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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 Lambda Literary Awards, celebrating outstanding LGBTQ+ voices in literature, has its finalists for the 2026 awards. Each of the 26 categories has five finalists, so there’s much to explore. Titles that seemed to be everywhere last year include Hungerstone by Kat Dunn (Lesbian Fiction), The Autobiography of H. Lan Thao Lam by Lana Lin (Lesbian Memoir/Biography), Marsha: The Joy and Defiance of Marsha P. Johnson by Tourmaline (Transgender Nonfiction), Spent by Alison Bechdel (LGBTQ+ Comics), and Sympathy for Wild Girls by Demree McGhee (Bisexual Fiction). But the fact is that not enough of these books get amplified. If books like Disco Witches of Fire Island by Blair Fell (Gay Romance), The Natural Order of Things by Donika Kelly (Lesbian Poetry; I still think about Kelly’s Bestiary collection), The Lilac People by Milo Todd (Transgender Fiction), and Bed and Breakup by (Book Riot’s own) Susie Dumond (Lesbian Romance) fell under your radar, this list of Lambda Literary Awards finalists will be your new favorite catch-up resource. Congrats to the authors!
The BBC got its hands on Jack Thorne’s adaptation of Lord of the Flies back in February, and we just learned that the series based on William Golding’s classic is coming to Netflix on May 4th. Brace yourself for the raw cruelty of youth! You may recall that Thorne is the writer behind that gutting, acclaimed series I cannot bring myself to watch, Adolescence. Who better to adapt this story of cut-throat survivalism poisoning a stranded group of young boys. This book messed me up. Will I watch the adaptation? Yes. Will I lose sleep over it? Yes.
This massive number translates to a 32.5% increase in published books compared to the previous year, according to Publishers Weekly. Self-publishing has much to do with these gains, with marginal increases in traditionally published books as well. It’s become evident that writers aren’t as inclined to hang their publication dreams on whether they get picked up by a traditional publisher, and this report points to the current availability and quality of tools that help writers self-publish. There was also a time not too long ago when it seemed highly unlikely that a traditional publisher would touch a self-published book, whereas these days you wouldn’t be surprised to hear about a major publisher scooping up a successful one (especially in the romance genre). Built-in fandom is valuable.
A BookTuber’s debut romance novel made the bestsellers list, plus we have an assortment of excellent reads that didn’t made the cut (but should have). Catch up on what everyone is reading and what continues to dominate the charts.
What are you reading? Let us know in the comments!
