Winners of the Minnesota Book Awards are announced; Kao Kalia Yang makes history by winning three awards for three different books. Poet and University of Iowa writing program director Christopher Merrill wins the Ottaway Award for the Promotion of International Literature. The shortlist for the Rakuten Kobo Emerging Writer Prize is announced. Oprah selects Matriarch by Tina Knowles for her book club. LibraryReads and LJ offer read-alikes for top holds title and Reese Witherspoon book club pick Great Big Beautiful Life by Emily Henry. Cynthia Erivo will narrate a new audiobook edition of Gregory Maguire’s 1995 novel Wicked. James Patterson and Duane Swierczynski’s forthcoming thriller, Billion-Dollar Ransom, heads to the big screen. Plus, Jeff Kinney will donate 20,000 books a month ahead of the publication of his 20th Diary of a Wimpy Kid book in October.

The British Science Fiction Association Awards winners are announced. Dorian McNamara wins the CBC Short Story Prize. Publishing Perspectives recaps Circana’s Q1 US Print Report, with romance and romantasy leading adult genres. Joan Didion’s Notes to John gets reviewed. Netflix’s Ransom Canyon, based on the novels by Jodi Thomas, gets buzz. Plus, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments in Mahmoud v. Taylor today, concerning LGBTQIA+ books in Maryland's largest school district.

Great Big Beautiful Life by Emily Henry leads holds this week. Also in demand are titles by James Patterson and Candice Fox, Marie Bostwick, Nancy Thayer, and Sarah Damoff. People’s book of the week is Atavists: Stories by Lydia Millet. Brenda Peynado wins the Philip K. Dick Award for her novel Time’s Agent; a special citation was given to Adrian Tchaikovsky for his novel Alien Clay. Infodocket shares details on OCLC’s lawsuit against Baker & Taylor. Isaac Marion is adapting his forthcoming novel The Overnoise as a feature film. Remembrances pour in for Pope Francis, who has died at the age of 88.

Winners of the Publishing Triangle Awards for LGBTQIA+ books are revealed. NYPL announces the finalists for the Young Lions Fiction Award. A lawsuit filed against the Rutherford County Board of Education by the ACLU of Tennessee aims to stop book bans in the county’s school libraries. Mystery writer Peter Lovesey has died at age 88. Plus, Page to Screen and new books from Dolly Parton and Scorsese collaborator Robbie Robertson.

Nominees for the Aurora Awards, for SFF and horror works by Canadian authors, are revealed. A number of authors are named to Time’s list of the 100 most influential people of 2025. The Libertarian Futurist Society announces the finalists for the Best Novel category of the Prometheus Awards. The 2025 Writers’ Trust of Canada Rising Stars are announced. Publishers Weekly talks to IMLS staffers who are worried about the cuts to the agency. Book subscription services are moving into publishing their own titles as well. Plus new title bestsellers and forthcoming books from Priscilla Presley and Zosia Mamet.

Los Angeles is a sprawling city with a range of geographic, economic, and social variables, and the wildfires that affected the Los Angeles metropolitan area in January were a demonstration of that diversity, with the area’s three main library systems—Los Angeles Public Library (LAPL), LA County Library, and Altadena Library District—impacted by the fires to very different degrees.

“The Great Spring Preview” arrives from The Millions. May’s LibraryReads list is out, featuring top pick The Missing Half by Ashley Flowers, with Alex Kiester. The Guggenheim Memorial Foundation fellows are announced. The Aurealis Awards shortlist and finalists for the Sir Julius Vogel Awards are announced. U.S. Army libraries are ordered to remove books with a focus on DEI. Seven Stories Press has acquired Two Dollar Radio. LibraryReads and LJ offer read-alikes for this week’s top holds title, Strangers in Time by David Baldacci. Plus, adaptations are in the works for Laura Lippman’s Tess Monaghan books, Will Leitch’s Lloyd McNeil’s Last Ride, and Josh Malerman’s Incidents Around the House.

The Walter Scott Prize shortlist is announced. The Association of American Publishers has filed an amicus brief in Meta AI copyright case. Interviews arrive with Melinda French Gates, Marie Bostwick, and Kevin Nguyen. Tennis legend Serena Williams will executive-produce a Netflix series adaptation of Taylor Jenkins Reid's Carrie Soto Is Back. Dead Letters by Caite Dolan-Leach will also be adapted for television.

Strangers in Time by David Baldacci leads holds this week. Also in demand are titles by Jeneva Rose, Lyla Sage, and Melinda French Gates. Two LibraryReads and three Indie Next picks publish this week. People’s book of the week is The Seven O’Clock Club by Amelia Ireland. Finalists for the PEN America Literary Awards are announced. Earlyword’s April GalleyChat spreadsheet is out now. Toshikazu Kawaguchi’s Before the Coffee Gets Cold, Emma Grey’s Pictures of You, and Emma Rosenblum’s Bad Summer People will get adaptations. Nobel-winning Peruvian novelist Mario Vargas Llosa has died at the age of 89.