A storyteller of modern America’s underbelly with a literary, ruminative style, he inspired a Ryan Gosling movie and earned critical acclaim. Read more
‘Murder, Monsters, and Madness in Midcentury Hollywood’
Novelist and biographer Mann delivers a meticulous and humane reconsideration of one of America’s most sensationalized unsolved murders. Rather than dwell on the lurid mythology surrounding the 1947 killing of 22-year-old Elizabeth Short, whose mutilated body was discovered in a vacant Los Angeles lot, Mann sets out to restore complexity and dignity to a woman long reduced to tabloid caricature. Drawing on extensive archival research and overlooked police files, he traces Short’s troubled upbringing in Massachusetts and her zigzag path to Los Angeles after dropping out of high school. Read more
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Mark Billingham Wins Diamond Dagger Award
Author Mark Billingham has been awarded the Crime Writers’ Association (CWA) Diamond Dagger for his contribution to crime writing. The 64-year-old, who was born and raised in Birmingham, is best known for his 19 novels in the Tom Thorne series, which began with his debut volume Sleepyhead. Read more
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Winners of 2026 Newbery, Caldecott, Printz Awards Announced
Renée Watson has won the 2026 John Newbery Medal for the most outstanding contribution to children’s literature, for her novel All the Blues in the Sky (Bloomsbury), edited by Sarah Shumway. Cátia Chien has won this year’s Randolph Caldecott Medal for the most distinguished picture book for children, for Fireworks (Clarion), written by Matthew Burgess, acquired by Mabel Hsu and edited by Hsu and Kate O’Sullivan. And Legendary Frybread Drive-In: Intertribal Stories, compiled by Cynthia Leitich Smith (Heartdrum), edited by Rosemary Brosnan, has won the Michael L. Printz Award for excellence in literature written for young adults. Read more
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Adaptation of ‘The Ax’ by Donald E. Westlake Is in Theaters Now
After being unemployed for several years, a man devises a unique plan to secure a new job: eliminate his competition. Watch trailer
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Karen Solie’s ‘Wellwater’ Wins TS Eliot Poetry Prize
The poet’s sixth collection explores the destruction of the natural world, with a perspective shaped by her upbringing in rural Canada. Read more
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Upton Sinclair’s California Hideaway Hits the Market
These days, the 1920s house, situated in the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains, is listed in the National Register of Historic Places, a permanent record of the outsized role the home had in Sinclair’s life. Coodley says that Sinclair intended for his home to be repurposed as a learning center following his death, but it’s been in the hands of private ownership since his passing in 1968. In a rare move, though, the home has just been listed for sale, 15 years since it last went on the market. It’s asking $1,999,000. Read more
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Reading Books Can Help You Live Longer—Here’s How
Every January, many of us resolve to finally read more. A new book appears on the nightstand, an audiobook gets downloaded, or we dust off an old library card. We keep finding our way back to it because reading feels like a wholesome promise of more calm, curiosity, and escape. But research increasingly suggests that reading may be more powerful than we realize. In fact, doing so regularly has been linked to lower stress, stronger memory, protection against cognitive decline and dementia, and even a longer life. Read more
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Winners of the Nero Book Awards Announced
Booker-longlisted author Benjamin Wood has won this year’s Nero book award for fiction for his novel Seascraper. Meanwhile, Claire Lynch won the debut fiction category for A Family Matter, and Sarah Perry’s Death of an Ordinary Man took the nonfiction prize. Jamila Gavin was awarded the children’s fiction prize for My Soul, A Shining Tree. Read more
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‘This Is Where the Serpent Lives’ by Daniyal Mueenuddin
The story threads cohere into a profound and revelatory portrait of Pakistan’s class divisions. Propulsive and peopled with unforgettable characters, this is a masterpiece. Read more
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