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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.

Despite recent traumatic events in Minneapolis and people's ongoing fears, the mood at the 2026 PLA conference was, overall, positive. Speakers, sessions, and conversations consistently centered the belief that change is both necessary and possible, that library values still take precedence, and that hope is an effective muscle.

Beginning as a series of posts on the American Library Association (ALA) Connect members discussion board in fall 2024, Librarians We Have Lost was created to celebrate the Association’s sesquicentennial. ALA members were asked to submit tributes through ALA Connect to honor the memory, service, and professional contributions of librarians, educators, and library workers we have lost over the past 50 years.

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.

At an atypical and uncertain moment in the budget cycle, libraries are looking beyond traditional revenue streams and funding partners.

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.

Winners of the Windham-Campbell Prizes and the Indies Choice Book Awards are announced. The pseudonymous Freida McFadden reveals her identity. The Trump administration has withdrawn its appeal of the IMLS case. LA Times has a package on book clubs, while LJ offers its 2026 graphic novels preview. Octavia Butler’s Parable of the Sower will be adapted as a movie by Warner Bros. Plus, new title bestsellers and interviews with Annabelle Gurwitch, Kathryn Paige Harden, and Tim Blake Nelson.

The National Book Foundation 5 Under 35 honorees are Megan Kamalei Kakimoto, Anika Jade Levy, Carrie R. Moore, Maggie Su, and Stephanie Wambugu. The Stella Prize shortlist is announced. Black British Book Festival founder Selina Brown receives the inaugural Queen’s Reading Room Medal. LibraryReads and LJ offer read-alikes for top holds title Yesteryear by Caro Claire Burke. Journalist Maggie Haberman will publish Regime Change: Inside the Imperial Presidency of Donald Trump on June 23. Interviews arrive with Rachel Khong, Emma Straub, Julian Barnes, and Patrick Radden Keefe. Plus, LJ’s graphic novel preview and sure bets.

Mahreen Sohail wins the PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction for her story collection Small Scale Sinners. Virginia Evans wins the James Patterson & Bookshop.org Prize for The Correspondent. T. J. Stiles is honored with the BIO Award for his career in biography writing, and the winners of the British Science Fiction Association Awards are revealed. The I Love My Librarian Award honorees for outstanding public service are announced. Plus, The Millions’ spring preview and a round-up of April book club picks.

On March 14, 2025, President Donald Trump issued an executive order (EO) with immediate consequences for the nation’s libraries. EO 14238, “Continuing the Reduction of the Federal Bureaucracy,” called for the elimination of seven government agencies—notably, the Institute of Museum and Library Services, the federal agency dedicated to funding library services. With it, the administration moved to dismiss dozens of agency workers and to cut off at the knees one of the most trusted of American institutions. Librarians and their communities received this news with no clear answer about what would come next, leading to a period of uncertainty and, ultimately, resilience.

Will libraries pay the price for property tax reform?

Yesteryear by Caro Claire Burke leads holds this week. Also in demand are new titles by John Sandford, Emma Straub, Evelyn Clarke, and Patrick Radden Keefe. Eight LibraryReads and five Indie Next picks publish this week. People’s book of the week is Mothers and Other Strangers by Corey Ann Haydu. M. R. Carey wins the Philip K. Dick Award for Outlaw Planet.

Is the era of ephemeralization finally over or just beginning? LJ’s 2026 Periodicals Price Survey looks at how economic constraints may affect the landscape.

Finalists for the Christian Book Awards and the UK’s Romantic Novel of the Year Awards are revealed. A Tennessee library director was fired for refusing to move LGBTQIA+ children’s books to the adult section. Publishers Weekly reports from the opening day of the PLA 2026 conference. Meryl Streep will star in Netflix’s adaptation of Jonathan Franzen’s The Corrections. Plus, Page to Screen and a profile of Ben Lerner, author of Transcription.

Brittani Sterling, Social Sciences and Interdisciplinary Studies Librarian at the University of Nevada–Las Vegas (UNLV), was named a 2025 Library Journal Mover & Shaker for her online workshops and UNLV Libraries program “We Need to Talk: Conversations on Racism for a More Resilient Las Vegas.” LJ spoke with Sterling about academic advocacy, talking about systemic racism in Las Vegas, and being in the public eye as an introvert-leaning ambivert.

Winners of the PEN America Literary Awards are announced. André Alexis’s Other Worlds: Stories wins the Story Prize. The Guardian has writers and readers share the books they enjoyed in March. Globe Pequot acquires the crafts-focused Linden Publishing. Plus, new title bestsellers and interviews with Álvaro Enrigue, Colm Tóibín, Jenny Lawson, and Gisèle Pelicot.

After refusing to comply with the library board’s decision to remove 132 books from the children’s section of the Rutherford County Library System (RCLS), TN, former Director Luanne James has been fired. The library board voted 8–3 to terminate James at a special board meeting on March 30.

Upward Bound by Woody Brown is the April Read with Jenna book club pick; Mothers and Other Strangers by Corey Ann Haydu is B&N’s pick. Vice President J. D. Vance will publish the book Communion: Finding My Way Back to Faith on June 16. John Green’s first novel for adults, Hollywood, Ending, comes out September 22. LibraryReads and LJ offer read-alikes for top holds title The Keeper by Tana French. Sandie Jones’s novel The Other Woman will be adapted as a TV series. Plus, LJ has a new prepub alert, featuring titles publishing in August 2026.

Finalists for the International Booker Prize and the Aldiss Award longlist are announced. Vogue’s book club pick for April is Lauren Weisberger’s 2004 novel The Devil Wears Prada. The New York Times Book Review has cut ties with a freelance reviewer who used an AI tool to draft a review. Harlequin announces a partnership with Dashverse to co-produce 40 AI-animated microdramas. Jennifer Probst’s The Marriage Bargain will get a film adaptation. Interviews with Alex Aster, Louise Erdrich, and Caitríona Balfe arrive. Plus, the PLA Conference kicks off tomorrow in Minneapolis.

Playaway has debuted the Launchpad Quest, a 21.5-inch touchscreen learning hub with up to 150 educational games, storybooks, activities, and more for children ages 3–10.

The Keeper by Tana French leads holds this week. Also in demand are new titles by Navessa Allen, Ilona Andrews, Jenny Lawson, and Arthur C. Brooks. People’s book of the week is Python’s Kiss: Stories by Louise Erdrich. The Guardian interviews Woody Brown, a nonspeaking autistic man whose debut novel is Upward Bound.

Winners of the National Book Critics Circle Awards are announced. Luminous by Silvia Park wins the Otherwise Award. The NYT Book Review Book Club will discuss Kenan Orhan’s The Renovation in April. A judge has denied a motion to dismiss the lawsuit against the Department of Defense Education Activity over book removals. The publisher Callaway Arts & Entertainment has filed for bankruptcy. Plus, Page to Screen and a Lord of the Rings adaptation from Stephen Colbert.

Can we, should we, focus on the core value of sustainability when so many of our professional core values are under attack? While some of our patrons are under attack? As we see the repeated attempts to dismantle the Institute of Museum and Library Services?

The six-book shortlist for the Women’s Prize for Non-Fiction is announced. Ghost Driver by Nell Osborne and Figures Crossing the Field Towards the Group by Rebecca Gransden win the Queen Mary Small Press Fiction Prize. Partridge Boswell wins the UK’s National Poetry Competition. Gloria Steinem will publish a memoir, An Unexpected Life. Plus, new title bestsellers and interviews with Arsenio Hall and Wil Wheaton.

Staff members of the American Library Association (ALA) have announced plans to unionize with the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Council 31 in Illinois. More than 40 employees of ALA, whose main headquarters is in Chicago, shared an open letter with their colleagues on March 2 encouraging their support for a new union, ALA Workers United.

Bob Woodward will publish Secrets: A Reporter’s Memoir on September 29. In May, The Guardian’s Saturday magazine will publish a landmark list of the 100 best novels of all time. LibraryReads and LJ offer read-alikes for top holds title The Night We Met by Abby Jimenez. Layne Fargo’s The Favorites will be adapted for film, and a stage version of Trainspotting, based on the novel by Irvine Welsh, will premiere in London’s West End this summer. Interviews arrive with Andrew McCarthy, Siew Hii, Jenny Tinghui Zhang, and Bethany C. Morrow.

The Irish Book Awards releases a list featuring 60 of the best books from the past two decades in celebration of its 20th anniversary. Anna Dempsey wins the inaugural Hilary Mantel Prize for Fiction. Finalists for the BMO Winterset Award and the Jim Baen Memorial Short Story Award are announced. Scribner will re-release Don DeLillo‘s 1980 hockey novel Amazons this fall. Andrew McCarthy and Jordan Ritter Conn examine male loneliness in new books. Chris Colfer is writing his first adult novel, due out summer 2027. Warner Bros. has secured the rights to Richard Powers’s Playground. Carley Fortune’s This Summer Will Be Different will be adapted for TV; her Every Summer After adaptation premieres on June 10.

Results of last year’s library elections show strong support for existing work, but also caution about new initiatives.

In this month's AI Watch column, the Libraries Lead podcast team discusses whether AI could be making us work more, not less; ChatGPT's testing of ads; and how AI is being used in crime investigations.

The Night We Met by Abby Jimenez leads holds this week. Also in demand are new titles by Marie Benedict, T. Kingfisher, Ariel Sullivan, and Louise Erdrich. People’s book of the week is The Golden Boy by Patricia Finn. Christopher Caldwell wins the Crawford Award for Call and Response. There are updates on Martin Scorsese’s adaptation of Peter Cameron’s novel What Happens at Night. Film and television action star Chuck Norris, both author and subject of numerous titles, has died at the age of 86.

BIO reveals the longlist for the Plutarch Award for best biography. The shortlist for the Queen Mary Small Press Fiction Prize is announced. Hachette has cancelled Mia Ballard’s horror novel Shy Girl over the author’s suspected use of AI. The U.S. House Committee on Education and the Workforce is advancing the national book ban bill, HR 7661. Jane Fonda will star in a film adaptation of Virginia Evans’s The Correspondent. Plus, Page to Screen and interviews with Fab 5 Freddy and Christina Applegate.

ARL Unbound is a new column by Association of Research Libraries (ARL) Executive Director Andrew K. Pace, in which he talks with ARL members at the forefront of leading issues in research libraries. This month, Pace sits down with Alexia Hudson-Ward, university librarian and dean of Georgetown University Library, an elected member of the American Antiquarian Society, and the incoming president of the Association of College and Research Libraries.

Finalists for the Lambda Literary Awards and the shortlist for the Dylan Thomas Prize are revealed. The current Middle East conflcit could cause ripple effects in the book supply chain. There are profiles of 2 Chainz and Anne Lamott and her husband Neal Allen and interviews with Francis Spufford, Jeff Boyd, Rebecca Lehmann, and George Saunders. Plus, new title bestsellers, a March/April 2026 romantasy report, and vampire novels to sink one’s teeth into.

Virginia Evans wins the PEN/Hemingway Award for her novel The Correspondent. Historian Lyndal Roper wins the Holberg Prize. The Climate Fiction Prize shortlistand Jhalak Prize longlists are announced. Baker & Taylor files for bankruptcy. LibraryReads and LJ offer read-alikes for top holds title Finlay Donovan Crosses the Line by Elle Cosimano. Cosimano’s Finlay Donovan Is Killing It is currently being adapted for TV. A new trailer arrives for Dune: Part Three.

The mission at the D.C. punk and indie fanzine collection at the University of Maryland–College Park’s Michelle Smith Performing Arts Library is to collect, preserve, and share self-published materials about the punk and indie music scene in the Washington, DC area from the 1970s through the present day.

The J. Anthony Lukas Prize Project Award winners are announced, with Jeff Hobbs winning the Lukas Book Prize for Seeking Shelter: A Working Mother, Her Children, and a Story of Homelessness in America and William Dalrymple winning the Mark Lynton History Prize for The Golden Road: How Ancient India Transformed the World. The shortlist for the James Patterson and Bookshop.org Prize is announced, along with the finalists for the Publishing Triangle Awards. April’s LibraryReads list features top pick Yesteryear by Caro Claire Burke. Travis Baldree’s Legends & Lattes will be adapted as a graphic novel. British spy novelist Len Deighton has died at 97, and Margareta Magnusson, author of The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning, has died at 92.

Beanstack today announced its acquisition of Comics Plus. The two digital platforms will combine to create a  Joyful Reading Company, a new brand combining Comics Plus' catalog with Beanstack's reading motivation tools.

Despite concerns, librarians will assemble for the Public Library Association Conference in Minneapolis; LJ talks to the PLA presidential candidates.

Finlay Donovan Crosses the Line by Elle Cosimano leads holds this week. Also in demand are new titles by Sandra Brown, Benjamin Stevenson, Elle Kennedy, and Elizabeth Berg. The Nebula Awards final ballot and the Stella Prize longlist are revealed. The Bookseller reports on the “Booktok meltdown” following Sarah J. Maas’s announcement of two forthcoming ACOTAR books. The Atlantic writes about customers re-embracing Barnes & Noble. Idris Elba will coauthor a new thriller series. Plus, bookish films collect multiple Academy Awards.

Finalists for the Thriller Awards, the Indies Choice Book Awards, and the Carnegie Medals are revealed. The big-screen adaptation of Colleen Hoover’s Reminders of Him comes out today, and NYT explains why Hoover books are hot intellectual property in Hollywood. CrimeReads shares Indian mysteries and the best paperback releases of the month, while Reactor highlights March’s essential horror titles. Plus, Billie Eilish will star in a new adaptation of Sylvia Plath’s The Bell Jar.

The Remembered Soldier by Anjet Daanje wins the Republic of Consciousness Prize, United States and Canada. The Bancroft Prize goes to Emilie Connolly’s Vested Interests: Trusteeship and Native Dispossession in the United States and Beth Lew-Williams’s John Doe Chinaman: A Forgotten History of Chinese Life Under American Racial Law. Finalists for the Aspen Words Literary Prize are revealed. LitHub selects 13 essential books by trans and queer writers. Former first lady Jill Biden is publishing a memoir. Plus, new title bestsellers.

Scarpetta, the long-awaited adaptation of the novels by Patricia Cornwell, arrives on Amazon Prime Video today. Former Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden will receive the Biblio Award from Biographers International Organization. The 15th Nantucket Book Festival announces its lineup, including Ann Patchett, Jenna Bush Hager, and Richard Russo. LibraryReads and LJ offer read-alikes for top holds title Judge Stone by James Patterson & Viola Davis. BookRiot lists the best mysteries and thrillers of the century so far. Plus, interviews with T Kira Madden, Liza Minnelli, Rebecca Serle, Kathie Lee Gifford, Lauren Graham, and Tom Junod.

Maria Reva wins the Gordon Burn Prize for her novel Endling. The longlist for the Carol Shields Prize for Fiction is announced. Former Amazon executive Greg Greeley is named CEO of Simon & Schuster. Amy Griffin is being sued by a former classmate over details in her 2025 memoir The Tell. Formerly detained WSJ reporter Evan Gershkovich announces a book, This Cursed Beautiful Land: A Russian-American Story. Katie Kitamura’s novel A Separation will be adapted for the big screen. Interviews arrive with Lucy Score, Liza Minnelli, Valerie Bertinelli, Robin Arzon, and Amy Jo Burns. Plus, highlights, protest, and analysis from the London Book Fair.

Judge Stone by James Patterson and Viola Davis leads holds this week. Also in demand are new titles by Tiffany Crum, T Kira Madden, Liza Minnelli, and Rebecca Serle. Five LibraryReads and two Indie Next picks publish this week. People’s book of the week is Lady Tremaine by Rachel Hochhauser. Interviews arrive with Patterson and Davis, Julia May Jonas, Mark Oppenheimer, and Lloyd Blankfein. One Battle After Another (inspired by Thomas Pynchon’s Vineland) wins best adapted screenplay at the Writers Guild Awards.

Shortlists for the British Book Awards, British Science Fiction Association Awards, European Union Prize for Literature, and Ockham New Zealand Book Awards are announced. NYT previews 32 novels and 26 nonfiction books coming this spring. Sandra Cisneros, Marie Howe, Pico Iyer, Rick Moody, Carl Phillips, and Arthur Sze are inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Letters. Patrick Stewart will perform Shakespeare’s complete sonnets in a new audiobook. Novelist António Lobo Antunes has died at 83. Plus, Page to Screen and interviews with Lloyd Blankfein, Roger Bennett, and Adam Mars-Jones.

Kayleen Jones, Education and Human Service Professions Librarian at the University of Minnesota–Duluth (UMD) Kathryn A. Martin Library, was named a 2025 Library Journal Mover & Shaker for her work launching the Antiracist Literary Advisory Board. Together with her library colleagues and the UMD Education faculty, Jones created the platform for Education students to learn about identifying needs around representation in children’s publishing and exploring ways to fill them. LJ spoke with Jones about the genesis of the project, and how it impacted those who participated.

The 16-book longlist for the Women’s Prize for Fiction is announced. Claire Lynch’s A Family Matter wins the Nero Gold Prize, while Rufi Thorpe’s Margo’s Got Money Troubles receives Texas State University’s L. D. and LaVerne Harrell Clark Fiction Prize. Judi Dench has written a memoir. LitHub reports from an all-men book club and explains why so many women authors are writing about bears. Plus, new title bestsellers and interviews with Lindy West and Annie Leibovitz.

Funding trends in 2025 reflected an unsettled landscape, with few identifiable trends and many questions about what the future may hold.

Winners of the Libby Book Awards and Audie Awards are announced, as are finalists for the Anisfield-Wolf Book Awards. Marc DeBevoise is named president of OverDrive. LibraryReads and LJ offer read-alikes for top holds title You with the Sad Eyes: A Memoir by Christina Applegate. Reese Witherspoon picks Lady Tremaine by Rachel Hochhauser as her March book club read. Sarah J. Maas discusses ACOTAR 6 and more on the Call Her Daddy podcast. M. L. Rio’s 2017 novel If We Were Villains will be adapted as a TV series. Plus, starred reviews from LJ’s March issue.

Finalists for the PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction are announced. The PROSE R. R. Hawkins Award goes to Atlantic Cataclysm: Rethinking the Atlantic Slave Trades by David Eltis. The Republic of Consciousness Prize shortlist is announced. Tananarive Due is named toastmaster for the 61st Annual Nebula Awards and will also be the guest of honor at the Locus Awards. March book club picks include Amy Jo Burns’s Wait for Me (Read with Jenna), Elizabeth Arnott’s The Secret Lives of Murderers’ Wives (GMA), Cynthia D’Aprix Sweeney’s Lake Effect (B&N), and Anna Quindlen’s More Than Enough (Katie Couric). Plus, interviews with Christina Applegate, Cristina Rivera Garza, Gina Gershon, Namwali Serpell, and Cazzie David.

A holistic approach to literacy in the broadest sense, and a commitment to open and equitable access, has earned HCPL the 2026 Jerry Kline Community Impact Prize, developed in partnership with the Gerald M. Kline Family Foundation.

The 2025–26 Jerry Kline Community Impact Prize has gone to Harris County Public Library, TX, for its prioritization of literacy and equitable access. Out of many deserving entries, two others stood out as well for their strong local partnerships, resilience, and creative approach to service.

Librarians respond to pressure with presence.

You with the Sad Eyes: A Memoir by Christina Applegate leads holds this week. Also in demand are new titles by Susan Mallery, Danielle Steel, Cynthia D’Aprix Sweeney, and Cara Bastone. People’s book of the week is Kin by Tayari Jones. Amazon editors select the best books of March. LJ’s Prepub Alert previews titles publishing in July. Award-winning science fiction and horror writer Dan Simmons has died at the age of 77.

The Read with Jenna book club selects Amy Jo Burns’s Wait for Me as its March read, while NYT’s Book Review Book Club picks Tayari Jones’s Kin. The Baltimore Science Fiction Society reveals the finalists for the Compton Crook Award. Congressional Republicans propose a nationwide book-banning bill targeting books on LGBTQIA+ topics. LitHub selects the best book covers of February. NYT and Kirkus recommend titles coming out in March. Nathaniel Rich’s Losing Earth: A Recent History is being adapted as a film. Plus, Lessons in Chemistry author Bonnie Garmus will publish her second novel this fall.

The Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) announced February 20 that it has provided several Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) with $1,725,261 in funding. The money was distributed among eight HBCUs and the HBCU Library Alliance toward projects that preserve U.S. history and develop the future workforce.

Literary winners of the NAACP Image Awards are announced, including Nnedi Okorafor, Charles Fancher, Juanita Tolliver, Patricia Smith, and a graphic novel adaptation of an Octavia E. Butler title. Locus publishes its 2025 Recommended Reading list of genre titles. NYT writes about the deluge of publishing scams targeting both new and established authors. Spotify launches Audiobook Charts, a list of its most popular audiobook titles of the week. Publishing Perspectives examines how Ukraine is redefining war literature. Plus, new title bestsellers and interviews with Melissa Auf der Maur, Brian Platzer, Tayari Jones, and B. K. Borison.

Among the more than 100 pages of the Telecommunications Act of 1996, two paragraphs have had outsized influence on library services over the last 30 years. These paragraphs are the basis of the federal E-Rate program which, today, supports internet connectivity for about half of the nation’s public libraries.

Oprah picks Kin by Tayari Jones for her book club. The 13-book International Booker Prize longlist and the PROSE Award winners are announced. Heated Rivalry author Rachel Reid delays the publication of her new “Game Changers” novel to 2027. Publishing Perspectives confirms that Hachette is now the third largest publisher in the U.S., after solid 2025 earnings. LibraryReads and LJ offer read-alikes for top holds title And Now, Back to You by B. K. Borison. Plus, what to know about the forthcoming movie adaptation of Kristin Hannah’s Nightingale.

Michelle Obama’s The Look and Will Packer’s Who Better Than You?: The Art of Healthy Arrogance & Dreaming Big win NAACP Image Awards. The Aurealis Awards winners are revealed. The Horror Writers Association announces the final ballot for the Bram Stoker Awards. ABA’s Winter Institute 2026 is underway in Pittsburgh. Tyrant Books will relaunch following a period of inactivity after founder Giancarlo DiTrapano’s death in 2021. Ingram is launching Covered, a new catalog and galley-discovery service for publishers, booksellers, and librarians. Plus, V. Castro’s The Haunting of Alejandra will be adapted as a series at Hulu.

And Now, Back to You by B. K. Borison leads holds this week. Also in demand are new titles by C. J. Box, Tayari Jones, Anna Quindlen, and Michael Pollan. Six LibraryReads and seven Indie Next picks publish this week, including a book of stories by Lauren Groff. People’s book of the week is Evil Genius by Claire Oshetsky. Shortlists for the Lukas Prizes are revealed. One Battle After Another, inspired by Thomas Pynchon’s novel Vineland, wins several BAFTAs, including best adapted screenplay. A biography of legendary Final Fantasy composer Nobuo Uematsu will publish September 15. Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist and author Susan Sheehan has died at the age of 88.

In October 2025, a representative of the State Department informed 501(c)(3) nonprofit U.S. public libraries by email that they must stop offering passport application services as of February 13. Public libraries that are departments of local municipal governments were not included in the determination. The American Library Association (ALA) estimates some 1,400 libraries—15 percent of the nation’s total—could be affected.

Winners of the National Jewish Book Awards are announced, with Eli Sharabi’s Hostage winning Book of the Year. The finalists for the PEN/Hemingway Awards for best debut novel are revealed: The Correspondent by Virginia Evans, Awake in the Floating City by Susanna Kwan, and Blob by Maggie Su. The Horror Writers Association announces its Summer Scares Reading list, including Never Whistle at Night: An Indigenous Dark Fiction Anthology, edited by Shane Hawk & Theodore C. Van Alst Jr., Maeve Fly by CJ Leede, and A Botanical Daughter by Noah Medlock. Plus, Page to Screen, a new novel from Barbara Kingsolver, and a Fresh Air interview with Michael Pollan.

Finalists for the LA Times Book Prizes and the shortlist for the Unwin Award for early-career nonfiction writers are revealed. Zando is launching a new horror imprint, Evil Twin. Book clubs are still swooning over Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights, and gothic romance is uniting pop and literary fandoms. Audible introduces a feature that pairs audiobook narration with synchronized, highlighted text. Plus, new title bestsellers, a profile of Tayari Jones, and Anne Fadiman’s “Annotated Nightstand.”

Open data has become “strongly embedded into research practices” and FAIR (findability, accessibility, interoperability, and reusability) data principles are now widely recognized, with awareness almost tripling from 15.2 percent in 2018 to 40.6 percent recently, according to “The State of Open Data 2025: A Decade of Progress and Challenges,” a report published in January by Digital Science, Springer Nature, and Figshare. The percentage of researchers who responded that they had “never heard of FAIR” has fallen from almost 60 percent in 2018 to 20.4 percent in the 2025 survey.

Follett Content today announced the hire of more than 10 industry veterans—including several who previously held roles at Baker & Taylor—and several targeted investments in its technology infrastructure to strengthen its support for public library systems nationwide. Long a major supplier to K–12 schools and school libraries, Follett Content announced its entry into the public library market last September, as Baker & Taylor struggled to fulfill orders.

Ohio Humanities launches a yearlong celebration of Nobel Prize–winning Ohioan Toni Morrison. Andy Weir wins the Robert A. Heinlein Award. The Dublin Literary Award longlist and the Sheikh Zayed Book Awards shortlists are revealed. Audible names 15 new inductees to its Narrator Hall of Fame. Kentucky governor Andy Beshear announces his forthcoming memoir, Go and Do Likewise: How We Heal a Broken Country, due out September 22. Plus, LibraryReads and LJ offer read-alikes for top holds title The Astral Library by Kate Quinn.

The Astral Library by Kate Quinn leads holds this week. Also in demand are new titles by Mark Greaney, Heather Fawcett, B. A. Paris, and Grant Ginder. People’s book of the week is This Is Not About Us by Allegra Goodman. Gisèle Pelicot’s memoir A Hymn to Life: Shame Has To Change Sides arrives with buzz. Wuthering Heights, based on the novel by Emily Brontë, tops opening weekend box office returns. Adaptations are in the works for Jonathan Rose’s true crime book Innocents: How Justice Failed Stefan Kiszko and Lesley Molseed and Giles Paley-Phillips’s bestselling novel One Hundred and Fifty-Two Days. Rev. Jesse Jackson, civil rights leader and subject of the new book A Dream Deferred: Jesse Jackson and the Fight for Black Political Power by Abby Phillip, has died at the age of 84.

The film adaptation of Wuthering Heights premieres today, sparking lots of analysis. PEN America names new leadership. The Atlantic examines the near-monopoly that the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation has on American arts and letters. Pulitzer Prize winner Hernan Diaz is publishing his third novel this fall. Plus, Page to Screen and interviews with Lindsey Weber and Bobby Finger, Emily Nemens, and Eleanor Shearer.

Harlequin will cease production of Harlequin Historicals after nearly 40 years. The American Girl doll Samantha is getting her first novel for adults. EarlyWord’s February GalleyChat is now available. The new Netflix adaptation of Orhan Pamuk’s The Museum of Innocence was the fruit of years of effort by the author. Plus, new title bestsellers, interviews with James Lee Burke and Allegra Goodman, and takeaways from ALA’s “Recharging in Challenging Times” virtual conference.

Longlists for the Women’s Prize for Non-Fiction and the Climate Fiction Prize are revealed. Publishers Weekly rounds up February’s book club picks. LibraryReads and LJ offer read-alikes for top holds title Cross & Sampson by James Patterson & Brian Sitts. Stephen King’s 1980 novella The Mist will get a new film adaptation. Amy Sherman-Palladino will write and direct a feature adaptation of Jennifer Weiner’s The Griffin Sisters’ Greatest Hits. Prime Video announces a new TV adaptation of Chloe Walsh’s “Boys of Tommen” series. Plus, LJ’s “RA Crossroads” column provides whole-collection readers’ advisory for Emily Henry’s People We Meet on Vacation.

The Oregon Book Awards finalists are revealed, along with the Otherwise Fellowship recipients. A 10-book longlist for the inaugural James Patterson and Bookshop.org Prize is announced. The New Yorker laments the end of Washington Post’s books section and what it means for readers. Actress Emma Thompson will narrate the audio version of Gisèle Pelicot’s memoir A Hymn to Life: Shame Has To Change Sides. Clare Mackintosh’s forthcoming novel It’s Not What You Think will be adapted for TV, and Alice Hoffman’s Practical Magic is being adapted as a stage musical. Plus, interviews with Wil Haygood, Laura Mauldin, Alice Evelyn Yang, and Stephen Grosz.

Cross & Sampson by James Patterson & Brian Sitts leads holds this week. Also in demand are new titles by Ali Hazelwood, Matt Dinniman, Brad Thor, and Sadeqa Johnson. People’s book of the week is This Book Made Me Think of You by Libby Page. The March Indie Next preview is out, featuring #1 pick And Now, Back to You by B. K. Borison. The longlist for the Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction is announced. Plus, romance reads for Valentine’s Day.

As artificial intelligence tools become pervasive, public libraries may want to establish transparent guidelines for how they are used by staff.

Winners of the Porchlight Business Book Awards are revealed. Spotify announces Page Match, a technology by which readers can switch between reading a physical copy of a book and listening to the audiobook version of it by scanning the page. NYT recommends the essential Toni Morrison and writes about the disappearance of the mass-market paperback. Plus, Page to Screen.

Over the past year, I’ve found myself replacing my favorite conversation starter—what are you reading?—with a new question: How are you using AI?

Libby Book Awards finalists are revealed. Finalists are also announced for the Aurealis Awards, honoring the best Australian sci-fi, fantasy, and horror books. Washington Post is eliminating its books section amid company-wide layoffs. Norton is acquiring Thames & Hudson’s college list. LitHub examines the phenomenon of the world’s biggest Twitch streamer, Kai Cenat, reading books aloud on his live streams. Plus, new title bestsellers.

A three-year research project, funded through a grant from the Institute for Museum and Library Services, has been making progress on examining how libraries can help their communities better understand artificial intelligence. Led by a partnership between the Urban Libraries Council and the State University of New York at Albany’s Center for Technology in Government, four public libraries—Frisco Public Library, TX, Palo Alto City Library, CA, Queens Public Library, NY, and Schaumburg Township District Library, IL, are involved.

Reese Witherspoon’s book club picks In Her Defense by Philippa Malicka for February; B&N selects Good People by Patmeena Sabit. February’s Earphone Award winners are revealed. LibraryReads and LJ offer read-alikes for top holds title Stolen in Death by J. D. Robb. Brandon Sanderson discusses adaptations of his “Cosmere” universe. There are new trailers for Margo’s Got Money Troubles, based on the novel by Rufi Thorpe, and Imperfect Women, based on the novel by Araminta Hall. Plus, LJ’s 2026 Prepub Alert Preview arrives.

Voting for the American Library Association (ALA) 2027–28 presidential campaign opens March 9, and ALA members in good standing can cast their ballots through April 1. LJ invited candidates Tamika Barnes, Associate Dean for Perimeter Library Services at Georgia State University, Atlanta, and President of the Georgia Library Association; and Becky Calzada, District Library Coordinator for the Leander Independent School District, TX, and a cofounding member of Texas #FReadom Fighters, to discuss some key issues they see facing the association and librarianship.

The PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction longlist and shortlists for the Aurealis Awards and the VS Pritchett Short Story Prize are announced. Ingram Library Services will add staff and expand operations to meet the need brought about by Baker & Taylor’s closing. Louise Penny announces her next Inspector Gamache novel, Miss Wolcott’s Ghost, will publish October 27. Helena Bonham Carter, Caitríona Balfe, Emma Laird, and Anthony Hopkins have signed on to star in the adaptation of Rose Tremain’s short story–turned–forthcoming novel The Housekeeper. Plus, booklists for Black History Month.

LJ recently convened a roundtable of experts to weigh in on the latest developments in a topic that is central to the library profession: copyright. 

Stolen in Death by J. D. Robb leads holds this week. Also in demand are new titles by Mary Kubica, Jonathan Kellerman, Jo Nesbø, and Demi Winters. People’s book of the week is If I Ruled the World by Amy DuBois Barnett. One & Only by Maurene Goo is the February Read with Jenna pick, and The Exes by Leodora Darlington is GMA’s pick. Novelist James Sallis has died at the age of 81. Plus, Meditations: The Reflections of His Holiness the Dalai Lama wins the Grammy for best audiobook.

Amir Tibon’s The Gates of Gaza: A Story of Betrayal, Survival, and Hope in Israel’s Borderlands wins the Wingate Literary Prize, for the book that best conveys “the idea of Jewishness to the general reader.” PEN America reveals the finalists for its Literary Awards. Publishers Weekly explores ALA’s inaugural comics awards. NYT’s Book Review Book Club picks Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights as its February read. LA Times asks critics and authors to share the books they can’t wait to read in 2026. Plus, Page to Screen and Susan Choi’s favorite books.

The National Book Foundation’s Science + Literature honorees are revealed: Ancient Light: Poems by Kimberly Blaeser, Forest Euphoria: The Abounding Queerness of Nature by Patricia Ononiwu Kaishian, and Bog Queen by Anna North. Crime novelist Mark Billingham wins the UK Crime Writers’ Association’s Diamond Dagger. The Audie Award finalists and the preliminary ballot for the Bram Stoker Awards are announced. Poets Gabrielle Calvocoressi and Cornelius Eady are elected to the board of chancellors of the Academy of American Poets. Plus, new title bestsellers and “abolish ICE” reading lists with free ebooks.

The Andrew Carnegie Medal winners are revealed, with A Guardian and a Thief by Megha Majumdar winning the Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction, and Things in Nature Merely Grow by Yiyun Li winning the Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction. The RUSA Book and Media Award winners are announced, including the Notable Books List, Reading List, Listen List, Essential Cookbooks, Dartmouth Medal, and Outstanding References Sources List; Fagin the Thief by Allison Epstein receives the Sophie Brody Medal. LibraryReads and LJ offer read-alikes for top holds title Dear Debbie by Freida McFadden. Kirkus has a spring 2026 nonfiction preview.

This month, we focus on: Claude, Sora 2, and the State of AI in business and organizations.

The shortlist for the inaugural Sherborne Prize for Travel Writing is announced. Interviews arrive with Spencer Pratt, George Saunders, Jim Curtis, Imani Perry, Sarah Jessica Parker, and Heather Ann Thompson. NYPL will offer instant ebook access to Rachel Reid’s “Heated Rivalry” series until Valentine’s Day. Daniel Kraus is adapting his novel Angel Down for the big screen, while Amy DuBois Barnett’s If I Ruled the World will be adapted for television at Hulu. Plus, winners of the Andrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence will be announced today.

Dear Debbie by Freida McFadden leads holds this week. Also in demand are new titles by George Saunders, Douglas Preston & Lincoln Child, Nikesha Elise Williams, and Don Winslow. People’s book of the week is Crux by Gabriel Tallent. The Association of Jewish Libraries reveals the recipients of the Jewish Fiction Award, including winner Kaplan’s Plot by Jason Diamond and honor books Sisters of Fortune by Esther Chehebar, Fagin the Thief by Allison Epstein, and The Maiden and Her Monster by Maddie Martinez. The Dylan Thomas Prize longlist is announced. Plus, 2026 book previews.

As ICE raids continue in Minneapolis and St. Paul, MN (MSP), the school day is anything but normal. Parents are standing guard and acting as escorts for immigrants and all nonwhite students at drop-off and pickup, recess has often been moved inside while ICE agents stand just outside campuses, schools are facilitating online learning to accommodate children whose families are too scared to let them leave the house, and students are staging walkouts in protest.

Finalists are named for the Gotham Book Prize, and the longlist is revealed for the Republic of Consciousness Prize, U.S. and Canada. Academy Awards nominations are announced, including Best Picture nods for the literary adaptations Frankenstein, Hamnet, One Battle After Another, and Train Dreams. The political action committee EveryLibrary releases its 2025 impact report. We Need Diverse Books launches the Unbanned Book Network to help teachers counter book bans. Plus, Fresh Air interviews Quiara Alegria Hudes, author of The White Hot.

Microsoft makes Windows and Office free for all public access computers in libraries, JSTOR reaches 100 open access books via its Path to Open initiative, Ingram partners with Backstage Library Works to bolster shelf-ready offerings, and more.

The NASA Goddard Information and Collaboration Center (GIC2) at the Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) in Greenbelt, MD, closed on Friday, January 2, by order of the Trump administration. In-person services and checkouts had ceased on December 9, 2025.

The longlist for the PEN/Hemingway Award for Debut Novel is announced. Abrams will launch its first commercial fiction imprint, akaStory, in Jan. 2027, with its first title being Her Life in Ruins by Cynthia W. Gentry. The Trump administration appeals the Rhode Island v. Trump permanent injunction that is preventing further harm to the IMLS. Amazon launches its Digital Arabic Library with 33,000 Arabic-language ebooks, 5,000 audiobooks, and 1,000 free titles. EarlyWord posts its January GalleyChat. Plus, new title bestsellers and interviews with Jennette McCurdy, Martha Ackmann, and Jessica Lopez Lyman.