Author: Erica Ezeifedi

Welcome to Today in Books, our daily round-up of literary headlines at the intersection of politics, culture, media, and more. PEN America Has Announced Its 2026 Emerging Voices and Mentors Looking at the fellows and mentors chosen for this year’s Emerging Voices Fellowship feels like looking into the future. I say that because I’m sure the 11 poetry, fiction, and creative nonfiction fellows chosen—as well as their mentors—will be making appearances in book list after book list, award ceremony after award ceremony in the coming years. I met a few of the fellows and mentors last year during the 2025…

Welcome to Today in Books, our daily round-up of literary headlines at the intersection of politics, culture, media, and more. The Best American Novels, According to Barnes & Noble With the 250th anniversary of the United States coming up, there have been quite a few ‘Merica-focused book lists. Barnes & Noble is the latest to put its hat in the ring, with a list of American novels curated by American authors. The authors asked to share their Great American Novel range from established, bestsellers (like Ann Patchett, Hernan Diaz, Tananarive Due, Ayad Akhtar, and Min Jin Lee), to debut authors…

Welcome to Today in Books, our daily round-up of literary headlines at the intersection of politics, culture, media, and more. 2026 Winners of the Women’s Prize for Fiction and Nonfiction Announced This year’s Women’s Prize for Nonfiction is a book I haven’t heard too much about, but it sounds intriguing. The Finest Hotel by Lyse Doucet is narrative nonfiction about the lives of modern-day Afghans who are running a luxury hotel. Doucet first stayed in the Hotel Inter-Continental Kabul in 1988, 19 years after it first opened its doors. Through her stay, she sees major, country-changing events, like a civil…

Welcome to Today in Books, our daily round-up of literary headlines at the intersection of politics, culture, media, and more. The Staffers at People Magazine Share Their Favorite Queer Books And the list is pretty solid. There’s the National Book Award-winning experimental Blackouts by Justin Torres, the Nigeria-set Necessary Fiction by Eloghosa Osunde, the vampiric Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil by V. E. Schwab, and more. The list has both introduced me to books I need to become more acquainted with (the music-filled The Maidenheads by Benny B. Peterson, for example) and reminded me of some that I’ve…

Welcome to Today in Books, our daily round-up of literary headlines at the intersection of politics, culture, media, and more. Amazon’s List of the Best Books of the Year So Far I want to say that Amazon’s list of the best books of the year so far is robust because it is, in a way. There’s an overall roundup of the top 20 books of all genres, then expanded lists of different genres, like Biographies & Memoirs, Children’s Books, Literature & Fiction, Romantasy, and more. This year, they’ve also added a Book Club section. What’s holding me back from fully…

Welcome to Today in Books, our daily round-up of literary headlines at the intersection of politics, culture, media, and more. The Winners of the 61st Nebula Awards Have Been Announced This year’s Nebula Awards got a little extra something with their introduction of two award categories: Poem and Comic. I have to admit that I am a little surprised that the Comic category has just now been added, especially considering the plethora of amazing science fiction and fantasy comics that come out yearly. With that said, the Poem category is pleasantly unexpected. As for the winners, one of my favorite…

After some major blows to democracy that came via my home state in May, Alex Haley’s Roots being returned to schools feels so refreshing. It’s just one piece of a damaged pie, but it is something. It shows that being vigilant and fighting back does work—but we have a lot more to do. This week’s roundup is abridged, as I cover for Senior Editor Kelly Jensen. Read on for the latest on closing libraries in Canada, a man who is incarcerated who is suing his state’s department of corrections, and more. Alex Haley’s ROOTS Has Been Returned to Tennessee School…

Welcome to Today in Books, our daily round-up of literary headlines at the intersection of politics, culture, media, and more. Marjane Satrapi, Author of PERSEPOLIS, Has Died at 56 Iranian French author Marjane Satrapi has passed away at 56. The cause and location of her death have not been shared, but one thing is certain: the world of graphic memoir has lost a giant. Satrapi’s best-known work, Persepolis, was published in the early 2000s and showed millions of readers the lives of everyday Iranians during the Islamic Revolution. As our Senior Editor Kelly Jensen stated, its blend of memoir, history,…

Welcome to Today in Books, our daily round-up of literary headlines at the intersection of politics, culture, media, and more. The New York Times’ Best Books of June Last week, we took a look at the books The New York Times highlighted as the best of the summer. Now, with the start of the month, they’ve shared their most anticipated releases of June. Of course, there is some overlap—Ann Patchett’s Whistler and Maggie O’Farrell’s Land, for instance—but June’s list also zooms in to include the chaotic romance debut They All Fall in Love at the End by Haili Blassingame and…