Marjane Satrapi, the French-Iranian artist, film-maker and graphic novelist whose acclaimed memoir Persepolis helped reshape international perceptions of Iran, has died at the age of 56. Read more
Author: GR
‘Hellions’ Author Julia Elliott Wins $150K Fiction Prize
Writer Julia Elliott has won this year’s Carol Shields Prize for Fiction for her short story collection Hellions. The award honors work by women and nonbinary authors in the U.S. and Canada. Elliott, who also authored the novel The New and Improved Romie Futch and the short story collection The Wilds, is known for blending elements of Southern gothic horror, surrealism and fairy tale. Read more
(We earn a small commission if you click above and buy the book at Bookshop.org)
Literary Events Around the World Celebrate the Poet Allen Ginsberg’s 100th Birthday
Beat poet Allen Ginsberg’s 100th birthday is being marked by celebrations around the world – an appreciation of his importance to poetry and how his influence on the medium continues. Read more
(We earn a small commission if you click above and buy the book at Bookshop.org)
The Hilarious, Steady Crawl to the Grave
In David Sedaris’s wry new collection, being alive is as weird, atrocious, contradictory, unfair and funny as ever. Read more
(We earn a small commission if you click above and buy the book at Bookshop.org)
Dad Books Are a Dying Breed
Sales have been sliding for nonfiction titles about politics, biographies and other books often aimed at men. Read more
(We earn a small commission if you click above and buy the book at Bookshop.org)
America’s First War on Drugs Was Also a War on Jazz
Laws criminalizing the entire range of recreational drugs were a powerful weapon with which hostile law enforcement could target Black people in general and Black jazz musicians in particular. Read more
(We earn a small commission if you click above and buy the book at Bookshop.org)
‘Taiwan Travelogue’ Wins the 2026 International Booker Prize
Yáng Shuāng-zǐ’s Taiwan Travelogue has won the 2026 International Booker Prize, awarded each year to the best work of fiction translated into English. It’s the first work translated from Mandarin Chinese to win the International Booker. Read more
(We earn a small commission if you click above and buy the book at Bookshop.org)
American Poet Sasha Debevec-McKenney Wins Dylan Thomas Prize for ‘Blistering’ Debut Poetry Collection
The £20,000 award for writers aged 39 or under goes to Joy Is My Middle Name, a collection about navigating race, addiction and womanhood. Read more
(We earn a small commission if you click above and buy the book at Bookshop.org)
French Literature Is in an Uproar
If you have never picked up a book in French, you might not ever have even heard of Grasset, and what it might mean to have its longtime chief executive Olivier Nora effectively guillotined by the rapacious right-wing industrialist Vincent Bolloré. And yet, in France, the news of Mr. Nora’s sudden departure from his post quickly flew beyond the borders of Parisian publishing and cultural elite circles. In the aftermath, over 200 writers — myself included — walked away from Grasset. This is not just a story about the French publishing industry. The evident struggle between Mr. Bolloré and Mr. Nora is a microcosm of the battle for cultural control that is taking place globally between the wealthy new right and the cultural old guard. Think Jeff Bezos and The Washington Post, Rupert Murdoch and Fox News. The abrupt change in leadership at Grasset, too, is a case study in the way members of the increasingly powerful ultra wealthy treat those who don’t think or see the world as they do. Read more
(We earn a small commission if you click above and buy the book at Bookshop.org)
Marianne Boruch Wins $100,000 Jackson Poetry Prize
Boruch is an emeritus professor of creative writing at Purdue University, where she founded the MFA program and taught for more than thirty years. She has written eleven books of poetry, most recently Bestiary Dark (Copper Canyon Press, 2021), as well as essays, memoir, and hybrid work. Her previous honors include the Kingsley Tufts Poetry Award for The Book of Hours (Copper Canyon Press, 2011) and numerous fellowships. Upon learning that she is this year’s Jackson Poetry Prize winner, Boruch reacted with disarming modesty, asking: “Are you kidding?” Read more
(We earn a small commission if you click above and buy the book at Bookshop.org)
