New Year, New Books
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In this week’s newsletter…
Connect with the NBN!
Channel Spotlight: New Books in Biography
Graduate Student Corner: Finishing Your Dissertation
Fast 5 with David Giuliano
Connect with the NBN!
As we start the new year, make sure that you’re connected with the NBN. We are active on Instagram, TikTok, BlueSky, and YouTube. Create a free account on our website to save episodes that you discover and unlock discounts with from university press partners throughout the year!
Channel Spotlight: New Books in Biography
If you like learning about athletes, artists, scholars, and politicians check out our New Books in Biography channel. We publish interviews with biographers who go deep into the lives of figures both famous and overlooked. Below are a few to get you started.
In On Elizabeth Taylor: An Opinionated Guide, Matthew Kennedy examines the professional oeuvre and dynamism of this monumental movie star, businesswoman, and activist.
The Second Emancipation: Nkrumah, Pan-Africanism, and Global Blackness at High Tide is the second work in Howard W. French’s trilogy about Africa's pivotal role in shaping world history. In this book, he examines the life and legacy of Kwame Nkrumah in African and world politics.
In Serving Herself: The Life and Times of Althea Gibson, Ashley Brown narrates the public career and private life of Althea Gibson (1927-2003). She sets Gibson's life against the backdrop of the Great Migration, Jim Crow racism, the integration of American sports, the civil rights movement, the Cold War, and second wave feminism.
Search and subscribe to New Books in Biography channel to find interviews about incredible people.
Graduate Student Corner: Finishing Your Dissertation
Are you a graduate student in the midst of finishing your dissertation? We’ve got a few episodes of The Academic Life, hosted by Dr. Christina Gessler, to help you revise and finish your project.
In “How to Finish Your Dissertation,” you can learn about the function of a dissertation, different aspects of dissertation writing including editing and proof-reading, and how to build a process that will help you complete your dissertation and other academic writing.
If you feel stuck writing and revising your dissertation, listen to Christina’s conversation with Dr. Ramon Goings. In this episode they discuss practical strategies to help students move from ABD to Ph.D. They’ve got actionable tips for students with a variety of working and writing styles.
Are you looking ahead to the process of revising your dissertation into a book? Katelyn E. Knox and Allison Van Deventer join Christina for a discussion of The Dissertation-to-Book Workbook: Exercises for Developing and Revising Your Book Manuscript. This workbook offers manageable steps and exercises to revise your academic manuscript into a book. Give it a listen now, or save it for later!
And check out our newsletter segment from last March with Lauren Sperandio Phelps from Columbia University’s GSAS Writing Studio. She shares useful tips with dissertation writers to help you stay balanced and avoid burnout as you work hard to get across the finish line!
Fast Five with David Giuliano
David Giuliano is an award-winning writer of fiction and non-fiction. His first novel, The Undertaking of Billy Buffone (Latitude 46, 2021), was awarded the 2022 Bressani Prize for Fiction. It’s Good to Be Here: Stories We Tell About Cancer is a memoir about the power of story to heal. Postcards from the Valley, a collection of essays, was a Canadian bestseller. He has also published two illustrated children’s books. David lives on the north shore of Lake Superior. His most recent novel is The Upending of Wendall Forbes. Read about some of his favorite books listed below and how they inspired his latest work:
A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman - Ove is a grumpy widower preparing to end his life. It’s a heart-warming story about the way Ove’s new neighbors clumsily interrupt those plans. In The Upending of Wendall Forbes, Wendall, struggling with oncoming dementia, is also contemplating ending it all. He, too, is drawn back into community by a band of eclectic strangers who take refuge in his and his wife Ruby’s home during a blizzard and power outage.
The Life of Chuck by Stephen King - King tells Charles “Chuck” Krantz’s life story in reverse, and it works beautifully. It explores the meaning of life, love, loss, and the impact an ordinary person can make in a collapsing world. The Upending of Wendall Forbes explores similar themes and the generation of hope in new friendships in the face of despair for the world.
My Friends by Fredrik Backman - This is my top pick for 2025. A spectacular painting of the ocean portrays a group of barely noticed teenagers on a pier in the bottom corner. Their loyalty and failures, over many years, lead to suffering and redemption. The characters are quirky, believable and lovable. I especially enjoyed Backman’s telling of the power of art and the importance of the lives of those mostly unnoticed in “the big picture.”
Bel Canto by Ann Patchett - Terrorists take a group of high-powered politicians and businesspeople hostage in a house in Latin America. Over time, they become friends, even lovers. I had recently read Bel Canto when I started writing The Upending of Wendall Forbes. What, I wondered, would be the northern equivalent of a hostage taking? A BLIZZARD! A group of strangers taken hostage by a snowstorm seek refuge in Wendall and Ruby’s home, creating bonds and a community that will last a lifetime.
The Haunting of Modesto O’Brien by Brit Griffin - This tells the dark story of a rough and violent silver rush in a northern town. It takes place in 1907 and on the surface, bears little resemblance to The Upending, which takes place early in the twenty-first century. That said, Twenty-Six Mile House, home to Wendall and Ruby, emerged from similar resource-crazed, northern Ontario roots. Some of that culture persists. Modesto O’Brien is a detective-fortune teller. A mysterious beast stalks the landscape. I liked Griffin’s ease with the erasure of boundaries between the tangible world and the transcendent.
Put David’s picks on your To Be Read list, and listen to his interview about his most recent book The Upending of Wendall Forbes.
My favourite non fiction book I read in 2025 was 7 Days in the Art World, where the author accompanied gallerists and artists to their daily work.
My new year resolution is to read more art books and interviews to help me out on my mission to humanise art and bring it to every home. Writing myself, I share my thoughts and recommendations here: elenamostovova.substack.com
Appreciate any recommendations on art read!