Bookpulse

Ayelet Tsabari wins the Association of Jewish Libraries Jewish Fiction Award for her novel Songs for the Brokenhearted. Former New Zealand prime minister Jacinda Ardern announced her forthcoming memoir, A Different Kind of Power, which arrives in June. Vanessa Bryant will publish Mamba & Mambacita Forever in August. Also buzzing are memoirs from Rick Astley, Neko Case, Keeonna Harris, and Lola Kirke. Anne Allan’s royal biography Dancing with Diana will become a feature documentary, while John Ridley is developing Isaac Asimov’s The Caves of Steel for the big screen. And Pulitzer Prize–winning cartoonist and playwright Jules Feiffer has died at the age of 95. 

Onyx Storm by Rebecca Yarros leads holds this week. People’s book of the week is Mothers and Sons by Adam Haslett. The Novel Prize shortlist is announced. Elizabeth Gilbert and Rebecca Ross announce forthcoming fall titles. Plus, this week’s new releases.

The Canada Reads 2025 longlist arrives. Poets & Writers publishes its 20th annual look at debut poets. Longlists are announced for the Republic of Consciousness Prize, United States and Canada, which honors books published by small presses. Sustainable Marketing: The Industry’s Role in a Sustainable Future by Paul Randle & Alexis Eyre wins the Leonard L. Berry Marketing Book Award. Harlequin is eliminating its Canary Street Press and Graydon House imprints. Plus, Page to Screen and interviews with Neko Case, Pagan Kennedy, and Charles Baxter.

Kirkus publishes its spring 2025 preview. Mystery Writers of America names Laura Lippman and John Sandford as its Grand Masters for 2025. Matt Bomer will narrate a new audiobook of Hanya Yanagihara’s A Little Life. Melville House plans to publish a paperback version of the Jack Smith report shortly after Donald Trump’s inauguration on Jan. 20. Fantasy Magazine will be relaunched this spring. Plus new title bestsellers and interviews with Mike Mignola, Scott Turow, and Pico Iyer.

The Dublin Literary Award longlist is announced. Jose Ando and Yui Suzuki win Japan’s Akutagawa literary prize, and Shin Iyohara wins the Naoki prize. The Millions releases its “Great Winter 2025 Preview.” LJ recognizes four reviewers of the year. Neil Gaiman responds to misconduct allegations. LibraryReads and LJ offer read-alikes for Alice Feeney’s Beautiful Ugly. Interviews arrive with Rebecca Yarros, Aria Aber, Shane Burcaw and Hannah Burcaw, Jinger Duggar Vuolo, and Marie Kondo. Plus, People shares an excerpt from Suzanne Collins’s forthcoming “Hunger Games” novel, Sunrise on the Reaping, due out March 18.

The winners of the Nero Book Awards are announced. Peter Gizzi wins the T.S. Eliot Prize for his poetry collection Fierce Elegy. Kaya Press receives the Constellation Award. Earlyword’s January GalleyChat spreadsheet is out now. The Giller Prize will feature writers longlisted for the 2024 award in a new online book club. Multiple women accuse author Neil Gaiman of sexual abuse in a new Vulture story. CrimeReads shares an excerpt from Ruth Ware’s forthcoming novel, The Woman in Suite 11, due out July 8. Plus, a new £2 coin in Britain will feature George Orwell to coincide with the 75th anniversary of the author’s death.

Beautiful Ugly by Alice Feeney leads holds this week. Also getting buzz are titles by Robert Crais, Grady Hendrix, Layne Fargo, and Scott Turow. People’s book of the week is I’ll Come To You by Rebecca Kauffman. The Philip K. Dick Award nominees and the Story Prize finalists are announced. Brooke Shields discusses aging and her new memoir, Brooke Shields Is Not Allowed To Get Old. SLJ shares how to help those impacted by the California wildfires. Jim Murphy’s Inner Excellence hits #1 on Amazon after a viral video captured Philadelphia Eagles wide receiver A.J. Brown reading it during Sunday’s NFC wild-card game. Plus, NYPL acquires the archive of Jhumpa Lahiri.

Thao Thai’s Banyan Moon wins the Crook’s Corner Book Prize for the best debut novel set in the American South. Winners of the Silvers-Dudley Prizes, for literary criticism, arts writing, and journalism, are announced. Crown, a division of Penguin Random House, has launched Storehouse Voices, a new imprint devoted to elevating Black voices, and Simon & Schuster has announced a new audio-first imprint, Simon Maverick, focused on self-published authors. Publishers Weekly has Barack Obama’s list of his favorite books of 2024. Plus, interviews with Chukwuebuka Ibeh, Stuart Turton, and Tracy Clark.

Winners of the Pacific Northwest Book Awards are announced. The shortlists for the Westminster Book Awards, for political books and books by UK parliamentarians, are revealed. Jenna Bush Hager, host of the Read with Jenna book club, is starting her own publishing venture with Penguin Random House. Plus interviews with Graham Norton, Jean Hanff Korelitz, and Liz Moore.