The Latest Breaking News from George Saunders

LOS ANGELES — The finalists for the 43rd Los Angeles Times Book Prizes were announced Wednesday, with Rachel Howzell Hall, James Hannaham and George Saunders among the nominees for the annual literary awards.

The oldest known library, dating back to the second millennium BC, in Thebes, Egypt, reportedly bore a sign above its portals in Greek: Psyches Iatreion, translated as “healing place of the soul”.

The road to the Super Bowl goes through Kansas City and Philadelphia for now, but there’s a host of hot teams climbing into contention.

A preview of the NZ-bound writer's novel

In this week’s newsletter: Martin McDonagh’s sad, funny Banshees of Inisherin has unexpected moments of true gruesomeness – just like every other hit these days

The characters in these absurdly funny stories are trapped by hyper-capitalism and their own foolishness, as Saunders investigates the prisons we make for ourselves

This week’s bookcase includes reviews of Liberation Day by George Saunders and Our Share Of Night by Mariana Enriquez.

The Lincoln in the Bardo author reinvents the possibilities of the short story in this wonderfully absurd return to the form

After winning the Booker Prize for debut novel ‘Lincoln in the Bardo’, the author returns to the short-story form with new collection ‘Liberation Day’. He talks to Kevin E G Perry about his fascination with Custer’s Last Stand, what John Steinbeck taught him about socialism and learning to embrace uncertainty

The novelist on finding dark farce in his country’s civil war, his grunge band past, and the ‘lottery win’ of the Booker shortlist

CHICAGO — You know how we don’t notice the leaves on the trees until September arrives, nature flips its switch and emeralds become purples, reds and golds? That’s not the worst metaphor for the new fall book season — the big season for publishers (eyeing awards and holiday sales), and…