Kate Merlene

Rebecca Yarros will publish a stand-alone novel, Variation, in October. Kemi Ashing-Giwa wins the Compton Crook Award for The Splinter in the Sky. Oren Kessler wins the  Sami Rohr Prize for Jewish Literature for Palestine 1936: The Great Revolt and the Roots of the Middle East Conflict. The Commonwealth Short Story Prize shortlist is announced. The May LibraryReads list arrives, featuring top pick The Last Murder at the End of the World by Stuart Turton. LibraryReads and LJ offer read-alikes for A Calamity of Souls by David Baldacci. Mick Herron’s Down Cemetery Road and Don Winslow’s City on Fire are slated for adaptations.

A new PEN America report out today, Banned In The USA: Narrating the Crisis, documents nearly 4,000 accounts of book banning in the first half of the current school year. Major publishers have joined Penguin Random House in supporting a suit challenging Iowa’s book ban. Finalists are announced for the  Gotham Book Prize, the Nova Scotia Book Awards, and the Atlantic Book Awards. Washington Post reports on the growing popularity of silent book clubs. Author Robin Cook has two new film/TV projects, including an adaptation of his forthcoming book Bellevue and a procedural featuring his iconic characters Jack Stapleton and Laurie Montgomery.

A Calamity of Souls by David Baldacci leads holds this week. Also getting buzz are titles by James Patterson and Candice Fox, Anthony Horowitz, Mary Higgins Clark and Alafair Burke, and Sara Paretsky. People’s book of the week is My Beloved Monster: Masha, the Half-Wild Rescue Cat Who Rescued Me by Caleb Carr. Salman Rushdie speaks about the attack that almost took his life and writing his new book, Knife: Meditations After an Attempted Murder. As Robert M. Pirsig’s Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance turns 50 this year, fans will re-create his famous motorcycle ride. Plus, NYT celebrates 100 years of Simon & Schuster.

The International Booker Prize shortlist and PEN America Literary Awards longlists are announced. Civil rights attorney Ben Crump will write a series of crime novels. How To Solve Your Own Murder by Kristen Perrin and Nightwatching by Tracy Sierra go head-to-head for a chance to be named the new Fallon Book Club pick. Earlyword’s April GalleyChat roundup arrives. Ina Garten previews her forthcoming memoir, Be Ready When the Luck Happens. Renée Zellweger will return as Bridget Jones in a new adaptation, Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy, based on the novels by Helen Fielding. 

The Carol Shields Prize for Fiction shortlist and the Plutarch Award longlist are announced. Heinz Janisch and Sydney Smith win Hans Christian Andersen Awards. NYPL announces 21 winners of its national teen writing contest on the freedom to read. Interviews arrive with Doris Kearns Goodwin, Percival Everett, Lauren Wesley Wilson, and Anne Lamott. Dolores Redondo’s “Baztan” novel series will be adapted for television. And Raymond Pun is elected to the ALA presidency for 2025–2026.

It’s National Library Week, and ALA releases a list of the top 10 most challenged books of 2023, along with the “State of America’s Libraries Report 2024.” The Familiar by Leigh Bardugo leads holds this week. Also buzzing are books by John Sandford, Megan Miranda, Yulin Kuang, and Amanda Montell. People’s book of the week is Table for Two: Fictions by Amor Towles. James Patterson, The Secret Lives of Booksellers and Librarians: True Stories of the Magic of Reading, and librarian Mychal Threets discuss book bans, bookstores, and libraries with USA Today. The Ondaatje Prize releases its 2024 longlist.

Claire Jiménez wins the 2024 PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction for What Happened to Ruthy Ramirez. The Windham-Campbell Prizes are announced. Remembrances arrive for writer John Barth, who has died at age 93. Justice Anthony M. Kennedy will publish a two-part memoir this fall, and Joan Baez will publish her first book of poetry later this month. LitHub reports on the fallout from the collapse of Small Press Publishing. LibraryReads and LJ offer read-alikes for Just for the Summer by Abby Jimenez. 

Bethany Jacobs wins the Philip K. Dick Award for These Burning Stars. The Chesley Award winners are announced, as are Audiofile’s April 2024 Earphones Award winners. April book club picks include The Husbands by Holly Gramazio (Read with Jenna), Just for the Summer by Abby Jimenez (GMA), and I Cheerfully Refuse by Leif Enger (B&N). Don Winslow discusses his new novel, City in Ruins, and why it will be his final book. TV adaptations are on the way for Alexandra Tanner’s Worry, and Liza Palmer’s Family Reservations.

Just for the Summer by Abby Jimenez leads holds this week. Also getting buzz are titles by Amor Towles, Mary Kubica, Brandon Sanderson, and Sarah Adams. Seven LibraryReads and nine Indie Next picks publish this week. People’s book of the week is What Happened to Nina? by Dervla McTiernan. The Hugo, Astounding, and Lodestar Awards finalists are announced. Plus, Washington Post explores how new mysteries featuring autistic women challenge old stereotypes.