I guess it should be no surprise that the first 13 days of the year have been turbulent and horrifying. I will keep saying it every month, but I hope you are taking care of your communities, whatever that looks like for you.
Even amidst the chaos, it’s important to remember that there’s still beauty in the world. Art is crucial to sustain us, to remind us of how things have been, to help us imagine what might be possible.
The Storm
By Rachel Hawkins
January 6, 2026
St. Martin’s: “St. Medard’s Bay, Alabama is famous for three things: the deadly hurricanes that regularly sweep into town, the Rosalie Inn, a century-old hotel that’s survived every one of those storms, and Lo Bailey, the local girl infamously accused of the murder of her lover, political scion Landon Fitzroy, during Hurricane Marie in 1984. … As the summer heats up and another monster storm begins twisting its way towards St. Medard’s Bay, Geneva learns that some people can be just as destructive — and as deadly — as any hurricane, and that the truth of what happened to Landon Fitzroy may not be the only secret Lo is keeping.”
Foxglovewise
By Ange Mlinko
January 6, 2026
FSG: “Foxglovewise is, at its core, a response to the singular experience of the loss of one’s parents. It begins at an Eastern Orthodox Epiphany ritual in Florida and ends in a cemetery in Los Angeles. Yet, as with Ange Mlinko’s other books of poetry, the collection uses geography as a trope for the ways in which we try to map out our lives and make them legible, even as poetry, music, and paintings suggest that much of what happens, or matters, to us is ‘not on the maps’ (not to mention ‘the apps’).”
Talking with Boys
By Tayyba Kanwal
January 6, 2026
Black Lawrence: “In a collection of linked tales filled with irony, humor, and magic, Talking with Boys introduces an unforgettable cast of characters in the Pakistani diaspora in Houston navigating crises of their own making and beyond their control. … Throughout, Tayyba Kanwal’s remarkable characters navigate economic upheavals, political turmoil, and personal betrayals to pursue love, plot for survival, and play subtle power games to triumph against patriarchal forces of all genders.”
Birthstones in the Province of Mercy
By Bo Hee Moon
January 6, 2026
Milkweed: “Through verse both innocent and wise, the speaker searches for the memory of a birth mother who passed before they could reunite, aided only by ‘my birth chart’ and ‘this tiny, / careful body you gave me.’ … With poems that serve as our speaker’s “loyal companion // in the burnt / pine and dawn,” Birthstones in the Province of Mercy illuminates the language that nourishes the delicate and vital connection between an adoptee and her origins.”
Called by Distances
By Biljana D. Obradović
January 15, 2026
LSU Press: “In Called by Distances, Biljana D. Obradović looks back at a life that includes surviving the demise of her native country of Yugoslavia, the loss of her parents in the same year, and displacement from Hurricane Katrina. Her poetry encompasses loves and deaths, international travels and adjustments to American culture, often accompanied by a feeling of not belonging anywhere. What emerges from these richly evocative poems is a portrait of an artist who resists the call to assimilate, and instead carves her own unique path, continuing to dream.”
Rough House:
A Father, a Son, and the Pursuit of Pro Wrestling Glory
By Alison Lyn Miller
Jan 20, 2026
W.W. Norton: “Professional wrestling is both a cultural phenomenon and a multibillion-dollar industry that has launched some of the biggest names in entertainment. But what does it take for a wrestler to break through? In Rough House, journalist Alison Lyn Miller introduces Hunter James, an aspiring star born into a family of wrestlers in Georgia. Hunter lifts, runs, and pounds protein, sculpting himself into a human action figure with the goal of being signed by a major promotion and finishing what his father started. Miller’s immersive, unforgettable account shows us what happens when Hunter enters the bruising world of indie wrestling — where gymnasiums become arenas, trampolines serve as training grounds, and young men fight for glory.”
I Don’t Wish You Well
By Jumata Emill
January 20, 2026
Delacorte Press: “Five years ago, the infamous Trojan murders turned the small town of Moss Pointe, Louisiana into a living nightmare. Four teen boys — all star players on Moss Pointe High’s football team — were murdered one after the other by a Trojan-mask wearing killer. Eventually, the murderer was unmasked. But the community has never forgotten — and some folks in town still wonder whether the police got it right. Eighteen-year-old Pryce Cummings is one of them. An aspiring journalist, Pryce is pretty sure he just stumbled upon evidence that throws the killer’s guilt into question. It’s the perfect story for his own podcast, and a reason to go back to the hometown he’s avoided since coming to terms with his sexuality while at college. But in Moss Pointe, digging into the past is anything but welcome. There’s so much more to what happened there five years ago, and Pryce is ready to crack it all wide open… if he lives to tell the tale.”
All the Little Houses
By May Cobb
January 20, 2026
Sourcebooks Landmark: “It’s the mid-1980s in the tiny town of Longview, Texas. Nellie Anderson, the beautiful daughter of the Anderson family dynasty, has burst onto the social scene, and she always gets what she wants. What she can’t get for herself? Well, that’s what her mother, the blonde, beautiful, and ruthlessly cunning Charleigh Anderson, is for. Because Charleigh remembers all too well having to claw her way to the top. And now that she’s there, she refuses to let anyone stand in her way. But during the span of a scorching, unrelenting summer, a new family arrives, and the back-to-nature prairie vibes of the Swifts quickly enchant most of Longview, threatening to take down the self-made social empire Charleigh has crafted in this corner of East Texas. Charleigh will stop at nothing to stay on top, unaware that she is outsmarting herself, setting a deadly trap that might undermine everything.”
The Future Saints
By Ashley Winstead
January 20, 2026
Atria: “When record executive Theo meets the Future Saints, they’re bombing at a dive bar in their hometown. Since the tragic death of their manager, the band has been in a downward spiral and Theo has been dispatched to coax a new — and successful — album out of them, or else let them go. A novel about sisterhood, friendship, and the ghosts that haunt us, The Future Saints is ‘a mesmerizing look at grief, love, and the music industry that’s so raw and emotional, you’ll want to play it on repeat’ (Laura Hankin, author of One-Star Romance).”
Women of a Promiscuous Nature
By Donna Everhart
January 27, 2026
Kensington: “Girl, Interrupted meets The Handmaid’s Tale in 1940s North Carolina, as a young woman is accused of “promiscuity” and unjustly incarcerated at The State Industrial Farm Colony for Women. Based on the long-buried history of the American Plan, this powerful and shockingly timely story of resistance and resilience exposes the real government program designed to regulate women’s bodies and sexuality throughout the first half of the 20th century.”
On Sundays She Picked Flowers
By Yah Yah Scholfield
January 27, 2026
S&S/Saga Press: “In this sinister and surreal Southern Gothic debut, a woman escapes into the uncanny woods of southern Georgia and must contend with ghosts, haints, and most dangerous of all, the truth about herself. Haunting and thought-provoking, On Sunday She Picked Flowers explores retribution, family trauma, and the power of building oneself back up after breaking down.”
Blue Land
By CD Collins
January 27, 2026
University Press of Kentucky: “Blue Land offers twenty stories interwoven with complicated characters who struggle with loved ones, the dangers of longing, and the lure of addiction. This collection is a haunting work of Kentucky literature that probes southern and Appalachian life, sexual abuse, the nature of belonging, queer identity, and the environment. Collins’s stories offer embodied histories of the state, shattering preconceived notions and effectively rendering characters whose voices are sometimes lost in a dismissive, uncomprehending world. But Blue Land is not just for those with generational roots in the region — it is for those who have just arrived, those who left long ago, and those willing to listen.”
Southern Review of Books 