Alex Garland’s Civil War Captures What Journalists Do, Like It or Not
Alex Garland’s 2024 film *Civil War* uses a near‑future American conflict to explore the role of journalists in war zones, following photojournalist Lee and reporter Joel as they chase an exclusive interview with a besieged president. The narrative highlights the moral ambiguities of embedding with combatants, the personal sacrifices journalists make, and the tension between truth‑seeking and propaganda. Garland draws on his own newsroom heritage to portray reporters as flawed yet essential witnesses, while also critiquing the media’s complicity in shaping narratives. The film has sparked debate over its political subtext and its realistic depiction of war reporting.
After Habermas
The essay reflects on a North‑American left‑wing scholar’s evolving relationship with Jürgen Habermas, from early admiration to critical divergence. It traces how Habermas’s concepts of communicative action, the public sphere, and the colonisation of the lifeworld shaped her critical‑theory foundation, while...
Legendary Bassist Melvin Gibbs Shares New Book Tracing the History of Black Music
Legendary bassist Melvin Gibbs is releasing a 300‑page book, *How Black Music Took Over the World*, on April 14 through Basic Books. The work charts the evolution of Black music from early diaspora rhythms to contemporary icons such as Beyoncé...
2026 Seiun Awards Nominees
The 64th Japan Science Fiction Convention, Hellcon 2026, released the shortlist for the 2025 Seiun Awards, Japan’s premier sci‑fi honor comparable to the Hugo. The Best Translated Novel slate features eight titles, ranging from Alastair Reynolds to R.F. Kuang, while...
2025 Otherwise Award Winner
Silvia Park’s novel Luminous has been named the 2025 Otherwise Award winner, receiving a $200 prize and a medal. The award ceremony will take place online at WisCon 2026 from May 21‑25. The jury also released an honor list highlighting...
Silent Hill F Manga Will Run in Young Ace Up
Konami announced that Kadokawa’s Young Ace Up will serialize a manga adaptation of *Silent Hill f*. The series will be illustrated by Gokin Ame and written by Ryukishi07, who will create a new ending distinct from the game’s five conclusions....
Review | People of Gopallapuram, Ki. Rajanarayanan’s Celebrated Tamil Novel in Translation
The English translation of Ki Rajanarayanan’s Tamil classic *People of Gopallapuram* arrives this year, offering U.S. readers a vivid portrait of the karisal region’s villages, caste dynamics, and agrarian life on the brink of Indian independence. Translator Shubashree Desikan supplies a...
Column | Top Books to Read in March 2026
The March 2026 literary column spotlights five new fiction titles that blend experimental storytelling with familiar themes, ranging from an Afghan‑American family saga to a Mumbai marathon‑set ensemble. Prices span ₹499–₹899 (approximately $6–$11), making the books accessible to a broad readership....
Mary Beth, Steven Curtis Chapman Unveil Crazy Stories, Hard-Won Wisdom From 40-Year Marriage in ‘Still Here’
New York Times bestselling author Mary Beth Chapman and Grammy‑winning Christian singer Steven Curtis Chapman have released their first co‑authored memoir, Still Here: Life Together on the Long Way Home, marking 40 years of marriage. The book offers an unvarnished...
Arundhati Roy and Lyse Doucet Lead ‘Exceptional’ Women’s Prize for Nonfiction Shortlist
The Women’s prize for nonfiction, offering a £30,000 (≈ $38,100) award, announced a shortlist led by Arundhati Roy, BBC correspondent Lyse Doucet, and Judith Mackrell. The six titles explore identity, exile, art‑health links, and wartime history, reflecting the prize’s aim to...
Emma Cleary on Writing a Psychological Horror Novel Influenced by Film Stills
Emma Cleary explains how Cindy Sherman’s *Untitled Film Stills* sparked the concept for her psychological horror novel *Afterbirth*. The intimate black‑and‑white photographs inspired a series of ekphrastic scenes that read like cinematic fragments, echoing archetypes such as the ingénue and...
Parsing the Polls
All About Romance’s eight Top 100 Romance polls, conducted from 1998 to 2026, reveal a surprisingly stable core of beloved titles. Only three books ever claimed the #1 spot, with Loretta Chase’s *Lord of Scoundrels* winning four times. Twelve novels, ranging...
At Salon Du Livre Africain De Paris, Uniting Around ‘Cultural Richness’
Paris’s Salon du Livre Africain (SLAP) celebrated its fifth edition, drawing 400 authors and 150 publishers from 20 nations. The fair, which began in 2021 with 150 authors, now serves as the year’s biggest market for many independent African publishers,...
The Iron Garden Sutra by A. D. Sui
A. D. Sui’s *The Iron Garden Sutra* follows Iris, a death‑monk of the Starlit Order, as he investigates a murder mystery aboard the ancient generation ship *Nicaea*. The story intertwines a sprawling, forest‑filled spacecraft, a hostile AI, and a clash of faith...
7 Contemporary Gothic Novels by African American Authors
A recent Electric Literature roundup spotlights seven contemporary gothic novels by African American authors, ranging from Tananarive Due’s “The Reformatory” to Victor LaValle’s “The Ballad of Black Tom.” The list highlights how these works fuse classic gothic motifs—haunted houses, cursed...
Review – Superman/Spider-Man #1 – Cross-Dimensional Craziness
GeekDad’s review of Superman/Spider‑Man #1 praises the ambitious DC‑Marvel crossover, highlighting an all‑star creative lineup that delivers nine distinct stories. The flagship tale by Mark Waid and Jorge Jimenez pits Doctor Octopus against Brainiac, introducing a Kryptonite‑powered radio wave that...
Book Review: ‘The Insatiable Machine,’ by Trevor Jackson
Trevor Jackson’s *The Insatiable Machine* argues that capitalism has propelled unprecedented improvements in living standards while simultaneously driving ecological degradation. Drawing on three centuries of economic history, he portrays the Industrial Revolution as a contingent accident rather than an inevitable...
Book Review: ‘How Flowers Made Our World,’ by David George Haskell
David George Haskell’s new book, *How Flowers Made Our World*, argues that flowering plants are ecological engineers whose rapid diversification reshaped Earth’s ecosystems. He traces the “abominable mystery” of their Cretaceous explosion to genetic duplication and a feedback loop with...
Book Review: ‘The Universal Baseball Association,’ by Robert Coover
Robert Coover’s 1968 novel *The Universal Baseball Association* has been reissued by New York Review Books as a paperback priced at $18.95. The story follows an accountant who runs a tabletop baseball simulation, rolling dice to dictate a perfect game....
Black Bag by Luke Kennard Review – a Campus Comedy for Our End Times
Luke Kennard’s new novel *Black Bag* follows a down‑on‑his‑luck London actor who agrees to sit motionless in a lecture hall for a term, encased in a black leather bag, as part of a 1967‑inspired social experiment. The absurd premise satirizes...
The Writer and the Traitor by Robert Verkaik Review – the Strange Case of Graham Greene and Kim Philby
Robert Verkaik’s new biography, *The Writer and the Traitor*, examines the unlikely friendship between novelist Graham Greene and Soviet double‑agent Kim Philby. It details Greene’s abrupt 1944 resignation from MI6 amid the D‑Day deception and Philby’s covert transmission of Allied intelligence to...
Constantine Cavafy Preferred Mystery, Candlelight, and Shadow. His Biographers Are Still Squinting
New biography of Constantine Cavafy, the elusive Greek poet of Alexandria, reveals his shadowy lifestyle, self‑published broadsheets, and the three poetic strands—historical, philosophical, and homoerotic—that shaped his global reputation. The authors, Gregory Jusdanis and Peter Jeffreys, adopt a thematic, archival...
Long Fact, Literary Nonfiction, Narrative Nonfiction: The Genre Is Hard to Define, Essential, and Imperiled. Paul Elie Explains
The recent layoff of senior nonfiction editors at Simon & Schuster highlights a broader contraction in the long‑form literary nonfiction market. Sales of nonfiction titles have dropped 8.4% year‑over‑year, double the decline seen in fiction, while reading rates continue to fall,...
“Thomas De Quincey Was Famous First for His Opium Eating, Second for His Prose Style, and in Both He Pressed...
Thomas De Quincey’s 1849 essay “The English Mail‑Coach” intertwines vivid nostalgia for a vanished England with a stark meditation on mortality, using his opium‑fueled, baroque prose to dramatise the peril of speed. The piece portrays the mail coach as both...
Leslie Umberger on Grandma Moses
The Smithsonian American Art Museum has launched a major retrospective, "Grandma Moses: A Good Day’s Work," spotlighting Anna Mary Robertson Moses as a multifaceted figure in American art. Curator Leslie Umberger explains that the museum spent a decade building a...
Ideas Podcast: Try to Love the Questions
Lara Schwartz’s new book *Try to Love the Questions* tackles the growing challenge of politically charged campus discourse by championing free expression, academic freedom, and genuine dialogue. The text outlines First Amendment protections, campus expression policies, and academic standards while...
Anthropic's AI Piracy Settlement Is Getting Close to Final Approval
Anthropic is nearing final court approval of a landmark settlement that resolves the Bartz v. Anthropic copyright case. The company will pay $1.5 billion, distributing $3,000 to each qualifying author, after nearly 100,000 claims were filed. The agreement requires Anthropic to...
2026 Imadjinn Awards Finalists
The Imaginarium Imadjinn Awards announced its 2026 finalists across 20 categories, ranging from Best Science Fiction Novel to Best Poetry Collection. The list features a mix of traditionally published titles and a notable presence of self‑published works. Publishers such as...
Jessica Brilliant Keener on Fostering Empathy and Connection Through Storytelling
Jessica Brilliant Keener releases her latest novel, Evening Begins the Day, exploring betrayal, family crisis, and the ancient Jewish ritual of Counting the Omer. The story follows two neighboring families whose secrets unravel, using multiple points of view to examine...
Ways to Keep Talking — and Maybe Find Way Forward — Amid Riven Times
Julia Minson’s new book *How to Disagree Better* introduces the H.E.A.R. framework—Hedging, Emphasizing agreement, Acknowledging perspectives, and Reframing positively—to boost conversational receptiveness. The model is built on experiments showing that trained speakers are judged more trustworthy, objective, and collaborative even...
Digital Leviathan
Jacob Siegel’s new book *The Information State* argues that the United States has evolved into a “digital leviathan” that governs by controlling the codes, algorithms, and attention of the public. Drawing on intellectual history from Bacon to modern technocrats, Siegel...
2026 Carnegie Medals Shortlists
On March 10, 2026, the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals announced the shortlists for the 2026 Carnegie Medal for Writing and Illustration, honoring outstanding UK children’s and young‑adult books. The writing list features titles such as Katya Balen’s...
The Case of the Petrified Potter by Cathy Ace
Cathy Ace’s thirteenth WISE Enquiries Agency novel, *The Case of the Petrated Potter*, follows four women investigators as they help a terminally ill potter uncover the truth behind her sister’s 1984 death in a Welsh mining village. The story intertwines...
Matt Goodwin’s Intellectual Suicide
Matt Goodwin, a former academic turned Reform MP, self‑published the book *Suicide of a Nation* in December 2025. Critics argue the work is riddled with fabricated quotes, mis‑interpreted data and a thin anti‑immigration narrative that frames Britain’s demographic changes as...
A Musical Version of ‘Trainspotting’ Is Coming to London’s West End This Summer
Irvine Welsh’s cult novel ‘Trainspotting’ is being transformed into a West End musical that will run at the Theatre Royal Haymarket from July 15 to September 5, 2026. Welsh himself is co‑writing the score with Steve McGuinness, adding new characters...
At Sweden’s Book Industry Day, Print, Audio, and Pricing Collide
Sweden’s 2025 book market showed a rare reversal, with print sales climbing 7% to capture roughly 68% of total revenue, while the overall market exceeded SEK 5 billion (about $535 million). Government subsidies of SEK 304 million (≈$32.5 million) for school book access helped fuel the...
Adrian Tchaikovsky: 'I Try and Do Interesting Aliens'
Adrian Tchaikovsky’s latest installment, Children of Strife, hit shelves on 26 March 2026, continuing his award‑winning Children of Time saga that blends speculative evolution with hard science fiction. The novel centers on a human‑sized mantis shrimp, a species he researched through...
Scoop: Bob Woodward's Memoir, "Secrets," To Reveal Stories About Deceased "Forever Sources"
Bob Woodward’s long‑awaited memoir, "Secrets: A Reporter’s Memoir," hits shelves on September 29, 2024. The 83‑year‑old journalist uses decades‑old notes, transcripts and interviews to recount his most pivotal reporting relationships, many with sources now deceased. The book promises vivid detail...
The Murder Pool by Stella Blómkvist
Stella Blómkvist’s fourth novel, *The Murder Pool*, arrives in English translation, extending the Icelandic lawyer‑hero’s saga for a growing UK audience. The story intertwines a #MeToo scandal, a suspected serial rapist, a wrongful‑conviction claim, and the murder of a famed...
5 Powerful Books that Transformed the Course of History
Throughout history, five seminal books have reshaped societies, politics, science, and culture. The Communist Manifesto ignited global socialist movements, while Darwin’s On the Origin of Species revolutionized biology and sparked enduring science‑religion debates. The Bible has underpinned Western legal and...
How Seventies-Era Shows Inspired a Modern-Day Crime Hero
Mercury Carter, the freelance courier‑turned‑hero of author Michael K. Miller’s new thriller *The Delivery*, is heavily inspired by 1970s television action dramas. The writer cites iconic roles such as Billy Jack, the Six Million Dollar Man, and Kwai‑Chang Caine from *Kung Fu* as templates for Carter’s quiet,...
Metro Murder: Andrew Reid on Writing a Thriller Set in New York City’s Subway
Andrew Reid’s thriller *The Survivor* is set on New York’s 1 train, a choice he made without ever stepping foot in the city. He relied on crowdsourced videos, field guides, and extensive online research to render the subway’s atmosphere authentically....
Olesya Salnikova Gilmore on Crafting Feminist Agency in Historical Gothic Mysteries
Olesya Salnikova Gilmore examines how historical gothic mysteries can grant feminist agency by embedding female protagonists in business ventures and spiritualist practices. She highlights tea shops, tearooms, and séance enterprises as plot‑driving assets that move women from passive victims to...
Book Review: ‘A Treacherous Secret Agent,’ by Marjorie Garber
Marjorie Garber’s new book *A Treacherous Secret Agent* examines how literature functioned as a covert form of resistance during the second Red Scare. By juxtaposing congressional hearings of Hallie Flanagan in 1938 and Joseph Papp in 1958 with the works of Shakespeare,...
Enough Said by Alan Bennett Review – a Man for All Seasons
Alan Bennett’s new diary volume, covering 2016‑2024, revisits his pandemic entries and long‑standing reflections on aging, military service, and literary rivalries. The collection shows how his COVID‑era observations acquire fresh meaning now that the crisis has receded. Bennett also highlights...
‘Lonesome Dove,’ ‘Brokeback Mountain’ and the Power of the Book Review in the Age Before Algorithms
The New York Times essay highlights how The Washington Post’s now‑defunct Book World once acted as a cultural engine, catapulting authors like Larry McMurtry and Annie Proulx into mainstream success. By delivering thoughtful, serendipitous criticism, the section shaped literary reputations long before algorithmic feeds...
Book Review: ‘Open Space,’ by David Ariosto
David Ariosto’s new book *Open Space* offers a front‑row view of the modern space race, featuring interviews with a host of private‑sector engineers, scientists and billionaires—though not the marquee figures Elon Musk or Jeff Bezos. The narrative celebrates humanity’s engineering...
The News From Dublin by Colm Tóibín Review – Subtle Short Stories About Being Far From Home
Irish author Colm Tóibín’s new short‑story collection, *The News from Dublin*, delves into themes of displacement and liminality. Set across locations from early‑20th‑century Europe to contemporary Argentina, the stories present grief and moral ambiguity through a cool, abstract prose style....
Geoff Bennett Explores Black Comedy's History and Cultural Impact in 'Black Out Loud'
Geoff Bennett’s new book, *Black Out Loud*, chronicles the long‑standing history of Black comedy in America, zeroing in on the 1990s boom of sitcoms and sketch shows such as *In Living Color* and *Living Single*. The work blends oral histories...
Weekly Bestsellers, 23 March 2026
The latest weekly bestseller data shows three new fantasy titles breaking into top ranks. Briar Boleyn’s The Wings That Bind climbed to #2 on both The New York Times and Publishers Weekly lists, while Jasmine Mas’s Psycho Beasts peaked at #14 on...