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Awards & Events

The Oregon Book Award winners are announced.

Cyrus Cassells wins the Jackson Poetry Prize, Poets & Writers reports.

The Crime Writers of Canada Awards finalists are announced. CBC has the story.

The German Nonfiction Prize finalists are announced. Publishing Perspectives has details.

The CWA Dagger Awards longlists are announced.

The Stephen Leacock Medal for Humour longlist is announced.

The 79th Edgar Awards, hosted by Mystery Writers of America, will be celebrated tomorrow, May 1. CrimeReads organizes a roundtable with the nominees to discuss the state of crime writing.

Publishing Perspectives and Digital Publishing Report will host the international digital conference AudioNext Summit on May 6, focusing on the future of the audio market.

Reviews

NYT reviews Girl on Girl: How Pop Culture Turned a Generation of Women Against Themselves by Sophie Gilbert (Penguin Pr.): “Her research is admittedly 'bleak' at best, but Gilbert isn’t concerned with softening the blow. Instead, she’s intent on snapping millennials out of any instinct to idealize the decades that shaped us—even if that awareness stings”; Washington Post also reviews: “Gilbert is a critic skilled in the art of seeing close up and far away all at once, a Vertigo effect of cultural observation.” Plus, NYT has short reviews of new romance novels and historical fiction.

Autostraddle reviews My Best Friend’s Honeymoon by Meryl Wilsner (St. Martin’s Griffin): “Meryl Wilsner is writing some of the best queer romance today, and My Best Friend’s Honeymoon is no exception. I’m perhaps a little biased—I’ll read anything Wilsner writes—but I can confidently say that this friends-to-lovers destination romance is their best yet.”

Bookmarks shares the best-reviewed books of the month.

Briefly Noted

LibraryReads and Library Journal offer read-alikes for 25 Alive by James Patterson & Maxine Paetro (Little, Brown), the top holds title of the week.

LJ has booklists for Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, Jewish American Heritage Month, and Mental Health Awareness Month, which are observed in May.

Vulture lists “The Best Books of 2025 (So Far).”

NYT previews 24 books arriving in May.

NPR highlights five new books for the week.

USA Today suggests 15 new books to read right now.

Datebook shares new paperbacks for outdoor reading.

ElectricLit has “7 Books About Long-Lost Sisters.”

BookRiot shares a guide to the cozy genres and highlights April’s best book club picks.

LitHub picks the best book covers of the month.

In NYT, Daniel Kehlmann discusses his new historical novel, The Director, tr. by Ross Benjamin (S. & S.: Summit).

Actor Diego Boneta talks with LA Times about his debut novel, The Undoing of Alejandro Velasco (Amazon Crossing), which publishes tomorrow.

The Rumpus closes out National Poetry Month with work by Hala Alyan.

Pasta queen Nadia Caterina Munno, author of The Art of Italian Cooking (Gallery), pairs pasta dishes with audiobook recommendations in a collaboration between Reese’s Book Club and Apple Books. People has the story.

British novelist Jane Gardam has died at the age of 96. NYT has an obituary and an appraisal of the author’s “unsentimental, acerbic and deeply compassionate fiction." The Guardian also has a remembrance.

Authors on Air

The Hollywood Reporter talks with producers about adapting Richard Flanagan’s The Narrow Road to the Deep North (Knopf) for the screen.

LitHub has “The Literary Film & TV You Need to Stream in May.”

Kirkus suggests “4 New Adaptations To Watch in May.”

NPR’s Fresh Air reviews a new PBS Independent Lens documentary, Free for All: The Public Library.

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