Sales have been sliding for nonfiction titles about politics, biographies and other books often aimed at men. Read more
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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
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‘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
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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
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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
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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
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Philip Caputo, Who Wrote Blistering Vietnam War Memoir, Dies at 84
“A Rumor of War,” about his service as a Marine Corps infantry officer and published in 1977, relentlessly detailed “the things men do in war and the things war does to them.” Read more
Adaptation of ‘Remarkably Bright Creatures’ Coming to Netflix May 8
Based on the bestselling phenomenon by Shelby Van Pelt comes the story of Tova, a widow who forms an unlikely friendship with the curmudgeonly Marcellus — a giant pacific octopus that lives at the aquarium where she works. Unbeknownst to Tova, Marcellus is on a mission to solve a mystery that will heal the widow’s heart and lead her to a life-changing discovery. Watch trailer
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Here Are the 2026 Pulitzer Prize Winners
The 2026 Pulitzer Prizes were announced Monday afternoon, celebrating two dozen winners across journalism and the arts. Read more
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The Best Independent Bookstores in America
Our guide to some of the most treasured bookstores in the country—from California to Alaska to Minnesota. Read more
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