Round-Up: Trevor Noah’s Memoir, Paula Hawkins’ New Novel, and Bob Dylan’s Nobel Prize Speech
From Trevor Noah’s recent memoir to a new novel from Paula Hawkins, here are this week’s biggest literary headlines:
- Trevor Noah, the host of The Daily Show, recently released his memoir Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood. As the child of a Xhosa mother and a Swiss-German father in South Africa, Mr. Noah’s birth violated the apartheid laws against relationships between blacks and whites. He recounts growing up as the only half-white, half-black child in his neighborhood and the struggles of his mother, who was determined to save her son from the poverty, violence, and abuse that surrounded her own life.
- Paula Hawkins, author of The Girl on the Train, will release a new psychological suspense novel in May. Into the Water, from Riverhead Books, is about the investigation after a single mother and teenage girl are found dead at the bottom of a river in a small town in northern England. The Girl on the Train sold over eighteen million copies and spent ninety-seven weeks on the bestseller list.
- Bob Dylan recently announced that he would not be attending the Nobel Prize ceremony in Stockholm because of previous commitments. Instead, a speech will be read on his behalf. The speaker has not yet been named. Additionally, Patti Smith will perform “A Hard Rain’s a-Gonna Fall” as a tribute to Mr. Dylan.
