Good morning to everybody on this glorious winter morning!
I’m especially happy today because Vanity Fair released photos of the upcoming Little Women movie by Greta Gerwig and I am In Love. Saoirse Ronan as Jo? Timothée Chalamet as Laurie? Laura Dern as Marmee? Truly inspired casting, please give me this movie now.
Anyway, there’s plenty of other book news to get excited about this week so settle in and start scrolling down.

Suzanne Collins announces a prequel to The Hunger Games
It turns out the world isn’t quite over the Girl on Fire just yet… Suzanne Collins has announced that a prequel to her bestselling dystopian YA series The Hunger Games will be released on 19 May, 2020!
This book will be set 64 years before the events of the first book, focusing on the story of Panem’s “Dark Days” on the eve of the reaping for the 10th Hunger Games.
You can find more information here.
Allen & Unwin announces new children’s imprint
Aussie publishing house Allen & Unwin will be launching an exciting new imprint for children called Albert Street Books!
The first book to be published under this imprint will be a warm and funny picture book for new parents called A First Time for Everything, written by Tiffiny Hall and Ed Kavalee. Allen & Unwin says, “A First Time for Everything perfectly captures the messy, glorious chaos of a baby’s first year and embraces the deeply relatable truth that parenting doesn’t always look quite like Instagram!”
(Side note: I’ve seen a proof copy of this book and it is absolutely ADORABLE).
Books to screen
There’s been a slew of announcements and updates regarding several books that are making their way onto a screen near you.
First up is The Chain, the exciting thriller by debut author Adrian McKinty (read our review here). Paramount Pictures has made a 7-figure deal with McKinty to adapt the novel, and the film will be produced by Shane Salerno and The Story Factory.
Also slated for adaptation is Aurora Rising, the kickass sci-fi adventure from wonder duo Jay Kristoff and Amie Kaufman. MGM Television optioned the YA thriller for development as a TV series, which will see Jay and Amie take on the role of consulting producers.
News also dropped late last week that NBC has given production commitment to Dan Brown’s The Lost Symbol, one of the earlier Robert Langdon books, and that Rosamund Pike has been cast as Moiraine in Amazon’s upcoming adaptation of Robert Jordan’s beloved Wheel of Time fantasy series.
And of course, we’ve all seen the teaser trailer for the upcoming His Dark Materials adaptation helmed by the BBC. Exciting stuff!
Other interesting tidbits…
- The Dominican-American author Elizabeth Avecedo has won the Carnegie medal for Poet X, becoming the first writer of colour to have ever won the UK’s most prestigious children’s books award.
- American author Emily Ruskovch has also won the world’s richest prize for a single novel, the €100,000 International Dublin literary award, for her debut novel Idaho.
- The New York Times published this fascinating timeline of the disappearance of Agatha Christie for 11 days in 1926 that is well worth a read.
Thank you very much for reading, I hope you have a wonderful week and read lots of wonderful books.
As my parting gift to you, please enjoy this picture of Saoirse Ronan as Jo March that I physically cannot look at without weeping.

About the Contributor
Olivia Fricot
Olivia Fricot (she/her) is Booktopia's Senior Content Producer and editor of the Booktopian blog. She has too many plants and not enough bookshelves, and you can usually find her reading, baking, or talking to said plants. She is pro-Oxford comma.
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