Book Pulse

Winners of the Oregon Book Award are revealed. Michelle Adams’s The Containment: Detroit, the Supreme Court, and the Battle for Racial Justice in the North receives the Hillman Prize for Journalism. The Hugo, Lodestar, and Astounding Award finalists are announced, as is the shortlist for the RBC Bronwen Wallace Award for Emerging Writers. LibraryReads and LJ offer read-alikes for top holds title Mad Mabel by Sally Hepworth. Casey McQuiston reveals a forthcoming Red, White & Royal Blue book project. Counterterrorism expert Erroll Southers‘s forthcoming book Inside the Castle Walls will be adapted for film, while T. L. Swan’s “Miles High Club” books are set for a TV adaptation.

Shortlists for the Carol Shields Prize for Fiction and the inaugural Libraro Prize are revealed. Stolen letters written by John Keats are returned after decades. Publishers Weekly releases a 2026 summer reads preview. Meryl Streep rules out writing a memoir. The Princess Bride, based on the novel by William Goldman, wins LitHub’s bracket-style competition to determine the best literary film adaptation of the last 50 years. Practical Magic 2, based on characters by Alice Hoffman, releases a new trailer. Plus, ALA reveals the 11 most challenged books of 2025.

Mad Mabel by Sally Hepworth leads holds this week. Also in demand are new titles by Danielle Steel, Susan Patterson & James Patterson, Douglas Preston & Aletheia Preston, and Marcus Kliewer. The LA Times Book Prize winners are announced, including Adam Ross and Justin Haynes. Winners of the Sheikh Zayed Book Award are announced. BookCon 2026 wrapped up this weekend in NYC; it included an interview with Rachel Reid and big news from Veronica Roth. Plus, National Library Week is underway, with the theme “Find Your Joy.”

Shortlist for the Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction and Society of Authors’ Encore Award for best second novel are announced. The Book of Lost Hours by Hayley Gelfuso wins the Baltimore Science Fiction Society’s Compton Crook Award for best debut. Kirkus launches a new indie award. Whoopi Goldberg is starting a publishing imprint at Blackstone. Plus, Page to Screen and interviews with Aziz Abu Sarah and Maoz Inon, Rainbow Rowell, and Susan Page.

Winners are announced for the Anisfield-Wolf Book Awards; Nell Irvin Painter wins a lifetime achievement award. Recipients of the Whiting Award for Emerging Writers are announced. LA Times looks at the Gen Z and millennial readers reimagining book clubs. Plus, new title bestsellers and an LA Times profile of S. A. Cosby.

Time unveils the 2026 TIME100, which highlights authors Freida McFadden, Yiyun Li, Alan Cumming, Ethan Hawke, and more. U.S. Poet Laureate Arthur Sze has been appointed for a second term. The Guggenheim Literary Fellows are announced. NYT Book Review kicks of its 2026 Poetry Challenge next week. LibraryReads and LJ offer read-alikes for top holds title Hope Rises by David Baldacci. Dustin Hoffman announces the forthcoming memoir, Look at Me. Plus, a new Pew survey reveals that American adults still prefer print books.

Oprah selects Go Gentle by Maria Semple for her book club. Winners of the Xingyun Awards for Chinese science fiction and shortlists for the Locus Awards, the Commonwealth Short Story Prize, and the Jhalak Prize are announced. Rainbow Rowell discusses her new novel, Cherry Baby. Meryl Wilsner’s queer sports romance Cleat Cute will get a TV series adaptation. Plus, Penguin Random House urges lawmakers to reject book banning bill HR 7661.

Hope Rises by David Baldacci leads holds this week. Also in demand are new titles by Maria Semple, Lena Dunham, Rainbow Rowell, and Jane Harper. People’s book of the week is Yesteryear by Caro Claire Burke. Tucker Carlson will launch a new imprint with Skyhorse Publishing. Interviews arrive with Lena Dunham, Nelio Biedermann, Rachel Khong, and Cheryl W. Thompson. Plus, the Canada Reads battle of the books kicks off today.

Shortlists for the Fortnum & Mason Food and Drink Awards, the Dublin Literary Award, and the Nota Bene Prize are revealed. Said Khatibi wins the International Prize for Arabic Fiction. Recipients of the Writing Freedom Fellowship are named, and Jonathan Maberry and Lisa Morton will receive lifetime achievement awards from the Horror Writers Association. Paramount has formed a new publishing imprint, while Farrar, Straus & Giroux will close the MCD imprint. Ana Huang’s “Gods of the Game” sports romance series will get a three-film adaptation. Plus, Page to Screen and interviews with Mary Fariba Afsari and V. E. Schwab and Cat Clarke.