Round-Up: Man Booker Prize, Bob Dylan Breaks Nobel Silence, and Stephen King’s New Picture Book

From the Man Booker Prize winner to Stephen King’s new picture book, here are last week’s biggest literary headlines:

• Paul Beatty won the Man Booker Prize for his novel The Sellout following a unanimous decision by the judges. Beatty is the first American to win the prize, which was expanded in 2014 to accept books by authors born outside of the United Kingdom or the Commonwealth. The novel tells the story of Bonbon Me, a black farmer living in Los Angeles County who is being tried by the Supreme Court after trying to reinstate slavery and segregation in his town. The Sellout was published by Picador in the U.S. and by Oneworld in the U.K.

• Bob Dylan has finally addressed his Nobel Prize. In an interview, Dylan said that when he was first told, it was “amazing, incredible. Whoever dreams about something like that?” Dylan’s only previous public reference to the award was a mention on his website that was deleted within twenty-four hours. When asked whether he would be attending the awards ceremony in Stockholm, Dylan said, “Absolutely. If it’s at all possible.”

• Stephen King has written a picture book which will be released November 22 by Simon & Schuster. Written under the pseudonym of Beryl Evans, Charlie and the Choo-Choo was first mentioned in King’s Dark Tower fantasy series–the child character Jake sees it in a window display. The creepy images hint that the book will not be as child-friendly as the description would indicate.