Bookpulse

Finalists are announced for the Amazon Canada First Novel Award and the Trillium Book Awards for writers from Ontario, Canada. Margaret Atwood wins the Griffin Poetry Prize Lifetime Recognition Award. Carley Fortune recommends high-stakes romances. Plus, new title bestsellers and interviews with José Andrés, the hosts of the podcast We Can Do Hard Things, and Brendan Slocumb.

The Otherwise Award winners are announced. NYT explores the unusual process of awarding this year’s Pulitzer Prize for Fiction to Percival Everett’s James. My Friends by Fredrik Backman is B&N’s May book club pick, while Good Housekeeping selects Immaculate Conception by Ling Ling Huang. Baltimore romantasy festival A Million Lives is dubbed the “Fyre Fest of books.” Dua Lipa’s book club and author interviews earn high praise. LibraryReads and LJ offer read-alikes for top holds title The Tenant by Freida McFadden. Vanity Fair provides a first look at the adaptation of Stephen King’s The Long Walk. Andy West’s prison memoir The Life Inside will be adapted at BBC. Plus, Practical Magic 2 gets a release date.

The Pulitzer Prizes are announced, with James by Percival Everett winning the top prize in fiction. Combee by Edda L. Fields-Black, Native Nations by Kathleen DuVal, Every Living Thing by Jason Roberts, New and Selected Poems by Marie Howe, Feeding Ghosts by Tessa Hulls, and To the Success of Our Hopeless Cause by Benjamin Nathans also win Pulitzer Prizes. Earlyword’s May GalleyChat spreadsheet is out now. The Original Daughter by Jemimah Wei is the May GMA book club pick. Diana Gabaldon’s 10th and final Outlander book will be titled A Blessing for a Warrior Going Out.

The Tenant by Freida McFadden leads holds this week. Also in demand are titles by Carley Fortune, Fredrik Backman, Florence Knapp, and Nate Bargatze. Ten LibraryReads and nine Indie Next picks publish this week. People’s book of the week is May Read with Jenna pick The Names by Florence Knapp. Audiofile announces the May 2025 Earphones Award winners. Plus, Columbia University will announce the 2025 Pulitzer Prizes today via livestream at 3 p.m. Eastern time.

Canisia Lubrin’s Code Noir: Fictions wins the Carol Shields Prize for Fiction. The new Read with Jenna book club pick is The Names by Florence Knapp. Winners of the Edgar Awards and the UK’s Charles Tyrwhitt Sports Book Awards are announced. Writers’ Union of Canada reveals the shortlist for the Danuta Gleed Literary Award for the best first collection of short fiction by a Canadian author. The longlists for the League of Canadian Poets Prizes are announced. Plus, Page to Screen and interviews with Margot Douaihy, Margaret Drabble, and David Grann.

Winners of the Christian Book Awards and nominees for the Splatterpunk Awards are announced. For the first time, S. & S. will distribute books into the Spanish-speaking market in the U.S. and around the world through a partnership with Urano World Publishing Group. Authors Equity has partnered with German new adult romance imprint LYX Books to bring bestselling LYX titles to readers in North America. Plus, new title bestsellers and interviews with Lili Taylor, Geena Davis, and Ana Huang.

The Oregon Book Award winners are announced. Cyrus Cassells wins the Jackson Poetry Prize. Finalists for the Crime Writers of Canada Awards and German Nonfiction Prize are announced, along with longlists for the CWA Dagger Awards and the Stephen Leacock Medal for Humour. Mystery Writers of America’s 79th Edgar Awards will be celebrated tomorrow, May 1; CrimeReads hosts a roundtable with the nominees to discuss the state of crime writing. LibraryReads and LJ offer read-alikes for this week’s top holds title, 25 Alive by James Patterson & Maxine Paetro. British novelist Jane Gardam has died at the age of 96.

The Los Angeles Times Book Prize winners are announced, including Jiaming Tang, Laura Beers, Jesse Katz, Jennine Capó Crucet, Andrea Freeman, Danielle Trussoni, and Kelly Link. The Plutarch Award shortlist, is announced along with the finalists for the RBC Bronwen Wallace Awards for Emerging Writers and the Theakston Awards longlist. Globe Pequot is purchasing Square One Publishers, while Alliance has canceled an agreement to purchase the bankrupt Diamond Comics. Plus, Philip Pullman will publish The Rose Field, the third and final volume in “The Book of Dust” series, in October.

25 Alive by James Patterson & Maxine Paetro leads holds this week. Also in demand are titles by Danielle Steel, Kristen Perrin, Sarah Penner, and Liann Zhang. Five LibraryReads and eight Indie Next picks publish this week. People’s book of the week is Notes to John by Joan Didion. Plus, interviews arrive with Isabel Allende, Jason Bailey, Sarah Penner, Liann Zhang, Drew Harvell, and Bill Belichick.