Zakary Pelaccio's EAT WITH YOUR HANDS (Ecco) will be published on Tuesday, April 17th, and Food Republic and Fatty 'Cue Brooklyn are throwing what promises to be an off-the-hook release party at Powerhouse Arena for Zak, Jori and JJ Goode to celebrate this singular book in true Fatty Crew style.

Peter Gwin Wins Pulitzer Lowell Thomas Award

Many congratulations to client Peter Gwin, who has just won The Lowell Thomas Award for foreign travel writing for his National Geographic piece "The Telltale Scribes of Timbuktu," which appeared in January of last year. Per the announcement, the piece was praised:  As if the subject was not remote and mysterious enough, the writing here is so filled with atmosphere and memorable people it might have been written by John le Carré. The name itself is a veritable synonym for a place so far removed it epitomizes the other side of the world. And the writer takes us there — with facts, history and unforgettable descriptions.

The piece was written for his Pulitzer Center project Saharan Insecurity, documenting the changing social and political tides of the Sahara region.

The Lowell Thomas Award is sponsored by the Society of American Travel Writers and awards more than $18,000 annually in prize money. Begun in 1985, the award recognizes outstanding print, online, broadcast and multimedia works, and also travel photography. You can view a full list of the award winners here.

Peter has been a staff writer at National Geographic since 2003. He has reported on modern pirates in Southeast Asia, a Stone Age graveyard in the Sahara, early tyrannosaurs in Western China, and kung fu masters of China’s Song Mountains among other subjects. His work has been anthologized in Best American Travel Writing 2008 (Houghton Mifflin) and has been nominated for a National Magazine Award for reporting. He began his career teaching English in Botswana and stringing for his hometown paper, theAtlanta Journal Constitution.

Bloomberg Names EMPIRE STATE OF MIND by Zack O'Malley Greenberg One of Year's Best Rock Books

Mark Beech writes in a review of several music titles that Zack's book is "one of the year's best rock books."  We agree.

Peter Hessler Wins Sidney Award for "Dr. Don: The life of a small-town druggist"

In today's New York Times David Brooks names Peter Hessler's piece "Dr. Don:  The life of a small-town druggist" one of the best magazine essays of the year, saying: The article is a beautiful description of what it’s like to live in a small town, where everybody knows each other’s sins and virtues. As one resident puts it, “I like to play chess. I moved to a small town and nobody played chess there, but one guy challenged me to checkers. I always thought it was kind of a simple game, but I accepted. And he beat me nine or ten games in a row. That’s sort of like living in a small town. It’s a simple game, but it’s played at a higher level."


The Sidney Awards, named after the public intellectual Sidney Hook, were originally called The Hookie Awards, which Brooks began awarding on Christmas Day, 2004.

INSTRUMENT by Pat Graham Named Best Cover of Year by Amazon

Amazon's Best Books of the Year were announced yesterday, and the cover of Chronicle's edition of Pat Graham's INSTRUMENT with an introduction by Johnny Marr was named one of the best of the year.  

Pat has an exhibition of the book hanging at Rough Trade East in London until November 15th.  Rough Trade is, hands down, one of the best record/music stories in the UK, and, possibly, the world, in our opinion.

In the mid nineties while living in Washington DC music photographer Pat Graham photographed Ian Mackaye (Fugazi, Dischord Records) and his iconic white Gibson SG. At that point his photo project Instrument was born. Over the next 15 years Graham documented/photographed and interviewed 50 plus musicians about there favourite instrument and the stories that went along with them.

Some of the artists in the book include:

Johnny Marr - The Smiths, Modest Mouse, Cribs, Healers, etc
Bernard Sumner - Joy Division, New Order
Colin Newman - Wire
Alex Kapranos - Franz Ferdinand
Gary and Ryan Jarman - The Cribs
James Cauty - KLF, The Orb
Ian Curtis - Joy Division
Tom Cullinan - Th Faith Healers, Quickspace
Jerry Dammers - The Specials, Special AKA Arkestsra
Justin Vernon - Bon Iver
Hal Blaine - Beach Boys, Phil Spector, etc
Jeff Tweedy - Wilco
Kim Deal - The Pixies
Billy Childish
Kate Nash

PDT Named Best Bar in the World

Just in time for the publication of THE PDT COCKTAIL BOOK, the list was compiled by 100 of the top bar professionals in the industry, and votes were received from every continent. The list has bars from 16 countries and regions including France, Spain, Australia, the UK, Ireland, the Middle East, Singapore, and Japan. The Daily News offers it up here. Check out the rest of the list on Drinks International.

Gaz Regan says THE PDT COCKTAIL BOOK is "The very best. Bar none"

In today's Ardent Spirits eLetter, Gaz Regan calls the book ...the best book of its kind to hit the shelves in the twenty-first century. The very best. Bar none. 

Paper Magazine has a great interview with Jim today, too--here's an excerpt:

It seems like you wrote your cocktail book with an eye on history.
I started collecting cocktail books right after I started working at Pegu Club. Audrey [Saunders] had a bunch of books at the bar and at that time I'd also met a vintage cookbook collector named Bonnie Slotnick. I realized the history of bartending was in these old books and it was almost like proof that what I chose to do with my life was a really good decision. I tried to infuse the book with what I thought was great about these old books, make it nostalgic without being derivative. Now I'll go into a bar and see a bartender with a 19th century mustache, vintage sailor tattoos, like he's straight out of a Civil War reenactment. My goal was not to be a Civil War reenactor, but show how we're doing things now with a sense of history.