Unsealed documents from the Open AI/Microsoft copyright infringement case show that executives knew that they were illegally training their LLM on copyrighted material, Publishers Weekly reports. What’s more, they expressed awareness that the publishing industry would suffer as a result of their work. One note from August 2019 puts it bluntly: “We trained GPT-3 on pirated stuff! No sharing that!” This news comes less than two weeks after the Authors Guild and Open AI/Microsoft filed for summary judgment.

Barnes & Noble is buying both locations of Joseph-Beth Booksellers, Publishers Weekly writes. This is the third independent bookseller the company has acquired since James Daunt became its CEO. In both of those cases, the acquired stores kept their names, most of their employees, and their identities, and it appears that the same will be true for Joseph-Beth’s two stores in Lexington, Kentucky, and Cincinnati, Ohio. “Joseph-Beth Booksellers has a storied history and wonderful bookstores, and we are very pleased to ensure their continuity,” Daunt said in a statement. “We especially look forward to welcoming the booksellers of these two distinctive bookstores into the company.”

PEN America has named Phil Klay as its next president and chair of the Board of Trustees. Klay’s short story collection Redeployment (Penguin Press, 2014) won the National Book Award for Fiction and the National Book Critics’ Circle John Leonard Prize for best debut work in any genre. Klay is also a novelist and an essayist, as well as the director of the Fairfield University MFA in Creative Writing. “Phil Klay is a writer who wrestles with moral complexity, challenges orthodoxies, and pushes us all to consider what it takes to maintain our humanity during times of upheaval and division,” Clarisse Rosaz Shariyf, PEN America’s co-CEO, said. “He is coming to this role with a deep respect for writers as truth seekers, a principled commitment to free expression, and a firm belief in the power of literature to foster a more just world. In this moment of critical threats to free speech and democracy, we are grateful for his leadership.”

Rightsholders caught up in the Anthropic copyright settlement now have sixty says to submit information for their claims, according to Publishers Lunch. The deadline extension comes after widespread errors in claims were reported. “Any works for which disputes are not resolved before the first distribution of settlement payments will not be included in the first distribution and will instead be included in a subsequent distribution,” the settlement website says.

Merriam-Webster is adding 1,400 words and definitions to its dictionary, NBC News reports. The new terms include “shapewear,” “looksmaxxing,” and “parasocial.” In a press release, the publisher said that “the new entries reflect words and meanings that have demonstrated widespread use over time, offering a window into the world today.”

The Dayton Literary Peace Prize Foundation has announced its 2026 winners. The annual prize honors “writers whose work demonstrates the power of the written word to foster peace, social justice, and global understanding.” The Sunflower Boys (Harper Perennial, 2025) by Sam Wachman received the prize for fiction and Mother Emanuel: Two Centuries of Race, Resistance, and Forgiveness in One Charleston Church (Crown, 2025) by Kevin Sack received the prize for nonfiction. In addition, Ann Patchett will be awarded the Ambassador Richard C. Holbrooke Distinguished Achievement Award in Dayton this November.

The Independent Publishers Caucus has released the Independent Press Top 40 best-seller lists for the week ending September 13, 2026. The lists, in fiction and nonfiction, are compiled in partnership with the American Booksellers Association and identify “the top titles from independent presses as represented at independent bookstores across the U.S.” This week on the fiction list, The Calamity Club by Kathryn Stockett (Spiegel & Grau) once again retains the top spot, above Emily Wilson’s translation of The Odyssey (Norton, 2017). New to the fiction list are Acid Green Velvet: A Novel (Two Dollar Radio) by Grace Krilanovich, at no. 35, and The Honjin Murders (Pushkin Vertigo) by Seishi Yokomizo, at no. 37.

The National Book Foundation has announced the longlist for the 2026 National Book Award for Fiction. “The 2026 Fiction Longlist features two debut novels among the ten titles [and s]ix authors on the Longlist have been previously honored by the National Book Foundation,” the organization wrote in a press release. The titles on the longlist are: Paradiso 17 (Knopf) by Hannah Lillith Assadi, Red Ants (Counterpoint Press) by Kimberly Blaeser, Dèy (Knopf) by Edwidge Danticat, Pretend You’re Dead and I Carry You (Liveright) by Julián Delgado Lopera, Python’s Kiss (Harper) by Louise Erdrich, The Disappearers (Riverhead Books) by Marlon James, Beginning Middle End (Knopf) by Valeria Luiselli, Passengers (Europa Editions) by Alexander Maksik, The Renovation (Farrar, Straus and Giroux) by Kenan Orhan, and Mad Eden (MCD) by Morgan Thomas.

The National Book Foundation has announced the longlist for the 2026 National Book Award for Nonfiction. “The 2026 Nonfiction Longlist includes emerging and established writers, and features works of criticism, reportage, memoir, science writing, and more,” the organization wrote in a press release, adding that all but one of the authors are first-time National Book Award honorees. The titles on the longlist are: Seasons of Fury (Crown) by Rozina Ali, The Midnight Special (Norton) by Colin Asher, Dangerous, Dirty, Violent, and Young (Norton) by Zayd Ayers Dohrn, Huna (Hogarth) by Abdelrahman ElGendy, Let the Poets Govern (One World) by Camonghne Felix, The War Within a War (Knopf) by Wil Haygood, Mother Tongue (Random House) by Sara Nović, Spawning Season (Bloomsbury) by Joseph Osmundson, The Evolution of Fire (Milkweed Editions) by Angela Pelster, and A Dead White (Scribner) by Wendy S. Walters.

The progressive publisher Melville House has formed a partnership with Illuminating Media LLC to “recapitalize” the company, Publishers Weekly reports. Illuminating Media was launched in 2019 and publishes the CT Examiner, a Connecticut-focused online news publication, and Majuscule, an online journal for emerging writers. Illuminating Media owner David Kelsey, who “describes himself as a huge reader who was impressed by the quality of Melville House’s list. He told PW he is very interested in maintaining the company’s ethos and will not get involved in editorial decisions, noting that if [as a Republican] he wanted to publish right-leaning books, he would have invested in a different publisher.”

The National Book Foundation has announced the longlist for the 2026 National Book Award for Poetry. Four of the ten poets on the list have previously been honored for the award. “Publishers submitted a total of 285 books for the 2026 National Book Award for Poetry,” the organization wrote in its press release. “The judges for Poetry are Rob Arnold, Aracelis Girmay, Jon Pineda, Roger Reeves, and Rosanna Warren.” The titles on the longlist are: Tree of Knowledge (Farrar, Straus and Giroux) by Victoria Chang, Hide (Graywolf Press) by Carolina Ebeid, Still House in the Desert: An eco-contemplation (Wesleyan University Press) by Brenda Hillman, The Bronze Arms (Knopf) by Richie Hofmann, Exhibit G: Poems, Essays, and Photographs of Gaza (Milkweed Editions) by Fady Joudah, We (Graywolf Press) by Layli Long Soldier, Promise/Threat (Knopf) by Jonah Mixon-Webster, JOAN (University of Chicago Press) by Jake Rose, Horses (Milkweed Editions) by Jake Skeets, and Bramble (University of Chicago Press) by Susan Stewart.

The National Book Foundation has announced the longlist for the 2026 National Book Award for Translated Literature. The ten titles on the longlist were originally published in Arabic, Chinese, French, Norwegian, Russian, Spanish, and Indonesian, which is appearing for the first time as a translated language in this category. “The list features nine novels and a work of nonfiction, and several of this year’s honored authors and translators have been previously recognized by the National Book Award for Translated Literature,” the organization wrote in its press release. The titles on the longlist are: My Dreadful Body (New Vessel Press) by Egana Djabbarova, translated by Lisa C. Hayden; Now I Surrender (Riverhead Books) by Álvaro Enrigue, translated by Natasha Wimmer; Eden at Dawn (Restless Books) by Karim Kattan, translated by Jeffrey Zuckerman; The School of Night (Penguin Press) by Karl Ove Knausgaard, translated by Martin Aitken; To the East of the East (World Editions) by Ping Lu, translated by Jeremy Tiang; Centroeuropa (Bellevue Literary Press) by Vicente Luis Mora, translated by Rahul Berry; Night of a Thousand Hells (Europa Editions) by Intan Paramaditha, translated by Stephen Epstein and Tiffany Tsao; Pure Men (Other Press) by Mohamed Mbougar Sarr, translated by Lara Vergnaud; The Disappearing Act (New Directions) by Maria Stepanova, translated by Sasha Dugdale; and Your Presence is a Danger to Your Life: Voices of Survival and Witness in Gaza (Other Press) by Samar Yazbek, translated by Leri Price.

Annie Dillard, who won a Pulitzer Prize at 28 for her personal narrative Pilgrim at Tinker Creek (Harper’s Magazine Press, 1974), has died, the New York Times reports. Dillard’s debut garnered many comparisons to Thoreau, though she resisted the notion that she was a nature writer, choosing instead to think of herself as a kind of theologian. “I walk out; I see something, some event that otherwise would have been utterly missed and lost; or something sees me, some enormous power brushes me with its clean wing, and I resound like a beaten bell,” she wrote in her breakout work. Following her early success, she moved to Washington State to escape some of her newfound celebrity, though she continued to write. Dillard was last photographed in public in 2014, when she received the National Humanities Medal from President Barack Obama. In 2016, she was the subject of a profile in Poets & Writers Magazine, “Such Great Heights,” by John Freeman.

Substack is working to strengthen its crossover with the publishing industry, and publishers, in turn, are increasingly seeking out Substack writers, the Bookseller reports. Writers including journalist James Marriott and Damian Kerlin have had books emerge from their work on the platform; last year, writer Jess Pan sold her second book in an eight-way auction after starting a Substack in the wake of having work rejected by all of the Big Five. “What Substack offers all writers is speed to market, a direct relationship with their audience that they own, and creative confidence because we have millions of readers, and dare I say, this is a number that is fast-growing, who are willing to pay for work they believe in,” Farrah Storr, the head of international at Substack, is quoted saying. Storr herself recently signed a six-figure deal for a book that started as a post on the platform.

The Authors Guild has put out new resources for authors making Anthropic claims, Publishers Lunch writes. The updates follow the news that some authors received incorrect claims filings earlier this month, and include dedicated email addresses at four of the Big Five for authors reaching out with Anthropic claims challenges. The Guild also offered guidance for writers who worked with other publishers: “If your publisher does not have a central email address for issues around the settlement, you should reach out to your editor. If the editor is no longer with the publisher, try to find a contact for the general counsel or another contact identified on the publisher’s website. If you are unable to find a publisher contact, or you have reached out to the publisher contact without a response, please contact the settlement administrator and class counsel who can provide you with the publisher information.”

For WIRED, journalist Joel Khalili talks to some of the readers who have made a hobby of using AI to bring their story ideas to life. Recently, researchers took a look at this AI fiction fans and found that for some, the AI-authored nature of the work is part of the draw. Some of the people who craft these tales enjoy the obsessive iterating that AI can accomodate, while others like being able to read stories where they direct the action. “There are a lot of qualities of AI models that are different from what human writers have that are actually appealing to at least some segment of users,” Melanie Walsh,a professor at the University of Washington Information School and coauthor of the study, said. “These models are judgment-free; they can produce stories instantaneously; they are nearly inexhaustible.”

Graywolf Press has unveiled a new brand identity and logo, the third in the publisher’s fifty-two-year history. Its logo now features a sharp-toothed wolf in profile looking up towards the stars, an image the organization says matches the work it produces. “Graywolf seeks out ‘books with teeth’—perspectives deeply embedded in the world around us, but with a vision that looks upward and outward to map new possible futures,” the publisher’s press release reads. “As we look ahead, we’re excited to have a logo that speaks to our forward-thinking mission to keep literature wild.”

The National Book Foundation has announced the longlist for the 2025 National Book Award for Young People’s Literature (YPL). Four of the ten authors on this year’s longlist were previously finalists for the honor. “Through fiction, nonfiction, graphic novels, and novels-in-verse, the protagonists of the 2025 YPL longlisted titles navigate historical circumstances, deconstruct societal expectations, and aspire to brighter futures,” the organization wrote in its press release. The titles on the longlist are: A Sea of Lemon Trees: The Corrido of Roberto Alvarez (Roaring Brook Press) by María Dolores Águila, The Corruption of Hollis Brown (HarperCollins) by K. Ancrum, The Incredibly Human Henson Blayze (Viking Books for Young Readers) by Derrick Barnes, A Bird in the Air Means We Can Still Breathe (Crown Books for Young Readers) by Mahogany L. Browne, A World Worth Saving (Dial Books for Young Readers) by Kyle Lukoff, The Leaving Room (Feiwel & Friends) by Amber McBride, The Teacher of Nomad Land: A World War II Story (Levine Querido) by Daniel Nayeri, Truth Is (Amulet Books) by Hannah V. Sawyerr, Song of a Blackbird (First Second) by Maria van Lieshout, and (S)Kin (Versify) by Ibi Zoboi. All National Book Award finalists will be announced in the New York Times on October 7, and the winners will be announced at a ceremony on November 19.

For Publishers Weekly, Sam Spratford examines the ways in which AI technology is—and isn’t—impacting the work of translation. On one end of the spectrum, HarperCollins’ CEO said earlier this year that the publisher aims to automate overseas translations. Critics of this technology, meanwhile, have spoken about the importance of a human touch and the danger of turning translators into people who edit AI translations rather than interpret the original text themselves. “If we think of the literary translation of a book as a cover song, just imagine if Jimi Hendrix had been asked to post-edit an AI cover of Bob Dylan’s ‘All Along the Watchtower’ instead of creating his unique take on the song,” Katrine Øgaard Jensen, the executive director of the American Literary Translators Association, said. Others remain largely unconcerned; AI translations, they argue, still trail behind the best literary work by humans.

Last week the Poetry Foundation announced the recipients of its 2026 Pegasus Awards, a suite of prizes that recognize poetry craft, service, and criticism. These include the $100,000 Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize, a lifetime achievement award that went to Robert Pinsky; the Pegasus Award for Service in Poetry, a $25,000 prize that was awarded to Luis J. Rodriguez whose wide-ranging career has included founding Tia Chucha Press; and the $50,000 prize for the Young People’s Poet Laureate, which acknowledges exceptional poetry written for young readers and went to Nikki Grimes. “This year is special because it marks four decades of the Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize, twenty years of the Young People’s Poet Laureate, and the first year of the Pegasus Poetry Book Prize,” Michelle T. Boone, the president and CEO of the Poetry Foundation, said in a statement. The winners will receive their awards at a private ceremony in Chicago next month.