We here at the Independent love every piece we run. There are no winners or losers. But all kidding aside, here are March’s winners.
- Robert Allen Papinchak’s review of Anxious People: A Novel by Fredrik Backman. “The dominoes start falling quickly when a bungled robbery turns into a mordantly serious situation. In many ways, it can be read as a locked-apartment mystery bonded with a unique variation on the police procedural. After the 39-year-old robber mistakenly attempts to steal from a cashless bank in a small Swedish town, the culprit stumbles into an open house on the day before New Year’s Eve. Inside, a ragtag group of eight — a real estate broker and unsuspecting prospective buyers — soon becomes trapped in a Rube Goldberg construction.”
- “Show Us the Money” by Lupita Aquino. “And I’m just one of countless BIPOC bookstagrammers continuously doing this kind of work — both publicly and behind the scenes — to give BIPOC-authored books the attention they deserve but so rarely get. I think that, like those TikTok users, we BIPOC bookstagrammers deserve compensation for our efforts and BIPOC authors deserve so much better from the publishing industry overall. Actually, I don’t think it. I know it.”
- “The Washington Writers Conference Is Back!” “Have you finally finished writing that book — or proposal — but aren’t sure what to do with it? Register for the all-virtual 2021 Washington Writers Conference ($295) and pitch your project face-to-face (okay, via Zoom) to three literary agents! Wherever you are on your creative journey, register NOW for the conference before it sells out! Last year’s registrants were rolled over, so we only have a handful of additional spots available this time around.”
- “Rejected!” by Lawrence De Maria. “There is always the danger of a columnist going back to the well once too often. That’s particularly true of writers of a certain age, who can be forgetful. Fortunately, that doesn’t apply to me. Fortunately, that doesn’t apply…ONLY KIDDING! Anyway, I checked my old columns (thank the Lord the Independent keeps a wonderful archive) and feel secure that I can safely return to one of my favorite topics: Rejection!”
- Carrie Callaghan’s review of Klara and the Sun: A Novel by Kazuo Ishiguro. “Ultimately, Ishiguro suggests that Klara may be more knowing that we are, and that her pursuit of unlocking the human heart might make her more human than ourselves. Like it is for Kathy and Ruth in his masterpiece, Never Let Me Go, the gift of life is all the more precious to Klara because of her inability to fully hold it.”
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