reviews

Yael van der Wouden’s The Safekeep wins the Women’s Prize for Fiction, while the nonfiction prize goes to Rachel Clarke’s The Story of a Heart: Two Families, One Heart, and the Medical Miracle That Saved a Child’s Life. Winners of the Reading the West Book Awards are announced. NYT updates its list of the best romance novels of the year. NYPL celebrates the hundredth anniversary of the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture. ALA’s Young Adult Library Services Association will be subsumed into the Association for Library Service to Children. Plus, Page to Screen and interviews with E. Jean Carroll, Peter Mendelsund, and Vikas Adam.

The longlist for the Mark Twain American Voice in Literature Award is announced. LitHub publishes “The Ultimate Summer 2025 Reading List.” Oregon passes a law to protect access to books in school libraries. In spring 2026, Christian publisher Baker will launch Haven, an imprint it describes as “wholesome fiction without faith content.” Plus, new title bestsellers and interviews with Wally Lamb, V.E. Schwab, and Jess Walter.

Maurice Vellekoop’s memoir I’m So Glad We Had This Time Together wins the Doug Wright Award. Canisia Lubrin’s Code Noir wins the Danuta Gleed Literary Award for best Canadian debut short story collection. Authors Gary David Crew and Garth Nix receive the Medal of the Order of Australia. LibraryReads and LJ offer read-alikes for top holds title Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil by V.E. Schwab. Annie Leibovitz will reissue a new edition of her 1999 book Women in November. Gill Hornby’s The Elopement will be adapted for TV.

In 1863, President Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, which declared more than 3.5 million enslaved people living in Confederate states to be “forever free.” It wasn’t until Union soldiers arrived in Galveston, TX, on June 19, two years later, however, that the enslaved first learned of their freedom. That date became known as Juneteenth, first celebrated in 1866 and declared a federal holiday in 2021. This booklist is a Juneteenth commemoration in the form of fiction and nonfiction about its history and the long-standing implications of enslavement and the Jim Crow era. 

Kendra Coulter is a professor of management and organizational studies at Huron University College at Western University. As an anthropologist, she has become a leading voice in animal ethics and sustainability and written many academic works, including Defending Animals: Finding Hope on the Front Lines of Animal Protection. The Tortoise’s Tale marks her fiction debut. She talks with LJ about her philosophy, her inspirations, the role of music in her book, and her forthcoming projects.

LJ talks with the bestselling authors about their collaboration creating and editing the anthology The End of the World as We Know It: New Tales of Stephen King’s The Stand.

Historical fiction was never so timely as right now, with current themes and genre blends traversing all eras.

Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil by V.E. Schwab is the top holds title of the week. LibraryReads and Library Journal offer read-alikes for patrons waiting to read this buzziest book.

Oprah’s new book club pick is The River Is Waiting by Wally Lamb. Finalists for the Ignyte Awards for SFF are announced. David Means wins the PEN/Bernard and Ann Malamud Award for Excellence in the Short Story. Jurors for the Kirkus Prize are named. The Nation and OR Books partner to launch a new progressive imprint, Nation Books. Scribd’s Everand has acquired social reading app Fable. Award-winning thriller writer Frederick Forsyth has died at the age of 86.