Annalisa Pesek

A railway magnate, a brothel owner, and two gamers all find love in the best romance novels published in 2020.

Kent State, Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse, a loving look at a comics icon. The best graphic novels published in 2020.

Ravishing verse, lyrical contemplations, limpid language. The best poetry books published in 2020.

Love was in the air the weekend of August 28–30, despite the turmoil rocking the romance industry for the better part of 2020. Following the May cancellation of the prestigious RITA Awards, now retired and replaced by the Vivian, the Romance Writers of America (RWA) forged ahead to produce a memorable annual virtual conference.

From canceled book deals and darkened theaters, to closed churches, libraries, schools, and storefronts, to spikes in suicides and substance abuse, to unemployment claims in the tens of millions—the devastation wrought by COVID-19 and the unprecedented measures taken to "stop the spread" have forced many writers to question whether civilization itself is in decline. Others are contemplating how isolation is transforming us, wondering where will it all lead?

At this year's American Library Association (ALA) Virtual Conference, the well-attended panel “Breaking the Rules of Graphic Novels" touched on topics of defying taboos and how owning one's story can make familiar ideas feel utterly new.  

A truly innovative approach to understanding the author-reader connection; for the lit-crit crowd looking to affirm ­Ferrante’s reinvention of the future of the novel; these fragments of ­Ferrante ultimately cohere into a full, absorbing portrait of an ­enduring author