Elizabeth Gilbert’s highly anticipated new book Big Magic hit stories from Riverhead on Tuesday (9/22) and the wave of attention has been spectacular. CBS This Morning featured Liz on the day of publication, and then Nightline spoke with Liz about Big Magic, as well as her successful Magic Lessons podcast. Hours after publication, Big Magic reached the #1 spot on Amazon’s bestseller list and she is set to appear on the Dr. Oz Show, as well as The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.  On top of the dozens of positive reviews from outlets likes The Washington Post, Huffington Post and the Associated Press,  Liz has made a splash on national and local radio with appearances on WBUR-FM’s Here and Now, WNYC’s Studio 360and The Brian Lehrer Show, all within the first couple of days of publication.   Riverhead is excited to see what more #BigMagic is ahead.  

The National Book Foundation announced its 2015 National Book Awards Longlists this week and three titles published by Penguin Publishing Group imprints were recognized.   Fates and Furies by Lauren Groff (Riverhead Books) is on the Longlist for Fiction. The New Yorker, New York Times, Wall Street Journal,NPR, USA Today, and Entertainment Weekly have all commented on the list, with Groff’s name right at the top. The New York Times Book Review praised Groff’s “complex and remarkable novel“ as did Ron Charles at the Washington Post (“Lauren Groff just keeps getting better and better… Fates and Furies is a clear-the-ground triumph”), Robin Black for the New York Times Book Review (“Lauren Groff is a writer of rare gifts, and Fates and Furies is an unabashedly ambitious novel that delivers.”) and fellow author Richard Russo, who selected  as the third Book Club Pick for NPR’s Morning Edition. Scattered at Sea by Amy Gerstler (Penguin Books) and How to be Drawn by Terrance Hayes (Penguin Books) are on the Longlist for Poetry.  In How to Be Drawn (Penguin Books), his daring fifth collection, Terrance Hayes, the National Book Award–winning author of Lighthead, explores how we see and are seen. While many of these poems bear the clearest imprint yet of Hayes’s background as a visual artist, they do not strive to describe art so much as inhabit it. Upon publication, How to be Drawn received significant praise, with reviews appearing on NPR.org, Slate, and The New Yorker.  The poems in Amy Gerstler’s eleventh collection, Scattered at Sea (Penguin Poets), are caffeinated, wryly perverse, assured verbal performances that explore notions of gender, ancestry, bereavement and the nature of prayer. Upon publication, Scattered at Sea garnered acclaim from critics at the Boston Globe, the Kansas City Star, and Elizabeth Lund from the Washington Post, who says the book “changes how you view the world.” Congratulations to the authors and publishers of these outstanding works. The National Book Awards Shortlist will be announced on October 14, with the winners to be announced on November 18 at a dinner in New York.

Coinciding with his 90^th birthday earlier this month, Andrea Camilleri returns with the nineteenth installment of his addicting Inspector Montalbano mystery series,  A Beam of Light, published by Penguin Books September 1. Few writers can claim the breadth of work this New York Times bestselling author can. With hundreds of thousands of copies of his books in print by Penguin, a winner of the Crime Writers Association International Dagger Award and a contender for the IMPAC Dublin Literary Award, Camilleri gets better with age. In A Beam of Light, when Inspector Montalbano falls under the charms of beautiful gallery owner Marian, his longtime relationship with Livia is threatened. Meanwhile, he is also troubled by a strange dream as three crimes demand his attention: the robbery and assault of a wealthy merchant’s young wife, stolen works of art, and a search for arms traffickers that leads him deep into the countryside, where the investigation takes a tragic turn. Complete with Camilleri’s signature intrigue, clever story developments, and refreshing humor, A Beam of Light is a thriller that will excite both returning Montalbano fans as well as those new to the series. A Beam of Light received coverage in the September issue of Vanity Fair and upcoming media includes Ambassador magazine, Primo, and National Italian American magazine, among other outlets. Start Reading an Excerpt!

NeuroTribes: The Legacy of Autism and the Future of Neurodiversity  by Steve Silberman, which goes on sale next Tuesday (8/25) from Avery, is already making a big splash in the media. The cover of The New York Times Book Review this Sunday (8/23), which praises this remarkable book as “beautifully told, humanizing, important,” is just the start of the terrific line up.  Also of note:  a detailed and thorough article on Atlantic.com, an amazing Q & A with Carl Zimmer in this month’s WIRED magazine, a review in TIME magazine, a review in this week’s Economist, a fantastic interview with WBUR’s CommonHealth, amongst others. Additionally, over the next two weeks, Steve will be interviewed on NPR’s Fresh Air, KQEDsForum, KERAs Think, WMACs Roundtable; reviews will be appearing in the San Francisco Chronicle, Philadelphia Inquirer, and Chicago Tribune; and coverage will be all over the web on popular sites like Buzzfeed, Gizmodo, DailyBeast, Quartz, Salon and Slate. Want a sneak peek into the book? Take a few minutes to watch Steve Siberman’s TED Talk on ‘The Forgotten History of Autism’, which in just a few short weeks, has garnered 850,000 views.  Clearly this is a topic that is resonating with people everywhere. Both the TedTalk and NeuroTribes are incredibly eye opening.

When veteran journalist Megan Feldman Bettencourt first interviewed the man who forgave the boy who murdered his only son, she never would have believed that his story of grace, resilience and forgiveness would lead her on the journey that would culminate in her debut book Triumph of the Heart: Forgiveness in an Unforgiving World. Travelling across country and continent to not only learn what forgiveness is, but how it works, Megan’s life changed – and as readers it’s a fascinating tale to read. Both national and local media agree, with op-eds penned by Megan, along with Q&A interviews and reviews, to be published in The San Francisco Chronicle, Mind Body Green, Southwest Airlines Magazine, 5280 Magazine, Science of Mind Magazine. She will do local press where she is touring, including Denver, San Diego, and Albuquerque.  Book excerpts appeared in print and online at Psychology Today, Huffington Post and Salon next week.  Megan also did a 25-plus market radio tour, including nationally syndicated NPR and SiriusXM.  She will also be appearing on the PBS program, To the Contrary, in late August.

Mark your calendar with crayons: next Tuesday, August 18, a true children’s book publishing event will unfold when Philomel Books publishes The Day The Crayons Came Home by Drew Daywalt and illustrated by Oliver Jeffers, the highly-anticipated companion to the #1 New York Times bestselling blockbuster picture book hit, The Day The Crayons Quit, featuring some of the most beloved characters the modern-day children’s book world: The Crayons! Earlier this week, Penguin Young Readers announced a philanthropic partnership with the Crayon Collection, an organization that gets gently used crayons into the hands of children in need. The partnership was detailed in a Publishers Weekly piece in and will be featured in the September issue of Redbook. Advance national media for The Day The Crayons Came Home included three starred reviews and Entertainment Weekly has deemed the book “highly anticipated (yes, even for adults).”  Look for upcoming coverage in The New York Times Book Review, BookPage,Instructor, and Parents Magazine, which will name it to their ‘Best Books of the Year’ list. Author Drew Daywalt will embark on a 15-city tour in September, including stops at the Decatur Book Festival and the Brooklyn Book Festival. A major motion picture adaptation ofThe Day The Crayons Quit is currently in development with Universal Pictures and Madhouse Entertainment.  

Edward Tse and his book, China’s Disruptors, published by Portfolio  on July 14, had a great week of media, with coverage by CNBC: Closing Bell, Bloomberg Radio, and WNYC Radio. China’s Disruptors begins in September, 2014 when Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba raised $25 billion in the world’s biggest-ever initial public offering.  Since then, millions of investors and managers worldwide have pondered a fundamental question: What’s really going on with the new wave of China’s disruptors?

If you’ve ever wondered how the French stay impossibly chic, The French Beauty Solution  gives you all of the tips and tricks to feel good while looking good. Mathilde Thomas, cofounder of the international beauty company Caudalíe, shares the simple, natural, time-tested beauty secrets that she learned while growing up in France. Any woman can use her tips to look younger, healthier, and more radiant without harsh products or drastic procedures. The media is just as obsessed with Mathilde’ s new book as they are with the Caudalíe products, and The French Beauty Solution  is being covered widely. For just a sampling, check out the coverage in The Los Angeles Times, VanityFair.com, Allure.com, Style.com,Time.com, New York Observer, StyleCaster, and Yahoo!. To get a gorgeous glimpse into everyone around the world reading The French Beauty Solution and using the tips they’ve learned, view the photos on Instagram, and the many tweets on Twitter.

Queen of the coloring book and #1 New York Times bestselling author Johanna Basford revealed the cover for her upcoming new book, Lost Ocean (Penguin Books, 10/27), Tuesday on Instagram and Facebook. Both posts quickly received thousands of likes and hundreds of comments and shares. Facebook published Penguin’s announcement to their “Books on Facebook” page. Penguin marketing posted the same announcement to Penguin’s social media channels, using #LostOcean, and reached an estimated 295k Twitter accounts, and 526k total impressions. The online buzz from the cover reveal drove Lost Ocean up to the 101^st ranking on Amazon by Wednesday morning. A free page fromLost Ocean  is available to download on Basford’s website. To get a sneak peek of the inky underwater adventure, click here.

Avery celebrates a terrific on-sale week to kick off a several-week tour for Jessica Fechtor, author of the incredibly moving Stir: My Broken Brain and the Meals That Brought Me Home. Jessica was just 28 years old when a blood vessel in her brain burst while she was exercising on a treadmill. She describes what happened in her new book that’s two parts memoir and one part cookbook. When thinking about how to tell her story of this traumatic brain injury, Jessica couldn’t fathom telling her story of trauma without talking about food. The media is eating this book up (pun intended), with terrific coverage in the New York Post, Village Voice, Orangette, Bustle, Tablet, San Jose Mercury News, Food52, as well as WBUR Radio Boston, WNPR’s Colin McEnroe Show, WNYC’s Leonard Lopate, and much more. Jessica also had a packed house for her launch event at Brooklyn’s BookCourt Wednesday night, where she discussed the book with Wall Street Journal reporter Bari Weiss, while guests snacked on treats from the book. Jessica is traveling with her baked goods for great events to come over the next few weeks, hitting Boston, Columbus, Cleveland, Seattle (in conversation with Molly Wizenberg), and San Francisco.