Hot News This Week
April 24, 2025
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| Poet Douglas Kearney is the May/June cover star for Poets & Writers. He’s profiled in the magazine for his new collection, I Imagine I Been Science Fiction Always (Wave Books), which “shatters traditional expectations by transforming images and texts into dynamic conversations about Black identity, personhood, and art.”
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| SCOTUS Case on LGBTQ Children’s Books
In Mahmoud v. Taylor, a group of parents are battling Maryland public schools for the ability to withdraw their children from classes when LGBTQ topics and materials are discussed, claiming it’s a violation of their religious freedoms if they can’t opt-out. After oral arguments on Tuesday, the New York Times reports that the conservative Court seems poised to rule in the parents’ favor.
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“[Forbes is] one of the rarer writers who understands the clock-punching, industrial side of the sport. His rangy, discursive Field Work covers baseball from its beginnings to its ends, from the historical creation of the game to its generational re-creation by every child who picks up a bat.” — James Crossley, Leviathan Bookstore (St. Louis, MO)
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“A light-hearted satire with beautiful pen-and-ink style illustrations throughout. A must read for armchair art historians, feminists and readers looking for a comic done in an unforgettable art style.” — Izzy Usle, Innisfree Bookshop (Meredith, NH)
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“Pyro follows herpetologist Dallin Kohler as he searches for the elusive Lampropeltis pyromelana aka the Pyro kingsnake; in the process he finds ALL OF THE OTHER SNAKES. . . . Pyro is informative without being pedantic, conversational, and filled with actual humor making it a must-read for fans of natural history.” — John Knipmeyer, Octavia Books (New Orleans, LA)
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| | Perpetual Law
by Mario Bellatin, trans. Stephen Beachy
Deep Vellum Publishing • April 2025 • 9781646053384
★ “A woman embarks on a surreal quest in the delightfully bizarre and nightmarish latest from Mexican writer Bellatin. . . . Hilarious and gut-wrenching in equal measure, this wondrous experiment is not to be missed.” — Publishers Weekly
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★ “The dark, dramatic backgrounds contrast with pops of color, and the surprise ending leaves room for readers’ imaginations. Atmospheric and otherworldly; evokes a sense of mystery and unease and will leave readers wanting more.” — Kirkus Reviews
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“Two young men from small-town Canada improvise a road trip in Vijay Khurana’s quietly frightening debut. . . . The book’s unknowns conjure a deep disturbance in the condition of male friendship.” — Wall Street Journal
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| | Close Escapes
by Stephen Kuusisto
Copper Canyon Press • April 2025 • 9781556596896
“Brings to mind the attractions of Nordic nights, cold skies and literary forests . . . [Kuusisto’s poetry] echoes earlier writers who used their verse to acknowledge the world’s great unknowns: W.S. Merwin, for example, and the Swedish Nobelist Tomas Tranströmer.” — Stephanie Burt, via New York Times Book Review
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| | Fuel
by Rosie Stockton
Nightboat Books • May 2025 • 9781643622743
“After their first poetry collection, Permanent Volta, sang of revolution and intimacy, Rosie Stockton returns with a transporting second that communes with nature, longs for connection, and massages the edges of identity.” — New York Magazine
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| | New Digital Review Copies
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Last week, author Blake Butler wrote a glowing Substack piece about Aliocha Coll’s Attila, translated by Katie Whittemore (Open Letter).
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ABA, MPIBA, MIBA, NAIBA, PNBA, GLIBA, NEIBA, and SCIBA Bestseller
I Who Have Never Known Men
by Jacqueline Harpman, trans. Ros Schwartz
Transit Books • May 2022 • 9781945492600
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