Book Review: ‘Make Believe: On Telling Stories to Children,’ by Mac Barnett
Gregory Maguire reviews Mac Barnett’s debut adult book, Make Believe: On Telling Stories to Children, positioning it as a manifesto defending the craft of children’s literature. The concise, under‑100‑page work blends personal anecdotes, like a toddler’s tantrum, with a spirited argument that storytelling is a public service. While the reviewer praises Barnett’s engaging, conversational tone, he flags a brief editorial slip on page six that restates the obvious definition of a children’s book. Overall, the book is presented as a readable guide for anyone interested in nurturing young readers.
The Scouting Report with Philippa Donovan
The pandemic forced literary scouts to concentrate on "surefire" genres—romance, romantasy, thrillers, and award‑winning bestsellers—driven by a market craving escapist, uplifting stories. BookTok’s algorithmic influence now guides film and TV producers toward these high‑visibility titles. Short‑form works such as novellas...
Rights Roundup: Award-Winning Books That Travel
Publishing Perspectives released a rights roundup spotlighting three titles with recent international deals. Turkish children’s book “A Lovely Little Planet” was licensed to Slovenia’s Pipinova, while Giorgio Scerbanenco’s “Duca Lamberti” series secured contracts in Spanish, UK, US and French markets....
The Elusive Challenge of Climate Justice Rebecca Marwege, Nikhar Gaikwad, and Joerg Schaefer
The newly edited volume *Climate Justice Now* gathers scholars from the natural sciences, social sciences, and humanities to map the multifaceted challenge of climate justice. It argues that equitable climate action requires more than technical fixes, highlighting the ethical and...
The Long Dark by Andrew Raymond
Andrew Raymond, the newest voice in Scottish crime fiction, has signed a print deal with Vinci Books, bringing his DCI John Lomond series to wider UK and North American audiences. The latest installment, "The Long Dark," launches simultaneously with its...
Aboriginal Children's Book Pulled over Illustrator's Bondi Attack Comments
The University of Queensland Press (UQP) has halted the release of the Indigenous children’s book *Bila, A River Cycle* after illustrator Matt Chun’s Substack essay on the Bondi beach shooting was deemed antisemitic. Thousands of printed copies are now in...
Meanjin: QUT Appoints ‘Establishing Editor’ for Literary Journal
Queensland University of Technology (QUT) has named Dr Ashley Hay as the establishing editor of the literary journal *Meanjin*, marking the publication’s return to Brisbane after eight decades in Melbourne. Hay, a former *Griffith Review* editor, will steer the journal’s transition,...
E-Books Lag Printed Books
Statista’s latest market data shows e‑books still lag printed books in most countries. In the United States, 21% of consumers bought an e‑book last year versus 30% who purchased a printed title. China is the outlier, with e‑book purchases at...
From Bats at Dusk to Asteroid Quests: Books in Brief
Four new non‑fiction titles debut in 2026, each exploring a distinct facet of science and society. Lucy Rogers’ book invites readers to look up, weaving observations of bats, kites and rockets into a meditation on sky and place. Bruno Carvalho...
Tradwives, Gangsters and One Very Special Dog: April's 10 Best Books
ABC Arts released its April roundup of the ten best new books, spotlighting titles that span satire, true‑crime, and social critique. Highlights include Caro Claire Burke’s *Yesteryear*, which thrusts a trad‑wife influencer into 1855, Patrick Radden Keefe’s investigative *London Falling*, and...
Adelaide Writers’ Week: Rosemarie Milsom Announced as New Director
The Adelaide Festival Corporation has named Rosemarie Milsom as director of Adelaide Writers’ Week for the 2027‑2029 festivals. Milsom, former founding director of the Newcastle Writers Festival and a member of several national literary boards, will assume the role in...
“I Had No Idea It Would Last 30 Years”: How Dav Pilkey Turned A Second-Grade Idea Into "The Amazing Captain...
Dav Pilkey reflects on three decades of the Captain Underpants franchise, tracing its origin to a second‑grade joke and its evolution from hand‑drawn picture books to a digital‑first manga adaptation. He discusses the series’ signature humor, recurring gags, and the...
J.H. Prynne 1936-2026
J.H. Prynne, the influential British poet, died at 89, ending a six‑decade career that reshaped modern poetry. His 1968 collection Kitchen Poems marked a turning point, introducing dense, experimental forms that blended opaque lyricism with argumentative prose. Though he will...
This Swiftie’s Best-Selling Book Offers an Insider’s Look at Taylor Swift’s Fanbase
Olivia Levin, a self‑identified superfan with a 630,000‑strong Instagram following, released *The Story of Us* on April 14 through Simon & Schuster. The memoir, chronicling the evolution of the Swiftie community from its early days to the Eras Tour ticket frenzy,...
The Hardy Men
Last year a conservative publisher released two box sets of the Hardy Boys mystery novels, touting them as restored to their original form and marketed as the ideal introduction for young readers. The "restored" editions retain the series' historic racial...
French-Algerian Author Kamel Daoud Says Algeria Sentenced Him to 3 Years for Award-Winning Novel
French‑Algerian author Kamel Daoud announced he has been sentenced to three years in prison and fined 5 million Algerian dinars (about $38,000) for his Goncourt‑winning novel "Houris." The book, which depicts the 1990s civil war known as the "black decade," was...
Books Our Editors Loved This Week
Jordan Harper’s new novel *A Violent Masterpiece* drops this week, delivering a gritty Los Angeles noir that follows a livestream influencer, a high‑end concierge, and a lawyer thrust into a serial‑killer investigation. The New York Times Book Review hails the work as...
Author Details the Spy Network that Took on America's Post-WWII Nazi Groups
Steven J. Ross’s new book, “The Secret War Against Hate,” chronicles how the Anti‑Defamation League, the American Jewish Committee, and the Non‑Sectarian Anti‑Nazi League infiltrated post‑World War II American Nazi groups. The interview links those historic spy operations to the Justice...
Heartbreak Feels Good in a Lena Dunham Memoir Like This
Lena Dunham’s latest memoir, *Famesick*, uses her recent marriage to Luis Felber as a brief epilogue, choosing instead to explore recurring themes of heartbreak and chronic illness. The book revisits fraught relationships with Adam Driver and ex‑partner Jack Antonoff, offering...
Want Free E-Books? Stuff Your Kindle Day Has 150+ Titles Discounted - Today Only
Stuff Your Kindle Day takes place on April 23, offering more than 150 cozy‑mystery e‑books at a temporary $0 price. Hosted by the Cozy Mystery Book Club, the promotion spans the Kindle Store as well as Apple Books, Barnes & Noble, and...
The Importance of Community
Avant Gardeneri attended the Dumaguete Literary Festival, speaking on fiction and horror while also reading Edilberto Tiempo’s short story. The event, hosted at the Arts + Design Collective, sparked unexpected collaborations with food and agriculture leaders, including the owners of...
What Are Universities Really for and Why Does It Matters Now?
The edited volume *Knowledge Under Siege* examines how intensified political scrutiny, budget cuts, and neoliberal governance are reshaping universities beyond financial strain. Contributors argue that higher‑education institutions face sustained attacks on academic freedom, tenure, and curricular autonomy, positioning them as...
Judy Blume’s Radical Honesty Changed Literature for Ever
A new biography details Judy Blume’s journey from a shy New Jersey child to a pioneering novelist whose radical honesty reshaped young‑adult literature. The book highlights how Blume’s candid treatment of puberty, sexuality, and family dynamics broke taboos in the...
30 Writers From Across Canada Make 2026 CBC Short Story Prize Longlist
The CBC has announced the 2026 Short Story Prize longlist, selecting 30 writers from roughly 3,000 submissions across Canada. The longlist will be narrowed to a shortlist on April 30, with the winner revealed on May 7. The top prize includes a...
Algerian Writer Wins 2026 International Prize for Arabic Fiction
Algerian author Said Khatibi has been awarded the 2026 International Prize for Arabic Fiction for his novel "Swimming Against the Tide." The book was chosen from a shortlist of 137 Arabic titles released between July 2024 and June 2025. The prize, sponsored...
Book Review: Mary Jane Mossman’s Quiet Rebels: A History of Ontario Women Lawyers
Mary Jane Mossman’s *Quiet Rebels* offers a comprehensive history of Ontario’s women lawyers, profiling the 187 women admitted to the bar between 1897 and 1957. The book weaves individual biographies with the political, social, and economic context of each era,...
Book Review: The Witch by Marie N’Diaye, Translated by Jordan Stump
Marie N’Diaye’s short horror‑fantasy *The Witch*, translated by Jordan Stump and published by Penguin Random House on April 7 2026, offers a 144‑page literary take on witchcraft set in a 1990s French town. The novel subverts typical genre tropes with quiet, understated...
A Wunderkind’s Best-Selling Nostalgia
Swiss student Nelio Biedermann’s debut novel “Lázár” has become a cultural phenomenon, topping Germany’s bestseller list for 29 weeks and attracting translation deals in over 25 languages. The 300‑page, maximalist saga reimagines his aristocratic Hungarian ancestors’ fate from the Austro‑Hungarian...
Low Culture Essay: James Bailey on The Driver’s Seat by Muriel Spark
James Bailey’s subscriber essay revisits Muriel Spark’s 1970 novel *The Driver’s Seat*, describing it as a “spiny and treacherous masterpiece” that fuses giallo horror with stark corporate settings. He notes Spark wrote the book in a few weeks from a hospital...
Books that Mentor You: 7 Reads that Shape Your Life
YourStory highlights seven books that function as personal mentors, offering guidance on purpose, habits, finance, resilience, and success. Each title—from Paulo Coelho’s "The Alchemist" to Napoleon Hill’s "Think and Grow Rich"—delivers a distinct philosophy that can reshape decision‑making. The article...
Fun Guide to the Alphabet | Review of Danny Bate’s Why Q Needs U
Danny Bate’s new book *Why Q Needs U* offers a 300‑page, 26‑chapter tour of the English alphabet, treating each letter as a portal into linguistic history. The work blends scholarly research with a playful tone, tracing how Latin, Germanic, and...
Dennis Altman: UQP Has Cancelled a Children’s Book Illustrated by Matt Chun, Citing Antisemitism
The University of Queensland Press (UQP) has halted the publication of 5,000 copies of the children’s book *Bila: A River Cycle*, illustrated by Matt Chun, after the illustrator’s anti‑fascist article was deemed inconsistent with the university’s adopted definition of antisemitism. The...
PRINT Book Club: Thursday April 23, 2026 with Aubrey Hirsch
PRINT Magazine is hosting a live Zoom book club on Thursday, April 23, 2026, featuring artist‑writer Aubrey Hirsch. The discussion will center on her graphic nonfiction title *Graphic Rage: Comics on Gender, Justice, and Life as a Woman in America*....
There Is a Cost to Being Unreachable. But the Cost of Being Available Is Far Higher. Jerusalem Demsas’s Experiment in...
Acclaimed novelist Helen DeWitt publicly declined the $175,000 Windham‑Campbell Prize after the award’s organizers demanded a week of public appearances, a podcast interview, and a full‑day video shoot. Unable to secure Wi‑Fi in Amsterdam and battling severe mental‑health challenges, DeWitt...
Prophets Used to Be Executed for Being Wrong. While the Penalties Are Less Severe, the Lure of Prediction Remains the...
Carissa Véliz’s new book *Prophecy* traces prediction from ancient oracles to today’s AI, arguing that forecasts are tools of power rather than facts. She highlights how big‑tech’s AI hype steers markets and policy, granting a small elite outsized influence. Véliz...
Catherine Fletcher on The Firearm Revolution
Catherine Fletcher’s new Princeton University Press volume, *The Firearm Revolution*, traces the social and cultural history of early modern firearms, from concealed wheellocks in the 1520s to Venice’s regulated arms export system. The book reveals how European governments repeatedly lagged...
Book Talk: Those Who Face Death with Mark Grdovic
Kristina Tanasichuk has spent more than two decades shaping the U.S. homeland‑security landscape, from early work on critical infrastructure to founding the Government & Services Technology Coalition (GTSC) in 2011. GTSC nurtures innovative small‑ and mid‑size firms—up to $1 billion in...
2026 Aurora Awards Ballot
The Canadian Science Fiction and Fantasy Association released the 2026 Aurora Awards ballot, naming finalists across ten categories from Best Novel to Fan Writing. Notable nominees include Julie E. Czerneda’s "A Shift of Time," Guy Gavriel Kay’s "Written on the...
The Nautilus Reading List of Science Biographies
Nautilus has curated a reading list that transports readers through four centuries of scientific discovery via biography. The list spotlights Dava Sobel’s *Galileo’s Daughter*, which frames the 16th‑century astronomer through the letters of his convent daughter, and Andrea Wulf’s *The...
Not Your Father’s Wild, Wild West
Megan Kate Nelson’s new Scribner volume, The Westerners, rewrites the story of 19th‑century American expansion by weaving together the lives of seven diverse protagonists. The narrative moves beyond the classic white‑male frontier myth, spotlighting figures such as Sacagawea, fur trader...
30% of People Think Reading Regularly Makes Them Better Than Others
An informal roundup from Today in Books highlights several cultural trends. A Headway app survey finds 30% of respondents believe regular reading makes them superior, with 24% refusing to date non‑readers and 82% seeing non‑readers as intellectually lacking. The 2026...
The Month’s Best New Mystery Novels
Jordan Harper’s debut noir, “A Violent Masterpiece,” (Mulholland, 372 pp., $29) plunges readers into L.A.’s underbelly, pairing livestream‑culture with a serial‑killer narrative that mirrors the public’s obsession with the Epstein saga. The novel follows ex‑journalist Jake Deal, concierge Kara Delgado, and...
Can You Slow Ageing with Your Diet? A New Book Gives It a Go
Freelance health journalist David Cox discovered his biological age was older than his chronological age and turned that shock into a mission to reverse it. In his new book, *The Age Code*, he chronicles how specific dietary changes can lower...
The Full and Interesting Lives of Writers’ Alter Egos
The Financial Times feature "The full and interesting lives of writers’ alter egos" examines how authors adopt pseudonyms or fictional personas to experiment with style, genre, and controversial topics. It highlights notable examples—from Stephen King’s Richard Bachman to Elena Ferrante’s...
What We Lose when a Language Dies
Sophia Smith Galer’s new book *How to Kill a Language* documents the accelerating loss of linguistic diversity, noting that the world’s 7,000 languages could shrink to roughly 4,000 by 2100. The work blends personal stories—from the last Ubykh speaker in Turkey...
‘Be Prepared to Cry’: My Favourite New Romance Book Is Shortlisted for Women’s Prize for Fiction
Lily King’s romance novel *Heart the Lover*, released in summer 2025, has surged in popularity, largely driven by TikTok buzz. The book, a sequel to her 2020 title *Writers & Lover’s*, stands alone as a compelling story of first love,...
This Unique Novel Is Comprised Entirely of Letters – and It’s Just Been Shortlisted for the Women’s Prize for Fiction
Virginia Evan’s debut novel *The Correspondent*—an epistolary work composed entirely of letters—has been shortlisted for the Women’s Prize for Fiction. The story follows 73‑year‑old retired lawyer Sybil Van Antwerp as she navigates aging, loss, and a life lived through written...
Eight of the Most Fascinating Biographies to Read
The article curates eight standout literary biographies, ranging from Hermione Lee’s exhaustive portrait of Virginia Woolf to Stacy Schiff’s vivid reconstruction of Cleopatra. Each work is praised for its blend of rigorous research, narrative flair, and the author’s personal devotion...
Bloomsbury Layoffs
Bloomsbury Publishing announced a restructuring aimed at fueling future growth after a period of rapid expansion, including a doubling of sales and more than a doubling of profits in 2023‑2024. Headcount rose from 738 to 1,238 over five years, prompting...
Shonen Jump One-Shot Manga Hitoner Becomes a Series
Shueisha announced that the one‑shot manga Hitoner, which logged 1.95 million views on Shonen Jump+, will continue as a full series. The new title is being released simultaneously in English, Spanish and Thai through Manga Plus, with the first two chapters already...