Naomi Benaron’s riveting debut novel, Running the Rift (pub. date: January 17, 2012), chronicles the story of a gifted Rwandan boy, Jean Patrick Nkuba, from the day he knows that running will be his life (he dreams of competing in the Olympics) to the moment he must run to save his life, a ten-year spanContinue reading

It’s no secret that we Algonkians are voracious readers. This summer, we’re excited to dive into a wide variety of books, from the eclectic (The Decameron, Emily Post’s Etiquette, Yakuza Moon) to the wildly popular (Bossypants, A Visit from the Goon Squad, The Hunger Games) and everything in between. What are you looking forward toContinue reading

Algonquin Books Senior Editor Kathy Pories talks about the Bellwether Prize, the publication prize founded by Barbara Kingsolver to recognize literature that addresses issues of social justice. Algonquin published two Bellwether Prize winners–Hillary Jordan‘s Mudbound and Heidi Durrow‘s The Girl Who Fell from the Sky–to great success. Mudbound has over 170,000 copies in print andContinue reading

Five years ago, I stood on the periphery of the Duke University Chapel during the North Carolina Literary Festival, straining to hear the speaker. I was on the periphery because the chapel was packed full, so that many of us had spilled outside the large cathedral doors. On the stage, about the size of myContinue reading

Heidi Durrow’s The Girl Who Fell from the Sky is now available in paperback. And coincidentally, we just found out today that the book has moved up from #16 to #13 on the National Indie Next Bestseller List! Named a Washington Post Best Novel of 2010 and an Oregonian Top 10 Book of 2010, asContinue reading

We’re big fans of the Triangle’s newest independent bookstore, Flyleaf Books, conveniently located a mere seven minutes from our office. On more than once lunch break, I’ve slipped out of the office to peruse their fantastically stocked shelves. We were absolutely thrilled that Flyleaf recently hosted an Algonquin Book Club evening with special guest HeidiContinue reading