The Biggest Bookish News of the Week

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S. Zainab likes to believe she bleeds ink, but the thought makes her dizzy. She writes fantasy and horror, currently holding a manuscript in the dark. Follow her on Twitter: @sainabwilliams.
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Here are the top stories in books that caught the attention of Today in Books readers this week. Enjoy your Sunday and catch up!
The 2025 Pulitzer Prize Winners
The winners of this year’s Pulitzer Prizes were revealed yesterday. You can watch the livestream on YouTube or find out the winning books here. In the History category, both Native Nations: A Millennium in North America by Kathleen DuVal and Combee: Harriet Tubman, the Combahee River Raid, and Black Freedom during the Civil War by Edda L. Fields-Black won the award. Jason Roberts won in Biography for Every Living Thing: The Great and Deadly Race to Know All Life. Tessa Hulls’ Feeding Ghosts: A Graphic Memoir, a graphic memoir exploring Chinese history through generations of women, won in the Memoir category. Marie Howe’s New and Selected Poems won in Poetry. To the Success of Our Hopeless Cause: The Many Lives of the Soviet Dissident Movement by Benjamin Nathans took the General Nonfiction award. The Fiction category was won by James by Percival Everett. Congratulations to all the winners this year!

Trump Sacks First African American Librarian of Congress Abruptly
Carla Hayden, the first woman and first African American Librarian of Congress, received an unexpected email from the White House’s Presidential Personnel Office informing her of her termination. Hayden had recently faced criticism from the American Accountability Foundation for featuring children’s books with ‘radical’ content and works by Trump opponents. Democratic leaders condemned the move, with Senator Martin Heinrich calling it an assault on libraries. The termination left Hayden shocked, receiving a cold email ending her historic tenure at the Library of Congress “effective immediately.”

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Concerns Over Romantasy “Fyre Fest of Book Festivals”
Author Kait Disney-Leugers described the A Million Lives event as a disappointment, with authors reporting poor attendance compared to the promised turnout. Attendees paid for tickets and traveled from afar, only to find a lackluster event. Amazon’s conflict with Independent Bookstore Day may repeat, as the company’s book sale coincided with the independent bookstore celebration. The overlap raised eyebrows, with some questioning Amazon’s intentions and impact on indie bookstores.

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