Novelist, poet, and playwright Ishmael Reed is prominently featured in the holiday issue of T: The New York Times Style Magazine alongside 31 other black male writers of extraordinary talent. Ayana Mathis states:

CONTEMPORARY AFRICAN-AMERICAN literature is formally sophisticated, irreducibly nuanced and highly individualized. The writers in these pages may be a cohort of sorts, yet their work is distinguished by a great variety of voices and aesthetics…To read the work by these men is to have an urgent encounter with a vital and thriving consciousness.

The full article about Ishmael and the other profiled writers can be found here.

The beloved amateur sleuth Agatha Raisin returns to the Cotswolds for all-new cases. “The Wizard of Evesham,” the first episode in the second season of the series, is now available to watch on Acorn TV. Based on the novel of the same name by M. C. Beaton, it follows Agatha Raisin home from Cyprus with a broken heart, a frizz from hell, and in need of a renewing pick-me-up at the local salon—which arrives not in the form of a makeover, but a murder. Watch a trailer for the episode below:

The second season has received advance praise from the Los Angeles Times, Parade, and more. The next episode, “The Fairies of Fryfam,” will premiere on December 24th and “The Curious Curate” on January 28th, 2019.

The second season of the Agatha Raisin television series has officially gone into production, with six new episodes to be aired on Acorn TV in autumn 2018.

Emmy-nominated actress Ashley Jensen returns to star in the leading role. Based on M. C. Beaton’s bestselling novels, the series follows Agatha Raisin, London PR whiz turned amateur sleuth, who becomes entangled in mischief, mayhem, and murder when she opts for early retirement in a small village in the Cotswolds. The second season will adapt three of M. C. Beaton’s novels: The Wizard of Evesham, The Curious Curate, and The Fairies of Fryfam and be available internationally.

The first season aired in 2016 to glowing critical acclaim from the New York Times, the Guardian, and the Sunday Mirror. Acorn TV has been named “Netflix for the Anglophile” by NPR. Agatha Raisin remains one of the most popular shows on their service.

 

Mary South has sold Heart of Junk by Luke Geddes to Sean Manning at Simon & Schuster. The debut novel follows an eclectic group of merchants at a Kansas antique mall who become enmeshed in the kidnapping of a local beauty star.

Luke Geddes holds a PhD in comparative literature and creative writing from the University of Cincinnati, where he is also an assistant professor. His collection of stories, I Am a Magicial Teenage Princess, received high praise from Publishers Weekly and Roxane Gay in the New York Times:

…one of my favorite books few people have heard of is “I Am a Magical Teenage Princess,” by Luke Geddes. It’s this amazing collection of short stories that is sharp and dark and mostly about teenage girls. The highlight is the story ‘Betty and Veronica,’ about the Archie Comics characters as lovers in a high school. I will reread that story every chance I get. It’s amazing and also so sexy.”