on Children’s Series); JIMMY’s Max Einstein: Rebels with a Cause by James Patterson & Chris Grabenstein (#4 on Children’s Middle Grade HC list) and Capturing the Devil by Kerri Maniscalco (#6 on Children’s Series). Congratulations to the Hachette Books team for The Dinosaur Artist by Paige Williams being noted in the NYT’s Paperback Row Review section.

FT/McKinsey Book of the Year: Shoshana Zuboff’s The Age of Surveillance Capitalism (PublicAffairs) made the 6-title shortlist for the Financial Times / McKinsey Book of the Year Award. The winner will be announced on December 3.

Thurber Prize: Simon Rich’s Hits and Misses (LB) has been named one of three finalists for the 2019 Thurber Prize for American Humor, one of the highest recognitions of humor writing in the United States. The winner will be announced on October 23.

Media blitz: Attica Locke’s Heaven, My Home (LB/Mulholland) went on sale this week, riding a wave of pre-publication buzz. Great NPR hits include an interview on NPR’s Morning Edition and a review on NPR’s Fresh Air this week, with an interview on Fresh Air coming next month.  Interviews with the author appeared in the Washington Post, Dallas Morning News and Kirkus, with features in Entertainment Weekly, San Francisco Chronicle, Houston Chronicle, Austin Chronicle, and Seattle Review of Books coming soon. Rave reviews appeared in the New York Times Book Review, Wall Street Journal, Philadelphia Inquirer, Associated Press, and O Magazine, with reviews on the horizon in the Los Angeles Times, Seattle Times, and Texas Observer.

LibraryReads Pick: Stephen Chbosky’s Imaginary Friend (GCP) has been selected for the October LibraryReads list, the “top ten books published this month that librarians across the country love.”

TV news: Variety announced the details of the upcoming Hulu TV series adaptation of The Mysterious Benedict Society series by Trenton Lee Stewart, published by LBYR.  Next week, Stewart adds a new installment to his bestselling series, with The Mysterious Benedict Society and the Riddle of Ages.