Congratulations to the book winners and finalists of the 2026 Pulitzer Prizes:

Fiction
Angel Down by Daniel Kraus (Atria Books). "A breathless novel of World War I, a stylistic tour-de-force that blends such genres as allegory, magical realism and science fiction into a cohesive whole, told in a single sentence."

Fiction finalists: Audition by Katie Kitamura (Riverhead Books) and Stag Dance: A Quartet by Torrey Peters (Random House)

History
We the People: A History of the U.S. Constitution by Jill Lepore (Liveright). "A lively and engaging narrative that investigates why the Constitution is so difficult to amend, including a review of noteworthy failed amendments proposed by marginalized groups."

History finalists: King of Kings: The Iranian Revolution: A Story of Hubris, Delusion and Catastrophic Miscalculation by Scott Anderson (Doubleday) and Born in Flames: The Business of Arson and The Remaking of the American City by Bench Ansfield (W.W. Norton)

Biography
Pride and Pleasure: The Schuyler Sisters in an Age of Revolution by Amanda Vaill (Farrar, Straus and Giroux). "A lively and detailed biography of two daughters of wealthy and influential Dutch landowners who colored our nation's history, using present tense to tell their story and past tense to chronicle the dramatic sweep of the American Revolution."

Biography finalists: True Nature: The Pilgrimage of Peter Matthiessen by Lance Richardson (Pantheon) and The Life and Poetry of Frank Stanford by James McWilliams (University of Arkansas Press)

Memoir or autobiography
Things in Nature Merely Grow by Yiyun Li (Farrar, Straus and Giroux). "A writer's deeply moving and revelatory account of losing her younger son to suicide a little more than six years after her older son died in the same manner, an austere and defiant memoir of acceptance that focuses on facts, language and the persistence of life."

Memoir or autobiography finalists: Clam Down: A Metamorphosis by Anelise Chen (One World), Bibliophobia: A Memoir by Sarah Chihaya (Random House), and I'll Tell You When I'm Home: A Memoir by Hala Alyan (Avid Reader Press/Simon & Schuster)

Poetry
Ars Poeticas by Juliana Spahr (Wesleyan University Press). "A collection in which the poet takes stock of her personal disillusionment, which she uses to interrogate her relationship to her art form, community and politics."

Poetry finalists: I Imagine I Been Science Fiction Always by Douglas Kearney (Wave Books) and The Intentions of Thunder: New and Selected Poems by Patricia Smith (Scribner)

General nonfiction
There Is No Place for Us: Working and Homeless in America by Brian Goldstone (Crown). "A feat of reportage, analysis and storytelling focusing on the issues that have created a national crisis of family homelessness among the so-called working poor."

General nonfiction finalists: A Flower Traveled in My Blood: The Incredible True Story of the Grandmothers Who Fought to Find a Stolen Generation of Children by Haley Cohen Gilliland (Avid Reader Press/Simon & Schuster) and Mother Emanuel: Two Centuries of Race, Resistance, and Forgiveness in One Charleston Church by Kevin Sack (Crown)

The American Library Association and Banned Books Week Coalition has unveiled the artwork for Banned Books Week 2026, which will be held October 4-10. Designed for use in Banned Books Week events nationwide and internationally, this year's theme is "Let Books Be. Protect the Freedom to Read." 

The Banned Books Week campaign for 2026 features three illustrations showing how libraries and access to information enrich lives. The artwork from award-winning illustrators Hyesu Lee, Loveis Wise, and Mikey Burton "embraces joy and creativity as acts of resilience, reminding our communities that a handful of people running organized censorship campaigns should not be allowed to dictate what the rest of us can read," the ALA noted.  

"Banned Books Week is a celebration of the freedom to read and the joy that comes from discovering stories that expand our understanding of ourselves and one another," said ALA president Sam Helmick. "Every person has the right to seek information and choose books without censorship. When we say 'Let Books Be,' we're showing up for readers everywhere and reaffirming that libraries are for everyone." 

Barbara Stripling, chair of the Banned Books Week Coalition, added: "The 2026 Banned Books Week theme, 'Let Books Be,' celebrates the joy of reading and, at the same time, motivates us to stand up for the right to read. We must let books be a window into ourselves and others, a door to new ideas and possibilities, and a path to full participation in our society." 

Canadian bookseller Curious Fox Bookshop in Whitby, Ont., closed on April 25, Canadian Independent Bookstore Day. Owner Sarah Parker, who opened her bookstore in 2024, posted on Instagram the day after CIBD: "All good books come to an end and so does Curious Fox Bookshop. Thank you to everyone who stopped by--your support was much appreciated!"

A message on the bookshop's website noted: "It is with sadness that I must announce that our beloved bookshop closed on Saturday. As any small business owner will tell you, it's been a tough winter, and I believe tougher times are ahead. 

"I opened this shop almost two years ago with the firm belief that children deserve their own space that celebrates imagination and childhood. If I have helped any young readers discover the magic of reading, then it was worth it! Thank you sincerely for your support. It has been a pleasure serving this community, and I appreciate every reader who has walked through the doors."

Parker had announced her decision to close in late March, posting on social media: "This is a tough one to write, but necessary. It’s been a tough few months, even after a strong Christmas season, and it seems like the economic outlook is not in our favor. When I opened this shop almost two years ago, I wanted it to be a place of joy and whimsy to encourage the magic of reading in kids. I believe I did that, if even for a short time, based on the many lovely comments from wonderful customers."

The fourth annual RISE Bookselling Conference took place April 19-20 in Verona, Italy, bringing together some 300 booksellers from 34 countries. Prior to the official start of the conference, attendees took walking tours of Verona before convening at the Biblioteca Capitolare, the oldest, still-functioning library in the world, for drinks and a welcome reception.

The conference included 26 sessions of panels, workshops, and keynotes, with 71 speakers involved. At the end of the conference's final sessions, EIBF president Fabian Paagman revealed that next year's conference will take place April 18-19 in Galway, Ireland.

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Iva Pezuashvili in conversation with Jessica Sänger

"I'm putting myself at risk," said Georgian writer Iva Pezuashvili, who appeared in conversation with Jessica Sänger of Germany's Börsenverein. The pair discussed Georgia's ruling political party, Georgia Dream, the country's turn toward authoritarianism over the last few years, and the danger Pezuashvili and other outspoken writers face.

"What else to do?" Pezuashvili continued. "Shut up? Or close your eyes? What is the option? If you step back, they will step forward. And there will be a wall against your back. While you're still standing, you should speak and raise your voice."

Pezuashvili recounted how, a few years ago, the Georgian government created a law whereby receiving grants or financial support from the European Union or another country can get someone labeled as a "foreign agent." Modeled after a similar law in Russia, it can lead to up to six years in prison. 

The government has also been "weaponizing language" through things like the creation of a law, ostensibly about protecting "family values," that conflates LGBTQ identities with pedophilia. Writers are especially dangerous to these sorts of authoritarians, he said, because writers are the ones trying to "save words."

Pezuashvili recalled that when Georgia Dream first came to power, he closed his eyes, because while he didn't like Georgia Dream, he also didn't especially like the people running against them. He said he's come to regret that, warning: "Don't close your eyes on anything. Every small, un-democratic act will lead to totalitarianism. Resistance is always the way. Protest everything, every small thing."

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In a panel discussion on how young booksellers see the future of the industry, the panelists expressed optimism about the future of books and their importance in society, but a lot of pessimism about political changes in the immediate future.

Desislava Grozdanova, bookseller at FOX Book Cafe in Sofia, Bulgaria, noted that Bulgaria's parliamentary elections were underway and things were "not looking very bright," with the conservative, pro-Russian party expected to win handily. Right-wing support is on the rise throughout the country, Grozdanova said, mentioning that last summer, the government passed a bill banning the promotion of "nontraditional sexual values." That has led to a lot of young people feeling "unsafe at school." At the same time, it has provided Grozdanova and the other booksellers on her team with even more motivation to "provide the books that young people need."

Hannah Frisell, owner and CEO of Minervabokhandeln in Kristinehamn, Sweden, said there are elections coming up in September, and with "far-right parties growing in number," they were a concern. While her store is a generalist bookstore, it has a strong focus on queer narratives, and Frisell wondered what any electoral success for the right-wing might mean, not just in September but in the next few years. She asked: "Will people who already dislike us feel entitled to act out against us? Will there be more hate? Will we have to consider security?" She emphasized that the best things booksellers can do in response to these and many other challenges are "strengthening the local community" and the bookshop's role in it.

Kristine Pikenena, bookseller at Jānis Roze in Riga, Latvia, recalled visiting the U.S. in 2023 and feeling "so lucky" to be from a "very democratic" society like Latvia, where there isn't censorship of or protests against particular books. She was relieved and felt like it was "not my problem"--until last September, when someone burned a children's book that featured a transgender character on her bookstore's doorstep. She added that the biggest existential threat to Latvia is "sharing a border with Russia," and the bookstore actually has an 72-hour emergency plan to follow in the event of a Russian invasion that will make use of Jānis Roze's "elaborate basement."

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Jorge Cabezas Montañana

"From the second day after the flood, when we had no electricity, no water, no food, and the town was in chaos, people told us we had to reopen," said Jorge Cabezas Montañana, co-owner of Somnis de Paper in Benetússer, Spain, during a keynote talk on RISE's first day.

In late October 2024, massive floods hit parts of Spain's Valencia region, leaving hundreds dead and devastating some 564 square kilometers (approximately 217 square miles). In Montañana's small town, the highest flood waters reached three meters (almost 10 feet) in height, and in his own shop, the water reached about 1.75 meters (5 1/2 feet).

The next day, the town looked like something from a post-apocalyptic series "like The Walking Dead or The Last of Us." In places, cars were "stacked up until the first floor" of buildings, and in the bookstore, there was 10-20 centimeters of mud on the floor. Most of what wasn't bolted down was swept away, and Montañana and his co-owner found things from other houses and buildings had washed into the bookstore, including nightstands, tables, and shoes.

In December, Somnis de Paper reopened in a temporary space in the Benetússer town hall. While selling books in the town hall, Montañana was trying to field a surge of online orders from people around Spain who wanted to help. There were more than a thousand online purchases in one month, and though the orders were placed by people with good intentions, there were soon e-mails asking why the books had not been delivered yet. "We spent a whole week explaining that cars couldn't enter the area until December," Montañana recalled.

As clean-up and reconstruction continued at Somnis de Paper's permanent location, Montañana also dealt with publishers, distributors, and insurance companies. In addition to the online orders, there were donations from individuals as well as companies and trade associations. There was public aid from local and national government, and support from a number of publishers and distributors, with some offering large discounts or not charging for books lost in the flood. He emphasized that even today, some issues remain unresolved with his insurance company and he doubts whether they will ever be resolved. He advised booksellers to read their policies "very closely."

On May 17, 2025, the bookstore reopened following a complete redesign. The opening was a success, including a party with hundreds of attendees, a DJ, live music, food, and drink.

Since then, Montañana said he has seen increased support for bookstores and other local businesses. "It's true that some have gone back to online or big stores, but many people have learned the importance of small businesses." --Alex Mutter

The Twisted Spine in Brooklyn, N.Y., hosted the launch party for Caroline Bicks's Monsters in the Archives: My Year of Fear with Stephen King (Hogarth), where she was in conversation with acclaimed horror novelist Nat Cassidy. Bicks is the inaugural Stephen E. King Chair in Literature at the University of Maine and the first scholar to be granted extensive access to King’s private archives. (photo: Rob Kahn)

Once Upon a Time Books in Montrose, Calif., shared an Instagram reel of "my favorite workout," with a cameo by its resident bookseller cat, Pippi.

"Good Monday Morning Sunshines," Anna's New, Used and a Little Abused Books & More in Rockmart, Ga., posted on Facebook.

George Goodwin, Dragon Slayer by Candace Lee and Eric Newman (WaterBrook Children's).

Today:
Fresh Air: Kimberlé Williams Crenshaw, author of Backtalker: An American Memoir (Simon & Schuster, $30, 9781982181000).

Tomorrow:
Tamron Hall:  Anthony Anderson and Cedric the Entertainer, authors of The Husky and Handsome Guide to Grilling (Simon Element, $30, 9781668075357).

Also on Tamron Hall: Jet Li, author of Beyond Life and Death: The Way of True Freedom (Tarcher, $30, 9780593855072).

Kelly Clarkson Show: Anna Konkle, author of The Sane One: A Memoir by the Co-creator of Pen15 (Random House, $30, 9780593243992).

Former NBC Entertainment chairman Robert Greenblatt is returning to NBCUniversal as a producer after eight years, Deadline reported. His initial project under a new first-look deal with Universal Television is The Lies I Tell, a series adaptation of the 2022 bestselling novel by Julie Clark. Ken Olin, Roxanne Olin, Greenblatt, Jon Wu, and Clark are executive producing.

"Bob is a well-respected creative force in the industry. Welcoming him back to Universal Television feels both exciting and fitting," Erin Underhill, president of Universal Television, said. "His taste, vision and relationships have shaped some of television's most enduring hits, and we can't wait to collaborate with him on what comes next."

The Lies I Tell is "a cat-and-mouse thriller about a chameleon-like con artist, Meg, and a journalist, Kat Roberts, who has been waiting ten years for the woman who upended her life to return. And now that she has, Kat is determined to be the one to expose her. But as the two women grow closer, Kat's long-held assumptions begin to crumble, leaving Kat to wonder who Meg's true target is," Deadline noted.

Maggie Helwig's Encampment: Resistance, Grace, and an Unhoused Community (Coach House Books) won the C$40,000 (about US$29,435) Writers Trust of Canada Shaughnessy Cohen Prize for Political Writing, which recognizes a "book of literary nonfiction that captures a political subject of relevance to Canadian readers and has the potential to shape or influence thinking on contemporary Canadian political life."

In their citation, the jury said: "A necessary, on-the-ground view of Canada’s homelessness crisis, Encampment succeeds where much of political handwringing and wishful thinking around housing and poverty consistently fail. Maggie Helwig never lets compassion impede lucidity, and her book avoids both cynicism and battle fatigue. The result: a clear-eyed call to not look away, but to deepen understanding of the issue. As more and more of our neighbors find themselves living unsheltered, this book is essential reading."

With Ghost-Eye, Amitav Ghosh presents a thoroughly gratifying return to the full-form novel, his first since 2019's Gun Island. In 1969, three-year-old Varsha Gupta--"a pretty, cherubic girl" already bilingual in the Hindi of her privileged Calcutta family and the Bengali of her caregiver--slaps away her ayah's hand ready to feed her, demanding, "I want rice-and-fish. Give me some fish." The impossible request in this strictly vegetarian Marwari household leads to a shocking revelation: Varsha can remember her past life with another mother, living along a river where they regularly caught and ate fish. Varsha's pediatrician is called, but Dr. Monty Bose finds nothing physically amiss and suggests the family consult his wife, Shoma, "a highly qualified therapist and psychologist... [who] has dealt with several cases of... children who remember past lives."

A half-century later, as the world shuts down "during the plague year of 2020," Indian-born Brooklynite Dinu can't return to Calcutta to now-octogenarian Shoma, his maternal aunt with whom Dinu spent the first six months of his life while his mother recovered from "serious postpartum complications"; the rest of his youth was shared between the two sister-mothers. Dinu is Shoma's closest relative, a responsibility he bears with gratitude, affection, and deep love. Meanwhile, Tipu, the "semi-adopted son" of his marine biologist friend Piya Roy, is back in India to run an environmental trust in the Sundarbans and urgently needs Dinu's help with information involving Shoma's mysterious 1969 visit there. And so the narrative threads align, crisscrossing for revelatory connections.

While Ghost-Eye stands alone, Ghosh's faithful readers will thrill to make connections to previous titles. Dinanath "Dinu" Datta, who preferred the more American-sounding Deen in Gun Island, narrates here. Returning, too, is Dinu's "not my girlfriend" Piya from Gun Island and 2006's The Hungry Tide; Tipu and his partner, Rafi, also play central roles. Additional familiar faces include Sundarbans protector Nilima Bose, local Lusibari ferryman Horen Naskar, and The Glass Palace's protagonist Rajkumar Raha. Such reappearances seem fitting in a narrative centering reincarnation.

Moving seamlessly between decades, Ghosh (The Ibis Trilogy) intertwines family, sociopolitical history, capitalism, environmental crises, and a myriad of (sur)realities. Always an exceptional storyteller, he brilliantly combines what can be touched and seen with the documented otherworldly--the University of Virginia's Division of Perceptual Studies, the psychological phenomenon of "announcing dreams," as examples. Regardless of any lingering doubts from skeptics, Ghosh gifts a magnificent story ready to be believed, appreciated, and celebrated. --Terry Hong

Shelf Talker: Amitav Ghosh's Ghost-Eye brilliantly centers reincarnation to connect strangers, families, and the environment across the world.

The bestselling self-published books last week as compiled by IndieReader.com:

1. On the Hippie Trail: Istanbul to Kathmandu and the Making of a Travel Writer by Rick Steves
2. I Who Have Never Known Men by Jacqueline Harpman
3. The Core: 8 Principles for Building Strong, Authentic Leadership by Dr. Matt Paden and Dr. L. Ken Jones
4. The Permission Mission: Reclaiming the Power to Trust Your Own Voice by Dr. Cindy McGovern
5. The Deal by Elle Kennedy
6. Dungeon Crawler Carl by Matt Dinniman
7. My Dreadful Darling by H.D. Carlton
8. The Mistake by Elle Kennedy
9. The Score by Elle Kennedy
10. Trust by Kathy Lockheart

[Many thanks to IndieReader.com!]