Anne Carson wins the Nobel Prize in Literature (This week in books)

This week! Books!

I’m on the road this weekend, so links only without commentary, but there are lots of good ones!

Canadian Poet Anne Carson Is Awarded Nobel Prize in Literature (gift link) – Alex Marshall, New York Times

Here Are the Finalists for the 2026 National Book Awards (gift link) – Ash Wu, New York Times

No, the National Book Awards are not ‘the literary world’s D.E.I. checklist.’ – Kate Tuttle, Boston Globe

The NHL Is Releasing Its Own ‘Hot’ Fanfic. Romance Lovers Hate It – Kate Taylor, Wired

From the ‘Halo’ Mastermind, an A.I. Apocalypse – Alexandra Alter, New York Times

MacKenzie Scott Can’t Escape the Amazon Juggernaut – Rhoda Feng, The New Yorker

Who Does Pangram Really Benefit? – Kathleen Schmidt, Publishing Confidential

Cheikh Hamidou Kane, Author of Seminal Anticolonial Novel, Dies at 98 (gift link) – Adam Nossiter, New York Times

Dispelling the Myth of Cormac McCarthy as Cowboy-Artist (gift link) – Wyatt Mason, New York Times

Leigh Bardugo on 50 Years of Interview with the Vampire and the Immortality of Anne Rice’s Lestat – Leigh Bardugo, Lit Hub

Are You Doing It for the ‘Gram? – Kate McKean, Agents + Books

The Transition to the Middle – Donald Maass, Writer Unboxed

This week in bestsellers

Here are the top five NY Times bestsellers in a few key categories. (All links are affiliate links):

Adult print and e-book fiction:

1. Threshing Day by Rebecca Yarros
2. The French Illusion by John Grisham
3. Verity by Colleen Hoover
4. Theo of Golden by Allen Levi
5. The Calamity Club by Kathryn Stockett

Adult print and e-book nonfiction:

1. The Steps by Sylvester Stallone
2. Swan Song by Charles Spencer
3. The American Way of Killing by Malcolm Gladwell
4. The Cauldron by Simon Sebag Montefiore
5. What Could Possibly Go Right? by Danny Meyer

Young adult hardcover:

1. Trust Fall by Lynn Painter
2. Barbie: Dreamscape by Alex Aster
3. The Siren by Tomi Adeyemi
4. Our Strange Duet by Erin A. Craig
5. Wings of Reverie by Anna Bright

Middle grade hardcover:

1. The Wild Zone by Rick Riordan and Annabelle Oh
2. Building 903 by Lois Lowry
3. Wonder by R.J. Palacio
4. Game of Pets: The Boy Who Knew Too Much by Aaron Blabey
5. We Really Like Cooking Slop! by Mo Willems and Cher Willems

This week on the blog

In case you missed them, here are this week’s posts:

• How to find editing when you can’t afford editing

And keep up with the discussion in all the places!

• Follow me on Threads, Facebook, Bluesky, Instagram, LinkedIn, and Twitter

And finally:

‘Take These Pictures and Run’ – Why Deana Lawson, one of photography’s greatest contemporary portraitists, suddenly found herself drawn to the “wall of shame.” (gift link) – Susan Dominus, New York Times Style Magazine

Have a great weekend!

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