Daily Book News Thursday, 22nd January 2026
DAILY SUMMARY:
A busy mid‑week in publishing saw major houses unveiling new commercial imprints while government budgets and rights deals kept the industry buzzing. With tributes paid to a legendary agent and librarians fighting off hostile court battles, the news cycle mixed celebration and warning. Book lovers got a flood of reviews and previews—from Barbara Pym appreciations and Paul Robeson histories to George Saunders’ ghost‑ridden satire—while audiobooks were defended as real reading and Amazon quietly embraced DRM‑free formats.
Publishing Industry News
Literary agent Georges Borchardt, who introduced major European writers to American readers and represented more than 200 authors, died on January 18 at age 97. His eponymous agency will continue under his daughter and partner, ensuring his legacy of championing international voices lives on.
Tor Publishing Group launched Wildthorn Books, an imprint dedicated to commercial upmarket fiction spanning women’s fiction, suspense, magical realism and more. Led by Devi Pillai and Monique Patterson with senior editor Susan Barnes, it will publish 15–20 books a year starting in winter 2027 and promises lush packaging and immersive storytelling.
Abrams announced its first commercial adult fiction line, akaStory, slated to launch in January 2027 with six novels and aiming for 10–12 titles per year. Editorial director Anne Heltzel said the imprint will blend escapist storytelling with elevated design, leveraging Abrams’ art‑book heritage and packaging prowess.
Publishers Weekly reported that defendants appealing a federal injunction continue trying to dismantle the U.S. Institute of Museum and Library Services, even though the court has already ruled the administration’s plan unconstitutional. Library advocates warn that the case, though unlikely to succeed, signals ongoing hostility toward cultural funding and underscores the importance of congressional appropriations.
Faber announced it will publish “I’ll Take the Fire,” the final book in Leila Slimani’s Country of Others trilogy, describing it as a haunting story of self‑discovery and power. The novel’s release continues Slimani’s exploration of colonial Morocco and will be a major literary event for the French‑Moroccan author.
Indie press Arcadia will publish Kit Whitfield’s “The Snakestone Girls,” which it calls a darkly lyrical and beautifully realised feminist folk‑horror tale. The acquisition adds literary weight to a genre often dominated by bigger houses and highlights Arcadia’s focus on distinctive voices.
Good e‑Reader reported that Kindle Direct Publishing authors can now offer ebooks as DRM‑free EPUB or PDF files, following an announcement effective January 20 2026. Amazon said royalties will remain unchanged and encouraged authors to convert backlists, signalling a rare loosening of the company’s long‑standing digital rights restrictions.
The New Publishing Standard reported that Saudi Arabia’s Cultural Café and Manga Productions launched a government‑backed workshop teaching 16‑ to 25‑year‑olds to write manga using local settings and dialects. The initiative, coupled with scholarships to Japan and co‑production deals with Japanese, French and U.S. studios, aims to build a domestic comics industry that can export original intellectual property to global publishers.
Audiobook News
The Guardian highlighted Queen Camilla’s cameo in The Beano encouraging readers to count comics and audiobooks as valid reading formats and noted that audiobook revenue grew by nearly a third in 2023–24. Researchers told the paper that listening delivers comparable comprehension to print and can act as a gateway to reading, prompting publishers to treat audio as integral to acquisitions.
Notable Book News & Book Reviews
Publishing Perspectives announced the finalists for the 2025 National Book Critics Circle Awards, listing nominees in fiction, nonfiction, poetry, biography and criticism and noting that winners will be named at a ceremony on March 26. The broad shortlist highlights both established and emerging voices and sets the stage for one of the U.S.’s premier literary prizes.
After book distributor Baker & Taylor collapsed, Australian library supplier James Bennett became the new sponsor of the IFLA Public Library of the Year Award. Publishing Perspectives said the move secures the future of the global prize for innovative library design and signals growing Australasian engagement with international library culture.
Quill & Quire’s spring preview highlighted forthcoming Canadian books published between January and June 2026, with information supplied by publishers and organised by genre. The feature points readers toward notable short‑story collections, graphic novels and poetry titles set to debut in the first half of the year.
In an Irish Times essay, novelist Jan Carson celebrated Barbara Pym’s novels as “Jane Austen with a side of jumble sales,” applauding her dry humour and candid portrayals of middle‑class women. Carson argued that Pym’s unsentimental realism and sly one‑liners merit wider recognition and show how classic social comedy can still resonate.
Scottish crime writer Val McDermid revealed that a sensitivity reader asked her to remove offensive language from early novels in her Lindsay Gordon series. She told the Guardian she refused to rewrite the books, arguing that sanitising historical settings is dishonest and that readers should be trusted to understand context.
The Guardian’s obituary for librarian and poet Philip Pacey noted that he served as art librarian at Preston Polytechnic (later the University of Central Lancashire), founded the Art Libraries Society journal and wrote poetry. Pacey, who died aged 79, was remembered for championing art librarianship and promoting creative research.
A Guardian feature profiled singer, actor and activist Paul Robeson, charting his rise as a trailblazing Black performer and his subsequent blacklisting during McCarthyism. The article argued that Robeson’s erasure from mainstream history illustrates the lasting damage of the Red Scare and resonates with contemporary attacks on liberal politics.
Fiona Sturges’ Guardian review of Christopher Isherwood’s novel “A Single Man” praised actor Alex Jennings’s audiobook narration for conveying the anger and grief of protagonist George Falconer, a middle‑aged expat mourning his partner. The review said the novel’s stream‑of‑consciousness style captures a single day of grief‑stricken living with sharp wit and existential dread.
In an interview with the Guardian, Canadian poet Karen Solie discussed her TS Eliot prize‑winning collection “Wellwater” and said poetry must confront real‑world horrors, such as glyphosate‑linked cancer. She noted that art can counter distraction and division and that there is a sense of events “careening towards a head.”
The New Publishing Standard reported that the Al‑Multaqa Prize for the Arabic Short Story received 231 submissions from 28 countries and announced its eighth shortlist. The article emphasised that the prize, alongside growing UK sales of Arabic books, creates translation and rights opportunities for publishers looking beyond English‑language markets.
Book Riot’s weekly roundup highlighted young‑adult books released on January 21 2026, including Erik J. Brown’s thriller “Better the Devil,” where a runaway teen assumes a missing boy’s identity and uncovers a strange household. Other picks included Ray Stoeve’s crime caper “Worst‑Case Scenario” and a space opera by Amanda Joy.
Book Riot compiled the nonfiction titles most frequently cited on “best of 2026” lists, featuring works such as Patrick Radden Keefe’s investigation of London’s economic booms and busts and Ibram X. Kendi’s “Chain of Ideas” exploring antiracist thought. The list ranges from memoirs to history and signals the books likely to dominate critical conversations in the coming year.
In a Washington Post review, Mary Kaye Schilling described Rachel Eliza Griffiths’s memoir “The Flower Bearers,” recalling her whirlwind romance and marriage to Salman Rushdie and the tragedies that followed, including an attempted assassination and her own mental‑health struggles. The reviewer praised Griffiths’s lyrical prose and candid depiction of art, grief and resilience.
Ron Charles of the Washington Post reviewed George Saunders’s novel “Vigil,” noting that the story follows ghosts guiding a dying industrialist toward redemption while lampooning greed and climate change. The reviewer likened the book to Dickens in its moral urgency and praised Saunders’s signature blend of absurdity and compassion.
The Washington Post’s paperback chart for January 21 2026 placed Rachel Lynn Solomon’s romance “Heated Rivalry” at number one and Timothy Snyder’s political primer “On Tyranny” at number two, with a mix of fiction and nonfiction rounding out the top ten. The list, accompanied by brief descriptions, offers a snapshot of reader favourites across genres.
