Welcome to Today in Books, our daily round-up of literary headlines at the intersection of politics, culture, media, and more.
25th Anniversary Edition of Stephen King’s On Writing
A U.K. publisher will release a 25th anniversary hardcover edition of Stephen King’s classic On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft. I am not a huge Stephen King fan, which is not to say that I don’t like Stephen King books, just that he is not one of my core authors. But as I have talked to authors over the years, his influence is actually perhaps underrated: so many cite reading Stephen King as a kid as a transformative moment. And his On Writing is probably neck and neck with Bird by Bird as the most influential writing books of the last half-century. Truly stunning legacy.
Agents Are Looking for Books Like This….Or Are They?
Not sure the last time I saw a literary quiz that I thought was fun, let alone one I linked to, but Marco Kaye at Lit Hub came up with one: guessing which Manuscript Wish List descriptions are actually listed on literary agents’ looking for lists and which are fake. If you don’t know what a manuscript wish list is, then here is the 2-minute version. Agents will use these to let querying authors know what kinds of books they represent and are actively seeking. Over the last few years, they have become more and more specific, hence this quiz. I can tell you that I failed this one pretty spectacularly. I think I would read #8 for real, even though I don’t understand it: Goodfellas on ice.
Mellon Foundation Announces Emergency Funding for State Humanities Councils
This is what foundations should be doing right now. So many people are feeling helpless and the scale of this administrations excesses is indeed overwhelming. But there is a lot of money on the sidelines and money can do things! Just because you yourself cannot take on ICE or bring back Roe does not mean your targeted, marginal dollar cannot support something you care about. I wonder if the extremely deep pockets at places like the Ford Foundation might look at extraordinary efforts to support on the ground arts organizations just like this. The mood feels less “yea more Macarthurs!” and more “protect local libraries with your bodies” and perhaps the dollars might be best spend differently for awhile.
Searching for the It Books of May 2025
At the start of every month, Rebecca Schinksy and I try to figure out what the “it” book of the month will be. Something that is popular and buzzy and interesting and artful and somehow matters in a special way. Many of the listeners of the Book Riot podcast say it is their favorite thing we do. So maybe check it out. I think if you read this newsletter you will be into it.