The Art Forger

by B.A. Shapiro

A New York Times bestseller in hardcover, The Art Forger is a Costco Pennie’s Pick for June in paperback and the winner of the New England Society Book Awards winner for fiction.

“[A] nimble mystery…Shapiro’s brisk narrative takes the reader through Boston’s art world, the logistics of forgery and the perils of attribution.”
—The New York Times Book Review

B.A. Shapiro will be touring the country this summer with artfully crafted events for this “not just emotionally involving but addictive” book, as Entertainment Weekly called it. Click here for her tour schedule.

Going Away Shoes

by Jill McCorkle

We’ve been talking a lot lately about Jill’s new novel, her New York Times bestselling novel — her first novel in 17 years! — Life After Life, but it’s her first novel in 17 years because she’s been spending that time amazing us with her perfect little stories, her almost-a-novel-in-a-short-story stories.

Going Away Shoes is also one of the featured titles in this month’s Lucky 7 e-book promotion, seven amazing collections of short stories — all at just $1.99 apiece during May and all with a free preview of our upcoming story collection, Bobcat & Other Stories by Rebecca Lee.

Facing the Music by Larry Brown

Man and woman collide time and time again, with alcohol and violence (a troubled coupling, too) often tearing at the relationships in this unflinching collection. Brown shines a brutal light on his subjects but offers unusual rewards for those readers who are willing to look unblinkingly along with him.  Includes a preview of Bobcat and Other Stories.

You can buy Facing the Music at AMAZON, BARNES & NOBLE, KOBO, GOOGLE, and iBOOKSTORE.

Going Away Shoes by Jill McCorkle

From tennis shoes to high heels to slippers, our shoes say something about us. McCorkle explores how the women in those shoes pull themselves up—even without bootstraps—and keep moving forward, from divorcing their longtime husbands to finding the perfect prince to finding themselves.  Includes a preview of Bobcat and Other Stories.

You can buy Going Away Shoes at AMAZON, BARNES & NOBLE, KOBO, GOOGLE, and iBOOKSTORE.

Dog on the Cross by Aaron Gwyn

Gwyn explores the small space between faith and doubt, sin and self-delusion, when a young faith healer arrives in Perser, Oklahoma, a town whose citizens include a preacher who fakes speaking in tongues, a grandmother who tries to make her grandson famous, and a man who plummets from a drilling rig.  Includes a preview of Bobcat and Other Stories.

You can buy Dog on the Cross at AMAZON, BARNES & NOBLE, KOBO, GOOGLE, and iBOOKSTORE.

The Faith Healer of Olive Avenue by Manuel Muñoz

The misunderstandings and secrets kept by the residents of this close-knit Mexican American neighborhood in California come to shape their lives. This fresh and dazzling collection unravels the truth about home and belonging: you always live with its history.  Includes a preview of Bobcat and Other Stories.

You can buy The Faith Healer of Olive Avenue at AMAZON, BARNES & NOBLE, KOBO, GOOGLE, and iBOOKSTORE.

Don’t Make Me Stop Now by Michael Parker

These eleven arresting and comic stories testify to the force of love, the lengths we’ll go to claim it, the delusions we’ll believe, and the absolute necessity of it all. Each character wants to believe he is making the messy world turn out neatly.  Includes a preview of Bobcat and Other Stories.

You can buy Don’t Make Me Stop Now at AMAZON, BARNES & NOBLE, KOBO, GOOGLE, and iBOOKSTORE.

Phone Calls from the Dead by Wendy Brenner

This highly original collection probes people’s need to connect with each other and with something greater than themselves. The characters struggle with the most basic human instincts of loss and longing, even when supernatural elements appear.  Includes a preview of Bobcat and Other Stories.

You can buy Phone Calls from the Dead at AMAZON, BARNES & NOBLE, KOBO, GOOGLE, and iBOOKSTORE.

The Half-Mammals of Dixie by George Singleton

The stories in this collection are wild and wooly—or maybe we should say wild and half-wooly. Singleton follows the curious lives of the off-the-beaten-track South, where big hearts, big stories, and big laughs are found.  Includes a preview of Bobcat and Other Stories.

You can buy The Half-Mammals of Dixie at AMAZON, BARNES & NOBLE, KOBO, GOOGLE, and iBOOKSTORE.

Is This Tomorrow

by Caroline Leavitt

The Nature Principle

by Richard Louv

Does thinking about our planet’s future conjure up images of  a post-apocalyptic dystopia stripped of nature (think Cormac McCarthy’s The Road, only grimmer)? Well, Richard Louv, has a different vision. And the author of the landmark bestseller Last Child in the Woods urges us to change our vision, too. He suggests that if we reconceive environmentalism and sustainability, they will evolve into a larger movement that will touch every part of society.

This New Nature Movement taps into the restorative powers of the natural world to boost mental acuity and creativity; promote health and wellness; build smarter and more sustainable businesses, communities, and economies; and ultimately strengthen human bonds. Supported by groundbreaking research, anecdotal evidence, and compelling personal stories, Louv offers renewed optimism while challenging us to rethink the way we live.

Happy Earth Day, indeed!

A new season also means new releases!  Here at Algonquin, our books are blossoming.  Our naturally grown titles include new favorites such as What My Mother Gave Me, Is This Tomorrow, The Third Son, and Life After Life, as well as paperback releases of The Revised Fundamentals of Caregiving and The Art Forger.  They’re all ripe for the picking.

We hope the weather is just as wonderful wherever you are.  Pop a Claritin, pick up a book, and go outside to enjoy this beautiful weather!

Good Kings Bad Kings

by Susan Nussbaum

The powerful and inspiring debut from Susan Nussbaum, the 2012 winner of Barbara Kingsolver’s PEN/Bellwether Prize for Socially Engaged Fiction, invites us into a landscape populated with young people whose lives have been irreversibly changed by misfortune but whose voices resound with resilience, courage, and humor.

Inside the halls of ILLC, an institution for juveniles with disabilities, we discover a place that is deeply different from and yet remarkably the same as the world outside. Nussbaum crafts a multifaceted portrait of a way of life hidden from most of us. In this isolated place on Chicago’s South Side, friendships are forged, trust is built, and love affairs begin.It’s in these alliances that the residents of this neglected community ultimately find the strength to bond together, resist their mistreatment, and finally fight back. And in the process, each is transformed.

“This is fiction at its best. The story’s sharp eye allows no one to take shelter, and it doesn’t flinch. A stunning accomplishment.” - Barbara Kingsolver, author of The Poisonwood Bible

“The voices that propel Susan Nussbaum’s novel are so rich with language and feeling that they command the ear and—a word I rarely use—the heart. Her characters’ lives are difficult, but miraculously, her novel is all fierce energy and wit, a celebration of strength, dignity, and the cathartic pleasure of telling it like it is.” —Rosellen Brown, author of Before and After

How Eskimos Keep Their Babies Warm by Mei-Ling Hopgood

No bedtimes in Argentina?  No strollers in Kenya?  Hopgood, a new mother, was surprised by how other cultures raise their children–and curious if their methods worked. A tour around the globe later, Hopgood learns there is more than one way to be a good parent. Includes a preview of What My Mother Gave Me.

You can also buy How Eskimos Keep Their Babies Warm at AMAZON, BARNES & NOBLE, KOBO, GOOGLE, and iBOOKSTORE.

Mother of the Bride by Ilene Beckerman

After walking her three daughters down the aisle, Beckman will tell you that giving birth to a child is easier than planning that child’s wedding. With her touching wit, honesty, and of course, illustrations, Beckerman describes the stress and joy that comes with a daughter’s big day. Includes a preview of What My Mother Gave Me.

You can also buy Mother of the Bride at AMAZON, BARNES & NOBLE, KOBO, GOOGLE, and iBOOKSTORE.

The Smartest Woman I Know by Ilene Beckerman

It’s been said there’s nobody as smart as an old woman. That’s Beckerman’s grandmother, Ettie, though she had no more than a third-grade education. Clever about life and love, food, and men, Ettie had advice for everyone, and it didn’t hurt that she got some of her best ideas from talking things over with God, out loud. Includes a preview of What My Mother Gave Me.

You can buy The Smartest Woman I Know at AMAZON, BARNES & NOBLE, KOBO, GOOGLE, and iBOOKSTORE.

The Mother-In-Law Diaries by Carol Dawson

Lulu Penfield has had her fair share of mother-in-laws, but now that her son is getting married, she realizes that she herself is about to become one. This novel will ring true for every woman who’s ever said “I do” and who didn’t realize that she was marrying not one person but two. Includes a preview of What My Mother Gave Me.

You can buy The Mother-In-Law Diaries at AMAZON, BARNES & NOBLE, KOBO, GOOGLE, and iBOOKSTORE.

My Dear Mother: Stormy, Boastful, and Tender Letters by Distinguished Sons ed. by Karen Elizabeth Gordon and Holly Johnson

Before they were writers, they were somebody’s son. Here are letters by more than fifty writers, painters, and musicians, from boyhood to manhood–including Elvis Presley, Ezra Pound, Victor Hugo, and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Includes a preview of What My Mother Gave Me.

You can buy My Dear Mother: Stormy, Boastful, and Tender Letters by Distinguished Sons at AMAZON, BARNES & NOBLE, KOBO, GOOGLE, and iBOOKSTORE.

Between Here and April by Deborah Copaken Kogan

Elizabeth Burns becomes obsessed with the disappearance of her childhood friend, April, after a long-forgotten memory resurfaces. What she discovers about April and her mother, Adele, makes Elizabeth–now a mom herself–question her own marriage and what it means to be a wife and mother. Includes a preview of What My Mother Gave Me.

You can buy Between Here and April at AMAZON, BARNES & NOBLE, KOBO, GOOGLE, and iBOOKSTORE.

Maman’s Homesick Pie by Donia Bijan

When Bijan’s family fled to California from Iran during the revolution in 1978, her mother’s cooking provided their only connection to the life they left behind. Now, through the prism of food, the award-winning chef unwinds her own story, finding that at the heart of it all is her mother, whose love and support enabled Bijan to realize her dreams. Includes a preview of What My Mother Gave Me.

You can buy Maman’s Homesick Pie at AMAZON, BARNES & NOBLE, KOBO, GOOGLE, and iBOOKSTORE.

It is with great sadness that Workman Publishing Company announces the death of its founder, Peter Workman, at the age of 74 from cancer. He died on April 7, 2013, at home in New York.

He leaves his wife of fifty-one years, Carolan Raskin Workman; their two daughters, Katie and Elizabeth; their sons-in-law, Gary Freilich and Mark Williams; and four grandchildren: Jack, Charlie, Madeline, and Charlotte.

He was, in so many ways, an extraordinary man.

He was the founder, president and CEO of Workman Publishing Company, one of the largest independent publishers of nonfiction trade books and calendars. In addition to the Workman imprint, the company consists of Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill, Artisan, Storey Books, Timber Press, and HighBridge Audio. He served on the board of the Goddard-Riverside Community Center and the board of Prep-for-Prep; he was a member of the Publishing Committee of UJA-Federation of New York and chairman of the Board of Governors of Yale University Press. Peter was a generous supporter of the Human Rights Watch, the ACLU, and the Anti-Defamation League, among many organizations. In honor of his late brother he developed the David Workman Grant Program at Deerfield Academy, a charity to help students fund and implement their own humanitarian projects. His love of music and art prompted his support of the New York Philharmonic, the Metropolitan Opera, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

He was a passionate golfer and skier and a keen poker player, and he took great pleasure in the company of friends, colleagues, and family.

Born in Great Neck, Long Island, on October 19, 1938, to Jeanette and Bernard Workman, Peter graduated from Deerfield Academy and Yale University. After a stint in the sales department of Dell Publishing, he founded Workman Publishing Company as a book packager in 1967, and within two years published its inaugural list leading with Richard Hittleman’s Yoga 28-Day Exercise Plan, a title that is still in print.

His vision and drive grew Workman into a wholly unique and fiercely independent book publisher. Among its iconic bestsellers are B. Kliban’s Cat, The Official Preppy Handbook, The Silver Palate Cookbook, What to Expect® When You’re Expecting, Brain Quest®, Sandra Boynton’s children’s books, and 1,000 Places To See Before You Die®. Also a trendsetter in the calendar business, Workman invented the groundbreaking boxed Page-A-Day® Calendar.

In 1989, Workman Publishing acquired the southern literary publisher Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill, known for discovering new writers such as Julia Alvarez and Jill McCorkle, who have been with Algonquin from the beginning of their careers. Its recent bestsellers include Water for Elephants, A Reliable Wife, and the Bellwether Prize-winners Mudbound and The Girl Who Fell from the Sky.

And in 1994, Workman launched Artisan, a publisher known for finely produced, illustrated books, including The French Laundry Cookbook and other cookbooks by Thomas Keller, David Tanis, Frank Stitt, and Lucinda Scala Quinn; The Medal of Honor; and Design*Sponge.

Other Workman companies include Storey Publishing, based in North Adams, MA, which was acquired in 2001 and has been publishing books for the “backyard homesteader” before that was a phrase or trend; Timber Press, a leader in the gardening field; and HighBridge Audio, the Minneapolis audiobook publisher of bestselling fiction and nonfiction titles. Workman also handles distribution for Black Dog & Leventhal, Greenwich Workshop Press, and The Experiment.

Peter was moved by the beauty and expanse of nature—Yosemite, Zermatt, Patagonia, the heaths of Scotland. He was a man driven by big, innovative thoughts. And yet, when it came to bookmaking, he paid attention to the smallest detail: the size of a folio, the use of an ampersand, the quality of paper. A visionary, an inspirational leader, and true friend, Peter will be deeply missed.