I’ve got a big roundup of library-related news and updates for you to sift through. The weighty updates are first, and then you can cleanse your palate with dire wolves, award news, and “shadow daddies.”
Trump vs. Libraries
Trump’s cuts to the California State Library have led to hiring freezes and furloughs. Army & Air Force libraries ordered to review books for DEI material. Trump’s funding cuts could scuttle work to revive Philly’s beleaguered school libraries. The University of Illinois explains how the cuts to the National Endowment to the Humanities and IMLS have impacted their academic library. IMLS staffers cry foul as new leadership continues to “slash and burn.”Censorship News
A new study looks at the impact of book bans on the consumption of banned books. You can read the full study here. Don’t miss the powerful documentary, Banned Together, about book banning and school censorship. A bill in North Carolina banning books with sexual descriptions from school libraries has passed the House committee. Teen Vogue profiled the group of South Carolina students who successfully fought against book bans in Beaufort, SC. “The North Dakota House defied a previous committee’s recommendation and passed a bill Monday, April 14, to require school and public libraries to hide materials with ‘obscene’ content from minors.” The bill is now moving to the governor’s desk. This is from the end of February, but the Meridian Library District (ID) library board and director determined that Prince & Knight did not meet the “harmful to minors” standard. The board vice chair also pointed out that the requester “failed to fill out a substantial portion of the request form, in particular a section where requesters can detail what aspect of a book they believe violates Idaho code.“ Wannabe book banners need to be called out like this more often, and school administrators need to stop complying in advance when the book banners can’t even fill out a damn form properly. Librarians in the UK are increasingly being asked to remove books as the influence of right-wing groups in the US spreads.Books & Authors in the News
Mario Vargas Llosa has died at 89. Sarah Wynn-Williams, the former Meta executive and author of Careless People, testified in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee about how Meta jeopardized American security with their business dealings with China. These are the authors featured on Time’s annual list of the 100 Most Influential People. George R.R. Martin got to hold a dire wolf, which were recently brought back from extinction after 13,000 years. (Well, kind of.)Award News
The 2025 Hugo Award finalists have been announced. The 2025 International Booker Prize shortlist has been announced. Garth Greenwell has won the 2025 PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction for Small Rain.Book Lists, Book Lists, Book Lists
Children/Teens
Kids books that celebrate libraries. 18 Earth-friendly reads for kids. 10 authentic middle grade books about autism. Empowering middle grade books about resilient kids. 20 nonfiction books for teens. 28 enemies-to-lovers YA romance novels.Adults
The best books of the 21st century so far. Tariffs, trade wars, and economic uncertainty: guides to understanding the economy. 30 of the best nonfiction books of the last 30 years. 7 campus novels that break the mold. 10 mystery novels inspired by real events. Historical fiction about the Vietnam War. 8 underrated horror novels. Indigenous poets you should know. 8 literary fiction novels by marginalized authors. 15 of the best relationship contracts in historical romance. 9 must-read space-faring mysteries.Bookish Curiosities & Miscellaneous
“Book boyfriends” and “shadow daddies”: the men cashing in on romantasy. And on a related note, what happens when a group of firefighters walk in on a romance convention? (And now I’m waiting for the inevitable novelization of this incident to pop up.)
The following comes to you from the Editorial Desk.
We love a good cover, and this week, we’re highlighting a list of the best short story covers. Trust us when we say that these will look so demure on your bookshelves!
Read on for an excerpt and become an All Access member to unlock the full post.
In the course of writing about great book covers, there’s one thing that I’ve noted several times: short story collections have some of the most innovative, memorable, and eye-catching covers of them all. Why is that? Perhaps part of it is because short story collections are a harder sell to the average reader, so the first line of marketing has to be for the bookshop browser, whether they’re perusing on or off line. Perhaps part of it is that many great short story collections are coming from smaller presses, so pushing boundaries with design is part of what’s possible because there are fewer stakeholders to please in the process. Perhaps it’s also simply that short story collections, by nature of their diversity, invite more creativity into the cover design process.
Whatever the reason or reasons, I suspect anyone who appreciates a good book cover is here for it.
Let’s take a look at some of the banging short story book covers that have hit shelves this year, as well as look at some of the upcoming covers of collections you’ll want to pop on your TBR ASAP. If you’re reading this when the piece publishes in mid-May, know you’ll be reading it in time to partake in Short Story Month, too. Any month can be short story month, of course, but May gives extra reason to dive into bite-sized fiction.
As always, caveats abound here. It is still unnecessarily difficult to track down cover designers and artists for book covers, especially if you don’t have the book in your hand to double-check. Many publishers still don’t put this information on the landing pages for these books, so it takes good Googling and a lot of luck to dig up names to credit.
 Autocorrect by Etgar Keret, translated by Jessica Cohen and Sondra Silverston (May 27)If you’re looking for a collection of darkly funny stories, this cover is not going to steer you in the wrong direction. It’s a squirrel that’s clearly been launched right into the book title, and he looks completely unfazed by it all. There’s a lot of nice movement in this design, especially as it is very simplistic. |
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