reviews

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.

“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.

Stan Sakai is the creator of “Usagi Yojimbo,” a graphic novel series featuring a samurai rabbit named Miyamoto Usagi living in 17th-century Japan; the new installment, Space Usagi: White Star Rising, is due out from Dark Horse in May. LJ talks with Sakai about samurai warriors, blending genres, and his enduring career.

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.

Winners are announced for the Anisfield-Wolf Book Awards for works that deepen understanding of race and diversity. Finalists are selected for the Independent Book Publishers Association Awards and the Stella Prize. The Great Gatsby turns 100. Former Facebook executive Sarah Wynn-Williams, author of Careless People: A Cautionary Tale of Power, Greed, and Lost Idealism, testifies in front of Congress. Andrews McMeel launches a religious book imprint, Amen Editions. Plus, Page to Screen and interviews with Katie Kitamura, Eric Rickstad, and Don Winslow.

Winners of the Whiting Awards for emerging talents are announced. The Horror Writers Association has announced David Cronenberg, Dame Susan Elizabeth Hill, and Del and Sue Howison as recipients of the Lifetime Achievement Award. Thomas Pynchon will publish his first novel since 2013, and Patti Smith has written a new memoir. Plus, new title bestsellers and interviews with Edna Bonhomme, Peter Godwin, and Belinda Bauer.