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Welcome to Today in Books, our daily round-up of literary headlines at the intersection of politics, culture, media, and more.
The National Book Awards Fiction Longlist Is In!
The Fiction longlist is in and I’m patting myself on the back because two of the books I selected for my Book Riot podcast fantasy league made the cut (I’ll share what those are below). These books–some of which release later in the year–are and will be everywhere. I already have a copy of Angela Flournoy’s newest coming to me and there was buzz around it before the Fiction list was out, so I had a feeling I’d be seeing it today. With all of the lists out, I’ll share my predictions for the win in each category and my reasoning on Monday. Without further ado, here are the books on the National Book Awards Fiction longlist:
The Most Disorienting Book of 2025 is Getting Adapted
If you judge your “It” books by adaptation action alone, I’m here to let you know that a book we already knew fell into that category is both being adapted and has some high profile celebrity involvement. Lucy Liu and Charles Melton are attached to star in an adaptation of Katie Kitamura’s Audition. When I saw that Laika is involved, I thought, That’s a fittingly weird choice for this book, because I associate the film studio with stop motion animation films like Coraline and ParaNorman. Variety reports that the film, directed by Lulu Wang (The Farewell), will be live-action. I am chin-hands about how they’re going to adapt this for film. This was my first Kitamura and I went in not knowing what to expect. I am still disoriented and its experimental narrative style makes it a divisive read even as it is firmly a critical success.
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Kwame Alexander and First Book Bring Us a ‘Literacy Pep Rally’
Kwame Alexander and First Book will present a 30-minute, nationwide Literacy Pep Rally on September 16 at 1 p.m. ET. The Newbery Medalist and author of The Crossover will team up with the community-oriented educational resource through Alexander’s literacy nonprofit, One Word at a Time. It sounds like a great time with stories, games, and conversation, plus, Alexander will announce a series of virtual author visits with big names in kidlit like Erin Entrada Kelly and Grace Lin. Register and find more info here.
In this, the year 2025, attaching the word “Freedom” to anything coming from this administration tells me a whole lot about what to expect. The IMLS announced mobile exhibits that will travel the country sharing the story of America’s founding for this country’s 250th birthday next year, but Kelly Jensen breaks down the press release to reveal the propaganda behind these Freedom Trucks.
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