Atlantic Reads: How to Be a Dissident With Gal Beckerman
On May 13, Atlantic staff writer Gal Beckerman will sit down with podcast host Adam Harris for a live Atlantic Reads conversation about his new book *How to Be a Dissident*. The book blends philosophy, history and a practical guide for maintaining integrity amid rising conformity and authoritarian drift. Beckerman draws on global dissident stories to illustrate how ordinary people can push back against tyranny. Viewers can submit questions in advance and join the livestream at noon ET.
Two Novels Take on the Post-American Dream
Foreign Policy highlights two debut novels that probe the post‑American Dream. Sarah Wang’s *New Skin* follows Linli Feng as she navigates her mother’s illegal cosmetic‑injection empire and a reality‑TV showdown, exposing the health and legal fallout of America’s plastic‑surgery craze....
The Burton Book Review: ‘Last Branch Standing: A Potentially Surprising, Occasionally Witty Journey Inside Today’s Supreme Court’
Sarah Isgur’s new book *Last Branch Standing* offers a fresh look at today’s Supreme Court, arguing it is the “last branch” that still reflects the founders’ vision. She categorizes the nine justices into three groups—Lonely Liberals, Conservative Honey Badgers, and...
‘At the Derby’ Review: Off to the Fashionable Races
Lili Kobielski’s new coffee‑table book “At the Derby,” published by Rizzoli, showcases 272 pages of vivid photographs taken over a decade while she shot for Vogue. Priced at $45, the collection spotlights the extravagant headwear, silk organza, and rhinestone‑laden ensembles that...
Homebound by Portia Elan Review – a Cloud Atlas-Like Puzzle-Box Novel
Portia Elan’s debut novel *Homebound* weaves four interlaced narratives—from 1983 suburban Cincinnati to a far‑future interstellar mission—into a puzzle‑box structure reminiscent of David Mitchell’s *Cloud Atlas*. The story follows a grieving teen, a biotech biologist, a salvage‑ship captain, and a...
The Best Recent Poetry – Review Roundup
The review roundup highlights five recent poetry collections that have garnered critical acclaim. Daljit Nagra’s “Yiewsley” reflects working‑class Sikh identity in West London, while Małgorzata Lebda’s “Mer de Glace,” translated by Mira Rosenthal, offers ecopoetry set along Poland’s Vistula River. Patricia Smith’s...
I Gave ‘Shy Girl’ a Five-Star Review Before I Found Out It Was AI-Generated
Mia Ballard’s horror novel “Shy Girl,” released in early 2025, was later revealed to be 78% AI‑generated, prompting Hachette to pull the book from shelves. The author’s self‑published debut and a rapid follow‑up raised suspicions, but a New York Times exposé confirmed extensive machine...
Othered Into Belonging as a Palestinian American in Toledo, Ohio
Hasan Dudar’s debut novel *Carryout* chronicles a Palestinian‑Lebanese family’s journey from a 1970s corner store in Toledo, Ohio, through the post‑9/11 era, to the present day. The narrative weaves personal stories of exile, nostalgia, and intergenerational trauma while highlighting the...
What Are You Reading in May?
In April the author completed a queer romantasy heist set in Dungeons & Dragons, a sci‑fi mystery novella, and a YA novel featuring asexual and aromantic protagonists. They also watched the graphic novel series Heartstopper for the first time and...
Why I Explore Our Inevitable Love for Robots in My Novel Luminous
Silvia Park’s novel *Luminous*, the May 2026 New Scientist Book Club pick, began as a children’s story but turned dark after the death of her dog. The grief sparked an exploration of how humans may bond with robot children that serve as...
Read an Extract From Luminous by Silvia Park
The excerpt from Silvia Park’s novel *Luminous* paints a near‑future Seoul where a young woman, Ruijie, battles a progressive neuro‑degenerative disease with titanium‑braced exoskeletons. She scavenges a junkyard of decommissioned war machines, including the hulking SADARM‑1000, while confronting the blurred line...
How Some Crime Writers Are Finding a New Path to Publishing
The crime‑fiction market is navigating a wave of publisher closures, with indie presses like Down and Out Books folding and trade paperback sales falling 9% in 2025. In response, writers such as Jill Blocker and her partner have launched Constellate...
Lynn Cahoon on Choosing Whether to Set Cozies in Real or Fictional Places
Lynn Cahoon explains why she mixes real Bainbridge Island locations with invented shops in her new cozy mystery series, noting that the contrast between a picturesque tourist town and murder heightens intrigue. She highlights upcoming releases, including *Confessions of an...
Katie Kitamura: ‘Almost Every Writer Changes My Mind – That’s the Point of Reading’
American novelist Katie Kitamura reflects on the books and authors that shaped her literary sensibility, from a teenage shock at Upton Sinclair’s *The Jungle* to a later‑life devotion to Yasunari Kawabata and Muriel Spark. She credits early exposure to Theodore...
Book Review: ‘Chernobyl, Life, and Other Disasters,’ by Yevgenia Nayberg
Yevgenia Nayberg’s graphic memoir *Chernobyl, Life, and Other Disasters* chronicles her childhood in Kyiv during the late 1980s, blending vivid illustrations with a personal narrative that unfolds just before the Chernobyl catastrophe. The book reveals the challenges faced by a...
First Look: Quant by Anthony Bidulka
Canadian crime author Anthony Bidulka announces the ninth installment of his Russell Quant series, titled Quant, slated for release on September 30, 2026. The novel brings the gay, half‑Irish, half‑Ukrainian private detective back to his hometown of Howell, Saskatchewan, where...
Issue 784 Table of Contents, May 2026
Locus Magazine’s May 2026 issue (No. 784) spotlights interviews with Emily Tesh and Sunyi Dean, and presents the 2026 Hugo Awards ballot. The issue reports major award wins—including M.R. Carey’s Philip K. Dick Award, Christopher Caldwell’s Crawford Award, and David Langford’s Solstice Award—while noting Hachette’s decision...
LINE Digital Frontier, Redice Studio and Kadokawa Launch Studio White
LINE Digital Frontier, Kadokawa and Redice Studio have created Studio White, a new web‑comic studio focused on adapting popular Japanese franchises for the global WEBTOON platform. The studio’s first release is a spin‑off of Record of Lodoss War, slated for...
Octavia Butler’s Survivor Is Getting a Reprint—Something the Author Opposed During Her Lifetime
Grand Central Publishing announced a new edition of Octavia Butler’s 1978 novel *Survivor*, a book the author publicly opposed reissuing while she was alive. The decision comes amid a resurgence of Butler’s work, driven by renewed interest in her Earthseed...
In New Memoir, Former Buddhist Nun Talks the Pursuit of Enlightenment
Former Baptist from Oklahoma, Paldrom Catharine Collins, spent five years as a Tibetan Buddhist nun in a New York monastery before leaving at age 40. Now in her mid‑70s and working as an addiction counselor, she is releasing the memoir...
Books Our Editors Love This Week
The New York Times Book Review’s weekly roundup spotlights six fresh titles, including debut author Lori Inglis Hall’s historical novel The Shock of the Light. Set against World War II, the book follows fraternal twins—children of a pacifist British don—whose paths diverge as they enlist. Hall twists classic war‑hero tropes by...
Idaho Legislature Changes Book Ban As Court Challenges Continue
During the 2026 Idaho legislative session, lawmakers advanced House Bill 819 to amend the state’s “harmful to minors” statute after the Ninth Circuit found the earlier HB 710 likely overbroad. HB 819 creates a new “adolescent minors” category (ages 13‑17)...
Seven Death-Defying Books for the Adventurous Reader
The article curates seven high‑octane adventure books that transport readers to extreme environments, from Shackleton’s Antarctic ordeal in *Endurance* to the perilous 4,000‑mile trek of *The Sun Is a Compass*. Each entry highlights the author’s storytelling craft, historical depth, and...
Kierkegaard Vs. Copenhagen's Tabloid Press. "Twenty-Five Signatures Make the Most Frightful Stupidity Into an Opinion"
In 1845‑46 Søren Kierkegaard clashed with poet‑critic Peder Ludvig Møller and the satirical magazine *The Corsair*, exposing Møller’s covert influence on the paper. Kierkegaard’s public rebuttal turned the scandal into a national spectacle, with *The Corsair* publishing relentless caricatures and gossip that...
Review | Daniyal Mueenuddin Examines the Faultlines of Pakistani Society in His New Novel
Daniyal Mueenuddin, Pulitzer‑nominated author of In Other Rooms, Other Wonders, releases his second novel, This Is Where the Serpent Lives. The story weaves a cast of characters whose greed, ambition, and defiance of social norms intersect across urban and rural...
Helen Pearson on Beyond Belief
Helen Pearson’s new book *Beyond Belief* chronicles the three‑decade‑old evidence revolution that shifted medicine from opinion‑driven practice to rigorous clinical trials. The narrative expands to show how the same evidence‑based mindset is reshaping policing, conservation, management and other fields. Pearson...
The Bollingen Series Then and Now
The Bollingen Series, a 275‑volume collection anchored by C.G. Jung’s Collected Works, was launched in 1940 by the Mellon‑backed Bollingen Foundation and later moved to Princeton University Press in 1969. Originally published by Pantheon Books under Kurt Wolff, the series spans...
The 2026 Higher Ed Summer Reading List + Essential Podcast Recommendations
Top Hat has released a curated 2026 summer reading and listening list for higher‑education faculty, featuring eight newly released books and five leading podcasts. The titles tackle pressing topics such as online‑classroom vitality, ungrading, student mental health, memory science, and...
MWA Announces the 2026 Edgar Award Winners
The Mystery Writers of America unveiled the 80th Edgar Awards in New York, honoring top works across mystery and crime fiction. Robert Crais captured Best Novel with "The Big Empty," while Jakob Kerr’s debut "Dead Money" earned Best First Novel...
3 Spring Novels Star Trad Wives, Grown-Up Boy Band Fans, and a Pregnant Septuagenarian
Three new spring releases spotlight unconventional female leads: Caro Claire Burke’s “Yesteryear” follows a social‑media trad‑wife thrust into 1855 pioneer life; Emma Straub’s “American Fantasy” celebrates middle‑aged women’s fandom on a boy‑band themed cruise; Laurie Frankel’s “Enormous Wings” tells the...
THE READING ROOM: Erin Osmon’s ‘Won’t Back Down: Heartland Rock and the Fight for America’
Erin Osmon’s new book *Won’t Back Down: Heartland Rock and the Fight for America* (Norton, April 28 2026) chronicles how 1970s‑80s rock icons gave voice to a generation grappling with post‑Vietnam trauma, deindustrialization, and farm‑yard hardship. The narrative weaves lyrics from Jackson Browne,...
Scholastic and BlushCrunch Studio Announce Dandy’s World Book Partnership | Exclusive
Roblox creator BlushCrunch Studio has teamed with Scholastic to turn its hit horror game Dandy’s World into a series of books. A guidebook and novel are slated for spring 2027, followed by a graphic novel in fall 2027, with Scholastic...
The Hair of the Pigeon Review: Mohammed Massoud Morsi’s Masterwork
Mohammed Massoud Morsi’s second novel, The Hair of the Pigeon, follows Ghassan, a Palestinian refugee navigating life in Syria’s Yarmouk camp and later abroad. The narrative intertwines love, betrayal, and the brutal realities of war, culminating in a stark choice...
What Really Happened During the Black Death
A newly released scholarly work challenges conventional narratives of the 14th‑century Black Death, arguing that the plague originated in Asia and entered Europe via Italy before spreading rapidly across the continent. The authors combine archival records with recent genetic analyses...
The Best New Science Fiction Books of May 2026
May 2026 brings a robust slate of new science‑fiction titles, ranging from the eighth Murderbot novel by Martha Wells to debut generation‑ship epic "The Republic of Memory" by Mahmud El Sayed. Established voices Matt Haig, Ann Leckie and Alan Moore also release fresh...
Book Review: Aicha by Soraya Bouazzaoui
Soraya Bouazzaoui’s debut novel *Aicha* (Orbit, March 2026, 352 pages) portrays a dystopian world where colonial forces crush ordinary lives. In a passionate Lightspeed Magazine review, Chris Kluwe draws stark parallels between the book’s oppression and the recent Gaza crisis and...
New Romance Books
Olivia Waite highlights two standout romance releases in April 2026. E.M. Caro’s pirate‑themed "Rears & Vices" (Tides & Troth, 367 pages, $18.99) mixes naval history with a polyamorous love triangle set on the Great Lakes and Caribbean. Amy Coombe’s "Stay...
Book Review: ‘Cave Mountain,’ by Benjamin Hale
Benjamin Hale’s new nonfiction work "Cave Mountain" intertwines the 2001 disappearance of his cousin, six‑year‑old Haley Zega, in the Ozark wilderness with a 1978 murder committed by a fringe religious cult nearby. The book uses Hale’s personal connection to explore...
Diversify or Disappear: How Publishers Win in 2026
Publishers are confronting a visibility gap that leaves them optimizing on incomplete data. A recent podcast with Jorge Barbosa of wecantrack shows how AI‑generated overviews and recent HCU updates are cannibalising organic traffic, prompting a shift toward paid sources and...
The Duke’s Got Mail by Samara Parish
Samara Parish’s review of Samara Parish’s "The Duke’s Got Mail" gives the historical romance a C‑ rating. The novel follows Eleanor, a master compositor, and Peter, a duke‑turned‑inventor whose machine threatens her trade, weaving themes of class, automation, and deception....
Hey, Good Morning, How Are You? By Martina Hefter Review – a Hit in Germany that Falls Flat in English
Martina Hefter’s novel *Hey, Good Morning, How Are You?* captured German literary attention, winning the nation’s most prestigious fiction award in 2024 and moving 80,000 copies. The story follows middle‑aged dancer Juno, who trolls romance scammers and befriends a Nigerian...
Hell of Solitude
Prototype Publishing’s 2026 release of Ryūnosuke Akutagawa’s Hell of Solitude, translated by Ryan Choi, brings together a diverse mix of short stories, poems, and essays that revisit the author’s historic debate with Junichirō Tanizaki over the necessity of plot. The collection...
From Life Itself by Suzy Hansen Review – Turkey in the Age of Erdoğan
Suzy Hansen’s new book *From Life Itself* uses a decade‑long immersion in Istanbul’s Karagümrük neighbourhood to illustrate how ordinary Turks experience the authoritarian drift under President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. The narrative weaves personal portraits—market owner Hüseyin, veteran İsmail, estate agent Ebru,...
How to Win a Trade War: Book Launch and Discussion with Bown and Keynes
The Peterson Institute for International Economics is hosting an online launch for the new book *How to Win a Trade War* by trade experts Chad P. Bown and Soumaya Keynes. The event will feature a discussion with WSJ chief economics commentator Greg Ip, exploring...
Liquid Content Was Never Going to Be a Publisher Product
Liquid content promises stories that reshape in real time to match each reader’s context, but publishers have yet to deliver at scale. The Washington Post’s AI‑generated personal podcast highlighted the technical gap, with 68‑84% of scripts failing accuracy checks. Industry...
2026 Mumbrella Publish Awards Are Open, with Updated Criteria and New Categories
Australia’s Mumbrella Publish Awards have opened for 2026, marking the program’s 30th anniversary. The awards now feature refined categories such as AI integration, digital innovation, and revenue diversification to reflect the shift from print to AI‑driven digital media. A senior...
Jujutsu Kaisen: Gege Akutami Officially Confirms Yuji Itadori's Sorcerer Grade In Modulo Volume 3
Gege Akutami confirmed in Jujutsu Kaisen Modulo Volume 3, released May 1 2026, that Yuji Itadori has ascended to Special Grade status, becoming the series’ fifth official Special Grade sorcerer. The author also labels Itadori the "Strongest" after Gojo’s death, capable of toppling an entire...
Dignity and Resolve: Francesca Albanese’s When the World Sleeps Humanises Palestinian Lives
Italian lawyer Francesca Albanese, the UN Special Rapporteur on the Occupied Palestinian Territories, was designated a specially designated national by the U.S. Treasury in July 2024, freezing all of her U.S. assets and barring American entities from dealing with her....
Is Ben Mauro's 'Huxley' Graphic Novel Universe the Next Big Thing in Sci-Fi? (Interview)
Veteran concept artist Ben Mauro, known for work on Halo, Call of Duty and The Hobbit, has released the second installment of his sci‑fi graphic‑novel series, Huxley: The Oracle, slated for 2025. The book showcases more than 100 illustrations from collaborators linked...
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MORAL STANCE: Complicity and Collective Guilt — JM Coetzee Shuns Jerusalem Literary Festival
Nobel laureate J.M. Coetzee turned down an invitation to the 14th International Writers Festival in Jerusalem, citing Israel’s military actions in Gaza as a genocide that implicates the entire society, including its intellectual community. In a letter to festival director...