AGP Executive Report

Publishing & Books: Kate DiCamillo drew a sold-out crowd at Lykke Books, answering reader questions and spotlighting the role of teachers and librarians. Literary Festivals: Kathmandu’s Himalayan Literature Festival & Writers’ Workshop wrapped after eight days, including a new poetry-film program. Awards & Shortlists: Scotland’s Highland Book Prize shortlist is out, with the winner due June 30. Fiction & Reviews: M John Harrison’s near-future novel The End of Everything lands as a London-set SF vision; Lizzie Damilola Blackburn’s The Re-write is praised for balancing laughs with heartbreak. Short-Form Horror: Yvette Tan’s collection First of the Gang blends Filipino culture and folk Catholic amulets across stories and a novella. Adaptations & Screen Buzz: Ridley Scott is set to direct Treasure Island with Hugh Jackman as Long John Silver, and The Dog Stars trailer keeps the post-apocalypse hype rolling. Food & Reading Culture: Nestlé’s precision-fermented donkey milk patent points to dairy-allergy alternatives, while Betagro’s “Chicken Made Noodle” pushes protein into everyday meals.

Bayou Mystery & Race: Louisiana author Troy Broussard’s new novel Where Lies the Truth follows Ezra Brasseaux and friends in rural St. Landry Parish, then drags them back decades later to confront an unsolved crime tied to Black victims and long-buried assumptions. Magical Realism Short Novel: A review of The Volcano Keeper spotlights a 70-vignette, dated family saga where the impossible (a real volcano rising in a pasture) is treated as fact, turning grief into a recurring, almost fable-like force. Big-Screen Publishing News: Ridley Scott is directing Hugh Jackman as Long John Silver in a fresh Treasure Island adaptation, with Jack Thorne writing; and Beach Read begins production with a May 7, 2027 release date. Comics Spotlight: Montreal cartoonist Lee Lai’s graphic novel Cannon wins the 2026 Doug Wright Award for best comic. Disability & Writing Scholarship: Bloomsbury releases Divergent Writers, a disability-focused creative-writing anthology co-edited by Christie Collins and Saul Lemerond. Poetry & Translation: A new biography, Paul Celan: A Life (Belknap Press), revisits the poet’s Holocaust-era work and the challenges of rendering it in English.

Publishing & Culture: A Green Poetry Festival in Kathmandu marked World Environment Day with readings on conservation and climate responsibility, while a separate Pushkin anniversary event celebrated Russian language and poetry through recitals in Russian and Nepali. Books & Reading Life: In Kashmir’s Aragam village, homes are becoming “mini libraries” as teens read and retell stories to younger siblings, turning literacy into a community project. Literary History: Today in history notes George Orwell’s 1984 first published on June 8, 1949. Media Adaptations: Daniel Radcliffe shared a backstage update from John Lithgow ahead of HBO’s Harry Potter TV adaptation, and Interview with the Vampire Season 3 is reframed as The Vampire Lestat with Lestat’s rock-star pivot. Health & Safety (publishing-adjacent): A MedSafe alert warns about unregulated peptide products sold online, highlighting risks from injections, infections, and mislabeled substances. Tech & AI: Meta’s AI glasses launched in Korea, offering spoken calorie estimates via built-in cameras and audio.

Dystopian Book Review: Celeste Ng’s Our Missing Hearts imagines a post-collapse America run by PACT, where “un-American” families are punished and Chinese-Americans are targeted—another sharp reminder that words and institutions can become weapons. Publishing & Community: Bulgaria’s Georgi Gospodinov and Kostadin Kostadinov spoke at Bucharest’s spring book fair about how books survive crises, with translators framed as “new parents” for a text’s afterlife. Poetry in Public: Yakima Coffeehouse Poets spotlights Otter Fisher’s debut poem “The Goathead,” while Orillia’s Orillia Museum of Art and History and Leacock Museum team up for an outdoor poetry-and-music lawn night. Global Book Culture: The Kuala Lumpur International Book Fair spotlights China-ASEAN reading events and Chinese publishing, from pinyin editions of classical poetry to youth dialogues. New Story Formats: Kakao Entertainment is adapting the web novel Got Dropped Into a Ghost Story, Still Gotta Work into a webtoon on Kakao Page. Game Storytelling: Fellow Traveller’s Story-Rich Showcase at Summer Game Fest 2026 highlighted dozens of narrative-driven games and demos. Science Meets Story: Researchers report a new Ecuadorian spider species, Taczanowskia waska, mimicking fungus—nature’s own plot twist.

Publishing & Community: Former Nigerian defence chief Gen. Lucky Irabor praised the Association of Nigerian Authors’ mentorship for young writers, spotlighting its monthly Reading and Writers Dialogue in Abuja. Libraries & Access: Coforge opened a free public library in Vasant Kunj, Delhi—15,000+ titles, a children’s zone, and year-round borrowing. Reading for Youth: Maharashtra’s Solapur district launched a “one day sarpanch” program letting top students run village governance for a day. Books & Festivals: Hungary’s 97th Festive Book Week returns nationwide (Budapest June 11–14), with David Szalay’s Booker-winning Flesh among the highlights. Writing & Craft: A flash fiction workshop invites writers to draft surreal, myth- and folklore-driven short-short stories. Health & Aging (research): A BMC Geriatrics study links older adults’ fear of falling to perceived control, pointing toward new intervention ideas. Tech & Precision: Research on hybrid AI optimization aims to improve robotic arm trajectory planning for precision assembly. Book Buzz: Ann Patchett’s Whistler gets a spotlight for its quieter love story inside blended families. Literary Loss: Tributes continue after Marjane Satrapi’s death, with Persepolis framed as an enduring act of rebellion.

Publishing & Culture: Broadway’s “Ragtime” is still striking a chord nearly 30 years after its debut, with the revival finding new relevance for today’s audiences. Graphic Novels & Adaptations: Netflix is expanding its “KPop Demon Hunters” universe with a sequel and a deluxe “screen comic” boxed set. Poetry & Books: Lynn Jenner’s new collection “The Gum Trees of Kerikeri” pairs intimate poems with colonial-era reflection; Lynn Jenner’s work also includes a featured Sunday poem. Author News: Marjane Satrapi, creator of “Persepolis,” has died at 56, with tributes highlighting her memoir-in-comic storytelling and human-rights impact. Crime Fiction: Gary Helzer releases “Where Losers Live, Heroes Die,” a Bahamas-set thriller about veterans pulled into organized crime. Reading Life: USA TODAY’s Book Challenge returns with a summer bingo card and a chance to win a $100 Bookshop.org gift card. Tech & Health (book-adjacent): New sleep-apnea research points to gut-microbe and bile-acid pathways as potential therapeutic targets.

Publishing & Rights: Penguin Random House India won’t distribute Joe Sacco’s graphic nonfiction “The Once and Future Riot,” citing red flags from Penguin UK—an inaccurate India map and unresolved content/citation questions. Author Spotlight: Maggie O’Farrell talks “Land,” her Oscar-era follow-up to “Hamnet,” mapping Ireland’s history, family fault lines, and the emotional cost of official record-making. Book Reviews: “What Am I, a Deer?” by Polly Barton digs into reinvention fantasies; “First of December” by Karen Jennings brings the week before emancipation in Cape Colony into sharp, harrowing focus. Community Reading: Vermont libraries and local groups keep summer reading front and center, from agritourism-fueled “Seek & Savor” to “Vt. Book Nook” profiles of working readers. Arts & Events: A Heswall Hall visit from Lorraine Kelly spotlights her new Orkney-set novel “The Island Secret,” while Belfast’s Linen Hall Library hosts “Chapter Coffee” for bookish hangouts. Culture & Literature: A week of Irish and global literary coverage includes Oscar Wilde “best works” roundups and fresh fiction picks. Arts & Access: Youngstown’s JCC reopens its visual arts studio after accessibility renovations.

Publishing & Reading Culture: A Valley Stream debut novelist, Sashy Palaguachi, is set for a Barnes & Noble signing after turning a teen class idea into her romance “Back to You.” Libraries & Inclusion: Prince Edward County’s library strategic plan spotlights inclusion and diversity, with Pride programming and teen-led projects. Poetry Spotlight: Kevin Young won the 2026 Griffin Poetry Prize for “Night Watch,” earning $130K. Book Releases to Watch: June’s must-reads include Daniel Kraus’s sci-fi/horror “The Sixth Nik” and Danny McBride’s “Thrilling Tales of Modern Men.” Ann Patchett: The author discusses how “Whistler” draws from personal life. Community Events: Juneteenth celebrations in Indianapolis include museum programming, a foodways festival, and a Center for Black Literature book fest. Book-to-Screen: Cynthia Jele says she’s writing new screen work after “Happiness is a Four-Letter Word.” Local Author Ecosystem: Wordsley Library’s reading group helped shape a short story for a 2026 anthology.

Bookshop Buzz: York’s The Little Apple Bookshop welcomed Booker-shortlisted novelist Fiona Mozley back for her new York-set novel Awake Awake, with readers and students reliving the Elmet publishing journey. Literary Festivals: Nepal’s Kathmandu Kalinga LitFest returns June 6–7 with a “Beyond Borders” theme, spotlighting how South Asian literature and arts respond to identity, inclusion, and social change. AI vs Literature: Nepal’s information minister Timilsina argued that even in an algorithm-driven world, literature remains the most powerful way to understand humanity. Publishing & Community: Oshkosh’s Caramel Crisp Bookstore is running two late-June author events, including a YA signing and a children’s storytime. Major Loss: Graphic memoir icon Marjane Satrapi (Persepolis) died at 56, with tributes emphasizing her freedom-fighting, revolution-shaped storytelling. Stage Adaptation: Hathersage Players will bring Goodnight Mister Tom to the stage June 17–20.

Graphic Memoir Loss: Marjane Satrapi, whose Persepolis turned Iranian life into a global graphic-novel landmark, has died at 56. Publishing & Fraud Watch: A new report warns that scammers are increasingly impersonating literary agents, with AI helping turn fraud into a more professional-looking pitch. Book-to-Screen Buzz: Amazon MGM is eyeing a sequel to Anna Todd’s The Last Sunrise, with screenwriter Anna Klassen returning and a trilogy plan in mind. Local Literary Life: Mullingar Literary Festival returns July 3–5 with three days of books, writing, poetry, and community events. Community Reading Projects: Maine’s The Island Reader marks its 20th year with stories and art from 53 islanders, themed “What Brings You Joy.” Short-Story Spotlight: Belfast Book Festival’s Mairtín Crawford Awards named Andrew McGuire (short story) and Jeremy Pak Nelson (poetry). AI & Public Safety: Philadelphia police surveillance reportedly targeted anti-AI social media posts, raising questions about how dissent is monitored.

Literary Prizes: New Yorker poetry editor Kevin Young won the $130,000 Griffin Poetry Prize for “Night Watch,” with jurors praising its experimental, melancholic focus on loneliness, grief and American racial legacies. Book-to-Screen: Apple TV’s “Silo” Season 3 trailer confirms a split timeline, with Juliette facing memory loss and a pre-apocalypse conspiracy. International Booker: Taiwanese author Yang Shuang-zi says she wanted to win for Taiwan, calling literature a long conversation that outlasts any one life. Publishing & Culture: Flor Y Canto returns to San Francisco’s Mission, spotlighting Latino/Latinx/Latiné writers through readings and films. Local Literacy: Michigan students’ trailer contest for “Phases of the Moon” put young filmmakers’ work on the big screen, aiming to boost literacy. Poetry & Community: A new chapbook, “Tangleblooms,” launches a local teacher/church warden’s first poetry Q&A and signing. AI & Writing: A City AM editor complains about AI-written pitches flooding inboxes and being flagged as AI-generated. Health & Science (book-adjacent): CAR T-cell therapy enabled two highly sensitized patients to get kidney transplants, with results published in NEJM.

Literary Awards: Julia Elliott won the 2026 Carol Shields Prize for Fiction for her short-story collection Hellions, a genre-bending mix of folklore, horror, and surreal Southern Gothic. Emerging Writers: Renato Gandia, Julia Cottrelle, and Graham Slaughter took home the $10K RBC Bronwen Wallace Awards, spotlighting new Canadian voices across poetry, short fiction, and (this year) creative nonfiction. Publishing & Craft: Deborah Levy’s new “living autobiography” style novel My Year in Paris With Gertrude Stein leans into literary biography as a playful, subjective essay-caper. Book-to-Screen Buzz: Anna Kendrick is set to direct the film adaptation of Taylor Jenkins Reid’s LGBTQ hit The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo. Rights & Repression: Egypt sentenced poet-activist Ahmed Douma to a year of prison labor for “spreading fake news,” drawing condemnation from Amnesty and PEN America. AI & Reading Culture: A new critique argues AI’s push for “productivity” misses what society actually needs to fix, while another report finds hem/onc fellows use AI tools but rarely get formal training. Community & Pride: DC’s 2026 Pride special Justice League: Dream Girls shifts from anthology sprawl to a single story, and local Pride/Juneteenth event guides keep libraries and neighborhoods at the center.

Book-to-screen Buzz: Anna Kendrick is set to direct and star in Netflix’s film adaptation of Taylor Jenkins Reid’s LGBTQ hit “The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo,” with the story’s secret romance and seven marriages bringing BookTok-era visibility to old-Hollywood bisexuality. Literary Spotlight: A new London exhibition revisits Marilyn Monroe’s “Ulysses” moment, spotlighting her reading life and agency in image-making. New Fiction Watch: Maggie O’Farrell’s “Land” lands as a must-read, with its Irish landscape and famine-era memory doing the heavy lifting. Publishing & Events: The Worcestershire LitFest returns with a new Poet Laureate crowning and flash-fiction/young-writer finals, while Kathryn Stockett’s “The Calamity Club” is reviewed as a Mississippi orphanage story that grows teeth after a slow start. Tech & Reading Culture: Research on “screen-saturated childhoods” proposes a framework for how the brain integrates experience—an argument that hits right where modern reading habits begin.

Publishing Funding: Malaysia’s National Writers’ Association (PENA) launched phase three of the PENA-Malaysia MADANI book publishing project, opening submissions for novels, short stories, poetry, stage plays, and more, with RM1 million in support aimed at building a full publishing ecosystem. Book-to-Screen Buzz: Audible is releasing Russell Tovey’s debut novel Starlings as an Audible Original, starring Andrew Scott and George MacKay, while Netflix keeps stacking adaptations—most notably The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo with Anna Kendrick directing. Literary Spotlight: Ann Patchett’s Whistler is getting major attention for its intimate, relationship-driven storytelling, and The Correspondent (Virginia Evans) is praised for its epistolary structure and aging protagonist. Reading Culture: Libraries and festivals keep rolling out summer programs and author events, from reading challenges to local talks. Tech & Media: Inkitt announced Inkitt Ironblood, an AI-native microdrama app for action/sci-fi/superhero stories. Science & Health (brief): MHRA authorized rilzabrutinib for adult ITP after prior treatments failed, and flu researchers report a lab “accident” that points to new ways to block viral entry.

Legal Drama in Hollywood: Blake Lively’s lawyers returned to a New York courtroom June 1, seeking legal bills and penalties from Justin Baldoni after a judge tossed his countersuit tied to claims of defamation and extortion. Memoir & Community Writing: Juda Bennett’s new novel-memoir, Qtopia: A Memoir of Love, Land, and Liberation (Univ. of Wisconsin Press), traces his escape from a military family into the back-to-the-land commune world. Reading as Culture War: A new essay argues doom-panics have long blamed novels for social breakdown, from Austen-era moral panic to today’s AI anxiety. AI, Mind, and the Brain: A review coins the “criticome,” mapping how early-life experience shapes brains through plasticity years, while a separate study reports deep brain stimulation can remodel white-matter pathways in depression. Publishing & Stage: Olga Tokarczuk short stories inspire a Polish theatre adaptation, and Netflix is moving forward with Anna Kendrick directing The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo. Science & Health (book-adjacent headlines): FDA approved Shionogi’s oral COVID-19 post-exposure drug XOCOVA; Alzheimer’s blood tests expand across Latin America; and portable PET tech aims to bring molecular imaging to bedside procedures.

National Indigenous History Month: Canada’s events and reading lists spotlight Indigenous authors and stories, including Tara Gereaux’s Wild People Quiet and other B.C.-connected picks. Pride & Publishing: Scholastic previews LGBTQ+ titles for June, from Rex Ogle’s Fruitcake to YA and middle-grade stories aimed at representation across ages. Poetry & Voice Tech: Stroke survivor Terence Ang launches Brokenness Becomes Beautiful, using an AI-generated version of his own voice to reclaim narration after aphasia. Film/Books Crossover: Dune’s final trilogy teaser leans into Herbert’s “no AI” worldbuilding, swapping machines for prescient humans and Mentats. Cancer Research: An experimental pancreatic cancer drug (daraxonrasib) nearly doubles survival in a Phase 3 trial, with results published alongside ASCO. 3D Printing Breakthrough: ORNL develops an error-correcting system for large composite 3D printing, aiming to cut defects and waste. Literary Awards: Egyptian novelist Shady Lewis wins the James Tait Black Prize for On the Greenwich Line, translated by Katharine Halls. Crime Publishing Deal: Sphere Fiction acquires William Hanson’s debut crime novel A Fatal Forking.