C. Max Magee of The Millions discovered over the weekend that the new Michael Chabon novel, scheduled for an April 2006 release, is being held back until early 2007. Magee quotes an announcement on Chabon's website:

"HarperCollins had been sort of rushing the thing along, over a steady but polite murmur from the author that perhaps they were moving too quickly. The manuscript was complete. It was not impossible to make the April 11 pub date. But we didn't even have a finished jacket. Many people who were selling and marketing the book hadn't had the opportunity to read it. Everything just felt too rushed and when that sense of undue haste finally caught on at the publishing house, I was able to persuade them to see reason, and wait."

While HarperCollins figures out the jacket art, Chabon intends to take the extra time to show the manuscript of The Yiddish Policemen's Union to "trusted readers, some of them with special knowledge of the subjects involved," and incorporate their feedback into "a last precious opportunity to take one more run through the manuscript."