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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.
Kpop Demon Hunters Composer to Score The Baby-sitters Club Musical
The composer of the wildly popular Netflix film Kpop Demon Hunters will provide music and lyrics to a stage musical adaptation of The Baby-sitters Club series. This is a sentence I never thought I’d string together, but I am tickled that this news is real. A division of TheaterWorksUSA is behind the adaptation and I can’t imagine a more fitting production for a company “dedicated to creating fully produced, full-length works for multigenerational audiences,” as Deadline writes. Adults will go for the nostalgia and a younger generation will be introduced to the endearing antics of these unforgettable teen friends through what will surely be catchy songs. The musical is taking an interesting approach to the story, focusing on a reunion of the Club’s founding members 12 years after disbanding. The young women will revisit the past, so it sounds like there’ll be plenty of relatable moments for both adult and teen audience members. As for the music, Sonnenblick says the score is inspired by the ’80s and ’90s and called out era favorites Sheryl Crow, Indigo Girls, and Shania Twain. The New York City premiere is planned for spring 2027.
Our Next U.S. Poet Laureate
Arthur Sze is our next Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry of the United States. The Library of Congress has named him the U.S. Poet Laureate for 2025-2026, and he’ll kick off his term with a free public reading in October. Sze stands on the shoulders of giants, including Ada Limón, Joy Harjo, and one of my personal favorites Tracy K. Smith. He already has his special focus picked out: the art of translation. With his background in translating Chinese poetry, as an emeritus faculty member at the Institute of American Indian Arts, and writing his own poetry, he’ll work to compile “an anthology of translated poems from various languages and time periods.” Congratulations to this accomplished, award-winning poet!
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A Bit of Attention for a Great Bookstore
I’m carving out a slice of space to highlight an indie bookstore co-owned by a former Rioter. Hannah Oliver Depp spoke to NBCWashington about the decline in business D.C.’s Loyalty Bookstores has seen since the federal takeover. Depp pointed to mission-aligned organizations fearing “repercussions if they were seen to support a Black, queer, Asian, disability-owned independent bookstore,” and the article mentioned DOGE-effected job cuts impacting wallets. It’s also hard to imagine feeling encouraged to participate in even leisurely community engagement when the world outside looks like a police state. I’m rooting for the folks who just want to live their lives in safe spaces, for the community organizers, and for small businesses like Loyalty Bookstores trying to stay afloat in these hard times. Watch the news segment and read the story.
The Banned Wagon is Back!
For the third year in a row, Penguin Random House is doing the Banned Wagon Tour, which gives away banned books—for free!—during Banned Books Week (October 5-11). This year, they’ll be visiting libraries and indie bookstores in Washington D.C. and Philadelphia.
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