The second novel by George Saunders will be published in January 2026 by Random House, Kirkus Reviews reports. The novel, which is titled Vigil, follows K.J. Boone, an oil company CEO on his deathbed who is guided into the afterlife by Jill “Doll” Blaine, a woman who died young in 1976. “I found myself wondering about that generation of climate change deniers who, through obfuscation and spin, put progress on hold for twenty or thirty years, and are now old and passing away,” Saunders said in a statement. “I wondered whether such a person might, at the end of his life, feel inclined to repentance. If he had a chance to explain himself, would he try?”

An exhibition at the Holburne Museum in Bath will showcase the illustrations featured in Jane Austen novels over the last 150 years, Fine Books & Collections reports. The exhibition, which will run from September 11 through January 11, 2026, will include drawings, illustrated editions, original sketchbooks, printing blocks, and more.

The same day the White House released an AI strategy document that emphasized rapid AI integration within government operations and the importance of eliminating obstacles to AI development, Trump said adhering to copyright was “not doable,” Publishers Weekly reports. Trump also compared training AI models on copyrighted material to human beings reading a book or article.

New Directions has announced Tynan Kogane, who previously served as senior editor of the press, as its new editor in chief, Publishers Weekly reports. New Directions has made several other promotions due to the retirement of executive vice president Laurie Callahan. Mieke Chew has been promoted to senior editor and executive director of publicity and Declan Spring has been promoted to executive vice president. Christopher Wait has been promoted to vice president and director of sub-rights and permissions; Maya Solovej has been promoted to publicity manager and associate editor; and Oliver Preston has been promoted to production associate.

For Electric Literature, the staff of the Brooklyn Public Library recommends books that changed the shape of politics and reading in the United States. The list includes Parable of the Sower (Four Walls Eight Windows, 1993) by Octavia E. Butler, A People’s History of the United States (Harper & Row, 1980) by Howard Zinn, and Silent Spring (Houghton Mifflin, 1962) by Rachel Carson, among other titles.

Siang Lu has won the Miles Franklin Literary Award for his novel Ghost Cities (University of Queensland Press, 2024), the Guardian reports. Considered Australia’s most prestigious literary prize, the award comes with $60,000 AUD (approximately $39,634). Lu said the novel had been rejected more than two hundred times in Australia and abroad before being published.

Bookstagram entrepreneurs, independent bookstores, and Libro.fm are encouraging audiobook listeners to gather for walks outside, Publishers Weekly reports. Readers meet at a predetermined location, listen to their book of choice, or discuss it with others, all while following an easy walking route at a conversational pace. The walks let readers turn a solitary activity into a social, outdoor experience.

After the International Writing Program (IWP) at the University of Iowa lost almost $1 million in funding in February, the local independent bookstore Prairie Lights launched an initiative that will raise thousands of dollars for the program, the Daily Iowan reports. Former Iowa Public Radio host Dennis Reese donated his collection of 450 Library of America slipcase books to Prairie Lights in May; each book is worth $40, and 20 percent of the proceeds will go to the IWP.

Elisabeth Egan writes for the New York Times about the trend of independent bookstores showcasing their pets. Egan writes that these dogs, cats, birds, fish, lizards, and bunnies “serve as quiet mascots—steadfast and loyal, deigning to have their heads patted or ears scratched while humans tend to the business of words.” Social media has also put some bookstores on the map thanks to their nonhuman residents. “Books and animals both provide joy, companionship, and windows into other worlds,” Egan writes. “The former are, admittedly, a lot tidier.”

History of Humanities (HOH) has published its tenth volume, marking a decade of the annual publication. HOH, which is published by the University of Chicago Press, was founded in 2015 by editors Rens Bod, Julia Kursell, Jaap Maat, and Thijs Weststeijn as a new forum for research on the history of humanistic knowledge. Articles in HOH have addressed topics such as the emergence of comparative musicology, the history of libraries, and the problem of scholarly forgetting. In their introduction to the anniversary issue, the editors write: “We firmly believe that the humanities play an indispensable role in addressing humanity’s challenges, from expanding artificial intelligence and climate migration to autocratic intellectual clampdown. Understanding their past will prepare us better for our future.”

In the Poets on Translation series in Poetry, Layla Benitez-James writes about her anxiety around titles, names, and naming. But in recalling T. S. Eliot’s phrase, “good writers borrow, great writers steal,” Benitez-James finds solace. “If I can begin to think of the writer as the original thief, some of my own preciousness around translation lessens,” she writes, “and the weight of this question of translating titles in particular begins to fall away.”

EveryLibrary has released some of its latest research on library-related policymaking and library usage across the U.S., Publishers Weekly reports. The advocacy organization has compiled a list of bills that have been passed, enacted, vetoed, or left in limbo, and the document also describes coalitions that are forming against censorship nationwide. EveryLibrary found that the first half of 2025 brought 133 bills that threaten public libraries, school libraries, librarianship, and the rights of readers. The report also noted that right to read legislation prohibiting book banning has been passed recently in Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, New Jersey, Oregon, and Rhode Island. Still, EveryLibrary concluded that the dominant trend was “regressive” over the last six months and that the political climate is “accelerating censorship” in many states.

Meghan O’Rourke writes for the New York Times about how AI is affecting creative writing students. O’Rourke began experimenting with AI to understand what it could offer humanities students. She writes: “My conversations with AI showcased its seductive cocktail of affirmation, perceptiveness, solicitousness, and duplicity—and brought home how complicated this new era will be.”

Kelly Jensen writes for Book Riot about the importance of not just reading banned books but also taking action to combat censorship. Jensen recommends readers write regular letters to their library boards, research the positions candidates hold on libraries and public education prior to elections, and advocate for books that are being banned with their local representatives.

The American Library Association has released its 2025 strategic plan, which focuses on advocacy and activism, Publishers Weekly reports. Objectives include developing partnerships with organizations whose civic missions align with library priorities and fundraising in an increasingly precarious landscape for the arts and humanities.

In the first half of 2025 print sales dropped by 1 percent based on units sold, compared to the same period last year, Publishers Lunch reports.

The Giller Prize, which is the largest literary award in Canada, will be forced to shut down at the end of this year without federal funding, the Globe and Mail reports. The annual $100,000 prize for fiction is in urgent need of financial assistance after severing ties to its lead sponsor, Scotiabank, earlier this year. The Giller Foundation faced criticism and protests for its association with Scotiabank, whose subsidiary 1832 Asset Management was at one point the biggest global investor in Elbit Systems Ltd., Israel’s most prominent publicly traded arms company.

For the Book Currents series in the New Yorker, Rachel Kushner shares some of the books she recently taught at Stanford University in a course about “the sacred art of stealing from the world.” The list includes Miss Lonelyhearts (1933) by Nathanael West, The Recognitions (1955) by William Gaddis, Invisible Man (1952) by Ralph Ellison, and Reflections in a Golden Eye (1941) by Carson McCullers.

The Association of Writers & Writing Programs has announced Michelle Aielli, who has served as interim executive director since September 2024, as its executive director. Aielli has worked in book publishing for over twenty-five years and most recently served as vice president and publishing director of Hachette Books at Hachette Book Group.

PEN America and the Eleanor Roosevelt Center have announced the ten winners of the 2025 Eleanor Roosevelt Awards for Bravery in Literature, which recognize authors whose works advance human rights amidst a surge in book bans and censorship. The honorees include Malinda Lo for Last Night at the Telegraph Club (Dutton Books for Young Readers, 2021); Peter Parnell for And Tango Makes Three (Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, 2005); and Margaret Atwood, who will receive the Eleanor Roosevelt Lifetime Achievement Award and be interviewed on stage at a ceremony in Poughkeepsie, New York, on October 11. Jennifer Finney Boylan, PEN America’s president, will be the keynote speaker.