Winning ‘Hunger Games’ Essay Announced

Scholastic announced today that 17-year-old Kayley Hyde of Seattle has won the publisher’s The Hunger Games essay contest. As grand prize winner, she will receive a trip to New York City, where she will be treated to lunch with author Suzanne Collins. Kaylee will also be given a signed, personalized copy of The Hunger Games, an autographed ARC of Catching Fire, and a collectible “mockingjay” pin.

Alexander Street and Arcadia Publishing Launch Online Local History Collection

Electronic publisher Alexander Street Press and local history book publisher Arcadia Publishing are collaborating on a research website that will collect images and text from every region and state in the U.S. and many areas of Canada. The site will eventually contain more than one million searchable images, including photos, postcards and maps.

Gotham Buys Achatz Memoir

Gotham Books has acquired rights to chef Grant Achatz’s memoir, Life, On the Line. The deal was for North American rights and was brokered by Pilar Queen and David McCormick of McCormick & Williams. Rachel Holtzman will edit.

It’s the Dog Days of Summer at Square Fish

Square Fish Books is going to the dogs this season: Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group’s paperback imprint is featuring its six new canine capers in The Dog Days of Summer promotion. The cover of each book displays a crisp, close-up photo of a pooch on its cover, giving the middle-grade novels a uniform look and surefire appeal to young dog devotees. The promotion encompasses five reprints of books originally published by one of the group’s imprints, as well as one Square Fish original.

Volcano Stories: A PW Web-Exclusive Profile of Yrsa Sigurdardottir

Internationally bestselling Icelandic crime writer Yrsa Sigurdardottir on lame crime, being in Amazon.com's psycho database and shaking up the Scandinavian crime novel boys club.

Yet Another Evangelion Manga Spinoff

In June Dark Horse will launch The Shinji Ikari Raising Project manga series by Takahashi Osamu, the latest spin-off of the immensely popular, award winning Neon Genesis Evangelion animation series, which has spawned two previous manga series, several video games, three feature films, and countless toys and figures. 2009 marks the 14th anniversary of the Neon Genesis Evangelion franchise in Japan.

Garth Ennis’s Preacher Returns in Hardcover

Garth Ennis’s Preacher, a profane religious satire full of gleeful death and dismemberment, is being collected into thick hardback volumes by Vertigo. The first volume clocks in at a hefty 352 pages and reprints periodical issues 1-12 with a publication date of June 24 and a pricetag of $39.99. The first volume will also reprint the pinups drawn by the series' admirers—artists like Dave Gibbons, JG Jones, and Tim Bradstreet—for Preacher nos. 50 and 66.

Heroes Con Holds Steady in Tough Economy

As a banking center of the southeast, Charlotte, N.C., has been hit hard by the economic downturn. So several retailers said they were pleased that sales at the 2009 Heroes Con either held level or dipped only slightly from previous years. “It’s no secret that Shelton Drumm runs one of the best shows in the country,” said Boom! Studios publisher Ross Richie. “Even in an economic downturn the fans came out and great fans they are."

Henson Co., Archaia Ink Graphic Novel Pact

Indie comics publisher Archaia has reached a multiyear agreement with the Jim Henson Company to produce a series of comic book serials and graphic novels based on popular Henson properties as well as creating new and original co-branded properties. Henson and Archaia will jointly put together the creative teams for each property; the first title will be released this fall.

Comics Briefly

Chicago School Keeps Alexie Novel on Summer Reading List

Despite public calls to do so from a group of parents, Sherman Alexie’s critically acclaimed YA novel, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, will not be pulled as required summer reading for 400 incoming freshmen students at Antioch (Ill.) Community High School. In a meeting on Monday night, school district 117 superintendent Jay Sabatino and the seven-member school board voiced their strong support for the book as an educational tool that engages young readers.

Doug Wright: Rediscovering Canada’s Master Cartoonist

Writer Brad Mackay and cartoonist Seth are attempting to restore Doug Wright's life and work to the public memory. As co-founders of the Doug Wright Awards, they have explicitly elevated Wright to patron saint status within that country's comics art tradition. As co-editors of the first volume of The Collected Doug Wright (published by Montreal-based Drawn and Quarterly),they seek to restore Wright's work to public view within a broader world of contemporary comics publishing.

Comics History Retold at MoCCA Art Festival

The Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art’s annual Art Festival is primarily dominated by the latest in alternative and small press comics. But many of the panels at the event (held June 6-7 in New York), programmed by scholar Kent Worcester, dealt with classic works and creators from comic books’ long and rich history.

Panelmania: Stuffed

In this preview of Glenn Eichler and Nick Bertozzi’s Stuffed, Tim Johnston and his wife explore Tim's late father’s “Museum of the Rare and Curious.” In the museum they discover, “The Warrior,” the life like statue of an African, which leads to confrontations of race and family. First Second is publishing Stuffed this September.

Review: Organic and Chic: Cakes, Cookies and Other Sweets That Taste as Good as They Look

We were first taken with this book's photo of "Goldies," organic Twinkies dusted with gold metallic powder. But there's much more to this lively new collection of wholesome, sophisticated baked goods from cake maker Sarah Magid. In 60 recipes, Magid offers up crowd-pleasers like oatmeal raisin cookies and flourless chocolate almond cake, as well as homemade variations on childhood all-stars like Girl Scout Thin Mint cookies and Hostess Sno-balls.

Short Order: June 22

This week's round-up of cookbook news includes three cookbook events, featuring Park Avenue socialites; South American chefs; and Thomas Keller and Miss America (together!). There's also early buzz on two foodie memoirs from acclaimed Chicago chef Grant Achatz and acclaimed Top Chef loser Stefan Richter.

Recipe Report: June 22

This week, a recipe from Anne Byrn, aka the Cake Mix Doctor, for Chocolate Espresso Pound Cake. The recipe comes from The Cake Mix Doctor Returns, which Workman will publish in October.

Cooking the Books with Diane Abrams

About a year ago, Gourmet launched a cookbook club, selecting a cookbook every month, reviewing it in the print magazine and offering related multimedia content on its web site. Diane Abrams, dirctor of Gourmet Books, spoke with Cooking the Books about what books she's loved, what she’s been disappointed by, and a couple of unforeseen quirks in the way cookbooks are published that the experts at Gourmet didn’t anticipate.

Online Cookbook Store Jessica's Biscuit Going Strong

Jessica’s Biscuit stocks a dizzying array of cookbooks, from brand new releases to award winners to more obscure titles (for instance, there are eight books listed under its “Alaskan Cooking” category). Books are priced low, with most new books coming in just below Amazon’s prices. How does the Newton, Mass., company do it? “We buy right,” says the COO. Nearly 30 years of experience in cookbooks has taught the company to be smart and cautious, and it has paid off.

'Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day' Sees a Sequel... and Competition

When St. Martin’s/Dunne published Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day in late 2007, it didn’t anticipate how popular the book would be. It was a runaway hit, and the house has been shipping an average of 10,000 copies a month so far this year. It’s unsurprising that a sequel would follow, but this fall, that sequel, Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day, will have to contend with at least six other new bread-making titles.