The finalists for the Cundill History Prize are announced, the winners of the Ned Kelly Award for Australian crime writing, the shortlist for the Endeavour Award for SFF by Pacific Northwest authors is announced, and the winners of the Rhysling Awards for speculative poetry are announced. The Garnett Girls by Georgina Moore wins an Isle of Wight Book Award. A federal judge has ordered an Arkansas library to stop segregating controversial books into special “social sections.”

The shortlist for the Goldsmiths Prize and the finalists for the Writers’ Trust of Canada Balsillie Prize for Public Policy are announced. Reese Witherspoon announces her first novel, a thriller cowritten with Harlan Coben and due out next fall. Plus, new title bestsellers and interviews with Ta-Nehisi Coates, Kate McKinnon, Lola Milholland, and Kate Conger and Ryan Mac.

The National Book Award Finalists are announced, as are the longlist for the Saif Ghobash Banipal Prize for Arabic Literary Translation and Audiofile’s October 2024 Earphones Award winners. The 2024 slate of MacArthur Fellows includes writers Ling Ma, Juan Felipe Herrera, Jason Reynolds, and Jericho Brown. Reese Witherspoon selects Society of Lies by Lauren Ling Brown for her October book club. The October book club pick for both Read with Jenna and B&N is The Mighty Red by Louise Erdrich. According to NYT, Jimmy Carter, who turned 100 yesterday, is the most prolific author of all ex-presidents.

Full of personality and flavor, this book will be welcome in all collections.

Wilmington Public Library enlists community input alongside vibrant in-house marketing to build excitement around innovative events. San José Public Library, CA, and Worcester Public Library, MA, received honorable mentions.

Shortlists for the T.S. Eliot Prize and the Polari Prize are announced. The Atwood Gibson Writers’ Trust Fiction finalists are announced. Jenna Bush Hager selects Louise Erdrich’s The Mighty Red for her October book club. StokerCon 2025 announces guests of honor including Joyce Carol Oates, Gaby Triana, and Tim Waggoner. October booklists arrive. Plus, it’s Stephen Graham Jones Day (#SGJday), in honor of new reissued editions of six of his previously out-of-print titles.

My journey into librarianship was a bit unusual: Unlike those who began as a page or in an LIS role fresh out of grad school, my library career started in marketing. It was my job to understand the many ways the library brought value to the community and to develop stories and campaigns that shed light on the best aspects of our work. I was so inspired by what I saw in our branches that I eventually pursued a library degree. And as I deepened my knowledge, I saw that libraries could benefit from more attention to external communication.

Even those well versed in slashers and their tropes will be surprised by the directions Jones takes. Readable both as representative of slasher films and book and as an exploration of the rules of the genre, this novel will have wide appeal to readers who are new to Jones’s work as well as established fans. Recommended as a contrast for fans of recent “final girl” books like the ones by Grady Hendrix and Riley Sager and readers who enjoyed The Pallbearers Club by Paul Tremblay.

Nicollette Davis, assistant librarian for kinesiology, social work, and health sciences at the Louisiana State University library system, was named a 2024 Library Journal Mover & Shaker for her work advocating for BIPOC people, both in the library system and in the community. We recently spoke with Davis to learn more about her projects.