Barnes & Noble's Discover Great New Writers program has announced the 20 titles on its spring 2016 list. The selection committee is comprised of B&N booksellers whom the company described as "voracious readers who meet weekly throughout the year to look for compelling voices, extraordinary writing, and indelible stories from literary talents at the start of their careers."
Each of the titles will receive at least 12 weeks of promotion in stores, online and on Nook devices, beginning with the book's pub date. The 60 or so books chosen for the program during the year are eligible for the annual Discover Awards, which give $105,000 to six winners whose books will receive an additional year of promotion in stores, online and on Nook devices.
The spring 2016 list:
January
City of Thorns by Ben Rawlence (Picador). "Like Katherine Boo, Philip Gourevitch and Peter Godwin, Ben Rawlence balances personal stories with big-picture socio-political investigative journalism."
The Lightkeepers by Abby Geni (Counterpoint). "Abby Geni's sense of place will remind readers of Eowyn Ivey's Alaska in The Snow Child; Geni's prose of last year's Discover Award winner (fiction) All the Birds, Singing by Evie Wyld."
The Longest Night by Andria Williams (Random House). "Appearances are everything for the young couple at the heart of Andria Williams's debut, but there's so much more at stake (as there was for The Wives of Los Alamos.)"
Rosalie Lightning by Tom Hart (St. Martin's). "Hart's toddler daughter died unexpectedly in 2011, and his powerfully written and illustrated graphic memoir of life before-and-after grief belongs on the shelf next to Sonali Deraniyangala's Wave."
Shame & Wonder by David Searcy (Random House). "Searcy languidly unspools riffs on everything and nothing and we couldn't get enough of his sharp and often very funny prose. (John Jeremiah Sullivan, Leslie Jamison and Ben Fountain are fans, too.)"
Your Heart Is a Muscle the Size of Your Fist by Sunil Yapa (Lee Boudreaux Books/Little, Brown). "We couldn't put down this ambitious novel about fathers and sons, politics and power that reminded us of Colum McCann's Let the Great World Spin."
February
Dead Presidents by Brady Carlson (Norton). "We had a ton of fun reading this engaging mix of history, biography and travelogue that reminded us of books by Sarah Vowell or Tony Horwitz."
In the Land of Armadillos by Helen Maryles Shankman (Scribner). "A debut collection of linked short stories that blends mythology and history into a single, unforgettable voice."
Liar by Rob Roberge (Crown). "Roberge is losing his mind, but he's been taking notes, and our readers were astonished by the raw honesty and power of his memoir."
Ways to Disappear by Idra Novey (Little, Brown). "A slim page count belies the scale and scope of this story about the collision of family, art and human folly."
March
Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City by Matthew Desmond (Crown). "Desmond's deft reportage allows his subjects tell their own stories while placing them in a wider cultural context, and the result is an utterly compelling narrative like Jill Leovy's Ghettoside or Sheri Fink's Five Days at Memorial."
High Dive by Jonathan Lee (Knopf). "'Poor Moose,' we said, shaking our heads while reading this tragicomic--though often laugh-out-loud funny--novel set at a seaside hotel in Britain that is about to be transformed."
The Nest by Cynthia D'Aprix Sweeney (Ecco). "Family mythologies are stripped bare in this often witty and always sharp-eyed debut that reminded us of Maggie Shipstead's Seating Arrangements."
Shelter by Jung Yun (Picador). "A must-read about family secrets for anyone who devoured Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng or We Need to Talk About Kevin by Lionel Shriver."
Spill Simmer Falter Wither by Sara Baume (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt). "This exquisitely poignant debut had readers in tears and desperate to talk to each other about what they'd just read."
April
All Tomorrow's Parties by Rob Spillman (Grove). "A gorgeous, intimate, and heartfelt memoir of unsettled youth and search for home."
Consequence by Eric Fair (Holt). "A young Everyman (loves his family, believes in God) attempts to reconcile his faith and morality with the choices he's made in this harrowing, provocative memoir."
Dodgers by Bill Beverly (Crown). "Our newest favorite One A.M. Read: a noir that reminded us of Richard Price and George Pelecanos and kept us turning pages well into the night."
The First Book of Calamity Leek by Paula Lichtarowicz (Flatiron Books). "This slender debut builds a world so vividly that we didn't want to leave--much like we felt when we read Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore."
Lab Girl by Hope Jahren (Knopf). "This memoir from a female scientist at the top of her game made us want to drop everything and re-enroll in school."