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Dan Smetanka

@dansmetanka

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SVP/Editorial Director, Catapult Book Group
Editor in Chief, Counterpoint Press. ☀️🌴🇺🇸

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Ten Before the End 📚🗓️

I went through my endless TBR and chose these ten books to prioritize reading in the last three months of 2026. Will I read all of them? Probably not. I’ll change my mind, a shiny new book will jump the line to the front of the list (Barbara Kingsolver’s “Partita”?), and I’ll get bogged down or distracted and won’t even manage to read ten books before the end of the year. But you have to have a plan, right?! 🤣🤷🏻‍♂️

The Trusted comes out Nov. 17. It’s Marisa de los Santos’s first murder mystery/police procedural.

Lake House won the Grace Paley Prize for Short Fiction, selected by Deesha Philyaw (The Secret Lives of Church Ladies). It’s a collection of linked stories about the residents of a town in the Finger Lakes region of upstate New York. It was published on September 1.

And for the observant among you, this is indeed the second stack of #tenbeforetheend books. I couldn’t narrow it down to just ten, so I decided to do two stacks. I hope the Bookstagram community doesn’t ban(ish) me for violating the rules of this challenge. 😉

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Incredible news! Kimberly Blaeser’s RED ANTS has made the longlist for the National Book Award for Fiction.

Poet Kimblery Blaser’s debut story collection explores themes of displacement and belonging through the lives of contemporary Anishnaabe characters. Blending horror, humor and the supernatural, the stories in RED ANTS tackle the reality and mythos of advanced technology, missing and found family, and life on and off of the Rez.

Kimberly Blaeser is represented by Rachel Letofsky.

Congratulations Kimberly!

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Today marks 9 years that I have worked for Catapult. It was not my plan to work for this indie press who did not even have an in house art department at that time, but things fell into alignment: perfect timing, perfect fit personally and professionally. A dream job, really. I was dreaming of an independent press that I didn’t think existed and there it was. Grateful to my publishers Andy Hunter for hiring me, Alyson Forbes for carrying us forward after Andy left to put more time into his brilliant brainchild Bookshop.org. Immensely grateful for the books and authors, for the entire INCREDIBLE team, for the in house designers who I have gotten to hire and mentor along the way and getting to watch them all grow and expand in their skill sets, also the brilliant freelancers who have worked with us.

It is very hard to whittle down the covers for this little graphic. It has been an absolute honor to read and place designs on hundreds of gorgeous books over this past almost decade.

And a special thanks to Keith Arsenault and Matty Goldberg ❤️

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Summer hopefuls/possibilities

A mix of new releases and several that I’ve been meaning to read for a while.

Which books should I prioritize?

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Shadow Men is out in paperback on July 28th!

A mixture of The Great Gatsby and Chicago, this true crime story of the mysterious murder of a working-class sailor by a handsome playboy is as much about Jazz New York as our own times.

A Best Nonfiction Crime Book of the Year
--CrimeReads

Best Historical True Crime Book of the Year
--Chicago Review of Books

“Absorbing”
--The Wall Street Journal

"Polchin knows the era, and brings a wealth of colorful supporting details…
the case feels, a century later, as relevant as ever."
--New York Times Book Review

"A novelist's gift for narrative and a journalist's eye for detail…riveting."
--Publishers Weekly

"Cements his place in the new true crime canon."
--Molly Odintz, CrimeReads

"A compelling social history that makes clear the power of the press,
wealth, and political clout in determining legal outcomes."
--Kirkus

"Unravels this sordid and complex tale of prejudice, injustice,
and press sensationalism with clinical precision and riveting storytelling."
--Dean Jobb, Washington Independent Review of Books

"Slowly reveals the underworlds of the 1920s,
including what being queer in the Jazz Age was like."
--Danika Ellis, Book Riot

#truecrime #lgbtqhistory #1920s #jazzage #queerhistory #scandals

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#CrookedTeeth #book #memoir #booktour #author

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Hi IG: long time no feed 😘

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Summer Reading Book Stack ☀️📚

Here are 11 books I’m hoping to/planning to read in the next couple months. (Add Whistler, Land, and When We See You Again, which are due today.)

It’s a mix of 2025 and 2026 books, including a few that are coming out soon (Draw Near Me, The Winds of Maracaibo, and The Salt King). Sisters of a Halved Heart was published on June 2 by @algonquinbooks.

I’m planning to read A Family Matter and Nesting as a pair.

Homebound is both a @readwithjenna and @nureadsjbc book club selection.

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Today is jam packed with amazing lecturers and conversations, some absolutely fantastic grad lectures, and the student reading this evening!

#creativewriting #creativewritingmfa #creativewritingprogram #screenwritingmfa #playwritingmfa

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“The scary news is, you’re on your own now. But the cool news is, you’re on your own now.” ~ts
The countdown finally comes to and end 🎓

All I can say is thank you Jesus. I’m so grateful for the memories, the lessons and the found family I got from high school. Here’s to the next chapter and all God has to do 🤍

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In honor of #JAHM here are my six #books, representing a lifetime of exploring ways in which my imagination and identity have been shaped by my inheritance. Gratitude to @penguinrandomhouse & @counterpointpress for their support of my efforts toward turning sorrow into song. Endless thanks to @dansmetanka, for everything. 📚🙌🏼✡️

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Join us as we celebrate award-winning author Ruth Prawer Jhabvala's legacy next week at @chevaliersbooks!

Jhabvala is the only author to be awarded two Oscars and the Booker Prize. Now, three prominent LA writers: David Ulin, Judith Freeman, and Nayantara Roy, will celebrate this posthumous collection of rediscovered stories and her autobiographical introduction.

RSVP at 🔗 in bio.

#ruthprawerjhabvala #bookstagram #bookevent #bookcommunity #indiepress

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