Hot News This Week
February 12, 2026
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| “Transit occupies the possibly unique position of being a nonprofit press with a roster including both a Nobel laureate and a TikTok sensation.” Our Transit friends Adam Z. Levy and Ashley Nelson Levy are honored among the Washington Post’s “Next 50,” an annual list of fifty people shaping American society right now.
As reporter Sophia Nguyen notes in the profile, Transit bestseller I Who Have Never Known Men has sold more than 500,000 copies, and they’ve acquired three new Jacqueline Harpman books previously unavailable in English. The first of these, We Were Forbidden translated by Ros Schwartz, will publish in July.
“We’re incredibly honored by this recognition while also mourning the fact that the reporters who so graciously worked with us on this piece no longer hold their jobs at the Post,” Transit posted on social media. “Thank you to Sophia Nguyen, Jacob Brogan, John Williams, and many others for all the tremendous work and integrity you’ve brought to the Post over the years.”
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| The Nightboat School of Poets
Poet Kay Gabriel is pictured on the cover of the latest Bookforum issue, which features an essay on how her collection Perverts (Nightboat Books) exemplifies a new school of avant-garde poetry that is “queer and leftist, urbane, elegant but bawdy, erudite but steeped in popular culture.” This new school accounts for “some of the most important poetry being written right now in the US,” and the piece suggests it could perhaps be dubbed “the Nightboat School” after the publisher responsible for books by writers like Rosie Stockton, imogen smith, Nora Treatbaby, and Gabriel.
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| | Riverwork
by Lisa Robertson
Coach House Books • May 2026 • 9781552455173
“Inject this into my bleeding veins. Lisa Robertson’s follow-up to the underground (is it still subterranean?—am I hopeful that is? do I dare hope that it might not be?) classic, The Baudelaire Fractal, is nothing short stunning.” — Brad Johnson, East Bay Booksellers (Oakland, CA)
“An all-consuming *experience* of a book, one that took possession of me whether I was reading it or thinking about it from first to last page.” — Elisabeth Plumlee-Watson, Loganberry Books (Shaker Heights, OH)
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| | Filth Eaters
by Ito Romo
Deep Vellum Publishing • May 2026 • 9781646054305
“This gorgeous new work from Ito Romo is a masterpiece of vampiric fiction. I found myself equally enthralled and disgusted as this non-linear puzzle of a book took me on a rich, rewarding journey spanning hundreds of blood-soaked years. Without a doubt, Filth Eaters is a contender for best horror read of the year.” — Ramona Flores, White Whale Bookstore (Pittsburgh, PA)
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“Beginning her life in a small rural village, our main character (based on a lesser-known labor-rights activist) grows into a woman willing to die for the cause of her and her comrades’ lives. Incisive, clear, and unflinching, Capitalists Must Starve is a rallying cry for workers around the world.” — Mariah McGuire, Dog-Eared Books (Ames, IA)
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| | Opera Fever
by Chelsey Minnis
Wave Books • April 2026 • 9798891060401
“What a riotous explosion of delightfully debauched opulence these poems are! You can feel the silks and furs, glimpse the jewels glimmering among the emotionally-charged yet anonymous denizens of Opera Fever. Something about this collection made me think of a 17th-century Dutch still life.” — Laurel Kane, White Whale Bookstore (Pittsburgh, PA)
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I Who Have Never Known Men by Jacqueline Harpman, trans. Ros Schwartz (Transit Books)
ABA, MPIBA, SCIBA, PNBA, NAIBA, NCIBA, and IPC Top 40 (Fic, #2) Bestseller
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| | New Digital Review Copies
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LensCulture interviewed photographer Torrance York about Semaphore (Kehrer Verlag) and how she built “a visual language to express her experience of daily life following her life-changing Parkinson’s diagnosis.”
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