The Winners of the 2025 National Book Critics Circle Awards

Welcome to Today in Books, our daily round-up of literary headlines at the intersection of politics, culture, media, and more.

Winners of the National Book Critics Circle Awards

The National Book Critics Circle announced the winners of its book awards for the 2025 publishing year in a ceremony held at New York’s New School last night. I’m delighted to see two of my favorite books of last year take home prizes: Han Kang won the award for fiction for We Do Not Part, and Arundhati Roy received the autobiography prize for Mother Mary Comes to Me. The rest of the winners:

Nonfiction: Empire of AI: Dreams and Nightmares in Sam Altman’s OpenAI by Karen HaoBiography: A Perfect Turmoil: Walter E. Fernald and the Struggle to Care for America’s Disabled by Alex GreenPoetry: Night Watch by Kevin YoungCriticism: Hayek’s Bastards: Race, Gold, IQ, and the Capitalism of the Far Right by Quinn SlobodianThe John Leonard Prize: Baldwin: A Love Story by Nicholas BoggsGreg Barrios Book in Translation: Sad Tiger by Neige Sinno, translated from the French by Natasha Lehrer

A Match Made in AO3 Heaven

Roxane Gay is a writer, editor, professor, and public intellectual, and now she’s adding romance writer to her resume. The celebrated author has made no secret of her crush on Channing Tatum. After years of tweeting about her desire to work with the actor, Gay is making her—and our—dream come true. During a recent appearance on Dua Lipa’s “Service 95” podcast, Gay confirmed that the pair have co-written a romance novel due out in 2027. Info about the plot is scarce, but rest assured, “It’s very sexy. Lots and lots of sex.”

“Book Look” T-Shirt Design Contest for National Library Week

Calling all artsy book nerds! The folks at Syndicate X Library, the brand behind popular YouTube series “Books That Changed My Life,” are hosting a t-shirt design contest in celebration of National Library Week coming up up April 19-25.

Entries in the Book Looks contest are open now through April 8. Finalists will be selected by a judging panel and announced April 15, and three winners will be chosen by fan voting. The first place winner will take home $5,000, while second place gets $1,500, and third place $1,000. All prizes are to be split 50-50 between the winner and their library of choice.

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Book Riot’s Deals of the Day for March 27, 2026

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Guillaume Cerutti Departs Pinault Collection, Rediscovered Napoleon Hat on View, and More: Morning Links for March 27, 2026

Good Morning!

Guillaume Cerutti is stepping down from his relatively new role as president of the Pinault Collection.Forgotten in storage for nearly a century, one of Napoleon’s two-cornered hats has been identified and will go on display in June.Precious Okoyomon’s Whitney Biennial installation of around 50 hanging stuffed animals and dolls has gone on view after a delay.

The Headlines

SACKED. Guillaume Cerutti has been dismissed from his plush position as president of the Pinault Collection, with its museums in Paris and Venice, according to a report by Glitz. The Art Newspaper later confirmed he is stepping down. The surprising departure comes only 13 months after the former Christie’s chief executive officer moved to Paris from London for the job of leading French billionaire Francois Pinault’s massive private collection. In the interim, the 89-year-old Pinault, despite reported health issues, will do Cerutti’s job himself. No explanation has been given for Cerutti’s exit. At 60, Cerutti still chairs the boards of Christie’s and the Stade Rennais Football Club, which, along with the luxury goods conglomerate Kering, are all owned by Pinault’s holding company Artémis.

TIP OF THE HAT. One of Napoleon Bonaparte’s rare, unmistakable two-cornered hats will be displayed at the Musée Condé in Chantilly, France, after it went unnoticed and forgotten in museum storage for over a century, reports Le Monde and AFP. When curator Jean-Guillaume Parich did a bit of digging for an exhibit about Napoleon’s sister and queen of Naples, Caroline Murat, he discovered the black felt, bicorn hat, and was able to piece together its impeccable provenance. Newly restored and authenticated, the hat is the centerpiece of the Musée Condé’s Murat exhibition, from June 6 to Oct. 4, and is also one of only four of Napoleon’s signature hats that the disgraced emperor took with him when exiled to St. Helena Island from 1815 until he died in 1821. In his will, Napoleon left the very same hat to his son Aiglon, but after the latter’s premature death, it was given to Napoleon’s sister Caroline in 1836.

The Digest

Bose Krishnamachari resigned as director of the Kochi-Muziris Biennale (KMB) and from the board of trustees of the Kochi Biennale Foundation (KBF), which he co-founded, following an accusation of sexual harassment by one of his subordinates, which Krishnamachari has denied. [The Indian Express]

The Kennedy Center has begun firing staff ahead of a two-year closure for renovation, including top appointees since President Trump took over the center: Nick Meade and Rick Loughery. [The Washington Post]

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12 of the best TV shows to watch this April

12 of the best TV shows to watch this April

From the return of Euphoria to the latest show from Baby Reindeer's creator

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Manipulating the Law: Dismantling the Miller Test and Exploiting the “Government Speech” Doctrine: Book Censorship News, March 27, 2026

This piece is a joint effort from Kelly Jensen, Senior Editor at Book Riot, and Sarah Lamdan, Executive Director at the American Library Association’s Office for Intellectual Freedom. 

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In 2026, some of the biggest trends in state-level legislation targeting books and libraries misuse two legal concepts to make it easier to ban books in public schools and public libraries. The first is the Miller Test. The second, the “government speech” doctrine. 

The types of speech that the First Amendment doesn’t protect are few and far between – a basic benchmark of democracies is that they don’t do censorship. Obscenity is one of a few unprotected categories of speech, and it is defined very narrowly in order to make sure that it is not overly restrictive. That’s where the Miller Test comes in, as it’s used to define obscenity. It was developed by the Supreme Court in 1973, refined from previous attempts to create a clear-cut definition of what does–or does not–make materials “obscene.” The Miller Test is as follows:

1. Would the average person, applying contemporary adult community standards, find that the matter, taken as a whole, appeal to prurient interests (i.e., an erotic, lascivious, abnormal, unhealthy, degrading, shameful, or morbid interest in nudity, sex, or excretion);

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The Most Read Books on Goodreads This Week

One of the biggest recent book-to-screen adaptations came out this week: Project Hail Mary, based on the novel by Andy Weir. It’s no surprise, then, that this blockbuster movie has rocketed the 2021 sci-fi novel into the #1 spot on the list of the most read books on Goodreads this week.

If you’re curious about the book, check out the Zero to Well Read podcast episode about Project Hail Mary. And if you’re on the fence about seeing the movie, listen to the Book Riot Podcast episode about the adaptation.

Two New Books Out This Week You Should Know About

Unfortunately, the most read books on Goodreads tend not to be diverse by any definition of the word. So, here are a couple of new books out this week that deserve wider readership.

Seasons of Glass and Iron: Stories by Amal El-Mohtar

After having read the gorgeous and lilting sci-fi novella This Is How You Lose the Time War, I’ll read anything by Amal El-Mohtar. This collection is full of award-winning stories that get told through letters, folktales, poetry, and even diary entries. Each of them offers a peek into fairy tale worlds that have just enough bite. —Erica Ezeifedi

Python’s Kiss: Stories by Louise Erdrich

If you’ve never read Louise Erdrich, I envy you the joy of discovery wherever you start in her extensive catalog. If you have read Louise Erdrich, you know that her signature blend of the sacred, the mundane, and the mythic is unlike anything else in contemporary fiction. Erdrich’s stories are deeply human and real. Her writing is somehow both spare and lyrical. She’s a master of her craft with a Pulitzer and National Book Award under her belt, and she routinely shows up as someday-contender for the Nobel Prize for Literature. Wherever she wants to take me, I’m ready to go. —Rebecca Joines Schinsky

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What Horror Book You Should Read Based on Your Fave Academy Award-Nominated Horror Movie

The 98th Academy Awards were a huge win for horror fans. Four horror movies were nominated for Oscars, with three taking home statues. The biggest horror winner was Sinners, directed by Ryan Coogler. It was nominated for a record-breaking 16 awards and won four: Best Actor (Michael B. Jordan), Best Cinematography (Autumn Durald Arkapaw), Best Original Screenplay (Ryan Coogler), and Best Original Score (Ludwig Göransson).

But three other movies also represented horror in this year’s biggest movie award ceremony. Weapons, directed by Zach Cregger, received one Oscar nomination for Best Actress (Amy Madigan), and it won. Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein was nominated for nine Academy Awards and won three. Finally, the Norwegian horror film The Ugly Stepsister, directed by Emilie Blichfeldt, was nominated for one Oscar.

If you’re still riding the high of this season’s big wins for horror, here are some scary stories you might like as well! So, whether your favorite Oscar-caliber film was Sinners, Weapons, Frankenstein, or The Ugly Stepsister, here are reading recommendations for you!

If You Love Sinners

Ring Shout by P. Djélí Clark

Like Sinners, P. Djélí Clark’s Ring Shout is a historical horror novel set in the American South. Sinners is set in 1930s Mississippi. Ring Shout is set in Georgia in the 1920s. Maryse Boudreaux, equipped with a magical sword, joins a band of freedom fighters called the Harlem Hellfighters, battling against the Ku Klux Klan. But in this version of history, the Klan are actual demons—shape shifters who are the dark manifestations of hate itself and must be banished back to Hell. Even the author himself admitted that this book is an excellent companion read to Sinners!

Looking for more Sinners recs? Here are Black vampire books you should read if you liked Sinners.

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Jack Kirby Way: How It Got Renamed and Why it Matters

In the summer of 2025, the corner of Delancey Street and Essex Street in New York City was renamed Jack Kirby Way for a few hours. This happened just in time for the release of Fantastic Four: First Steps, a blockbuster film featuring some of Kirby’s most famous characters. That could have been the end of the story, but it wasn’t. Thanks to a sustained effort by Kirby fans who were committed to honoring his legacy, the street corner is now permanently known as Jack Kirby Way.

I had the pleasure of interviewing two people who were instrumental in getting this project across the finish line. The first is Roy Schwartz, author, commentator, and, along with Karen Green of Columbia University, a driving force behind the campaign. The second, Christopher Marte, is a member of the New York City Council and an enthusiastic proponent of the project.

This particular renaming effort took about a year, according to Schwartz, but it built on previous efforts made by others. In a way, it really started decades prior, when the campaigners first discovered the magic of Kirby’s work.

“I came across one of his 1970s Captain America comics and it immediately grabbed my attention,” Schwartz told me in an email interview. “It was completely impressionistic—nothing looked quite right, but everything looked totally awesome. It’s cliché to say, but it really blew my mind.”

Christopher Marte is also a big Kirby fan.

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I Saw a Great Show in China That Would Be Censored in the United States

In a famous photograph of W.E.B. Du Bois with Mao Zedong, both men are absolutely giddy and dressed to the nines: big smiles, stylish hats, long wool coats. That picture—and the 20th-century Afro-Asian alliances it symbolizes—was something of an impetus for “The Great Camouflage,” a show on view at the Rockbund Art Museum in Shanghai through April 26.

Co-curators X Zhu-Nowell and Kandis Williams began with a shared interest in overlapping revolutionary histories and cross-cultural solidarities. It started out as a show about racial capitalism and the role Marxist thought played in anti-imperialist movements—and those are still key themes. But along the way, the curators came across the work of so many women whose contributions, in art and in activism, were overshadowed by the men they married, among them Shirley Du Bois, Eslanda Robeson, Amy Ashwood Garvey, Suzanne Césaire, and Grace Lee Boggs. A project about race and class quickly came to focus on gender, placing Black feminist thought at the fore.

Nearly all the women invoked here were activists, but also artists: Shirley Du Bois and Amy Ashwood Garvey were playwrights, Eslanda Robeson was an actress, and Suzanne Césaire and Grace Lee Boggs were writers. They were interested not only in how revolutionary ideas were argued and made into policy, but also in how they are felt and lived.

Accordingly, “The Great Camouflage,” titled after a text by Suzanne Césaire, is not a didactic show of historical objects, but one of contemporary art—works processing revolutionary histories, often from decidedly feminist perspectives.

Through the lens of Black feminism, revolution becomes decidedly anti-heroic. Pope.L’s sculpture of upside-down, flailing legs, Du Bois Machine (2013), is a far-from-stoic and literally inverted monument. It swaps machismo and triumph for the voice of a little girl, emanating from a speaker placed at the figure’s groin. She tells a true story: one day, in the late 1990s, Pope.L received an envelope full of hair, skin, and dirt that allegedly belonged to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. It’s practically a relic, but also gross and weird.

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Precious Okoyomon’s Whitney Biennial Installation Is on View After a Delay, and It’s a True Shocker

Earlier this month, the Whitney Biennial went on view to the usual amount of fanfare—but one work was notably missing from the show. That work, a room-filling installation by Precious Okoyomon featuring stuffed animals and racist dolls suspended from the ceiling by nooses, was initially meant to appear in the lobby. But shortly before the exhibition opened to the press, the artist and the show’s curators pulled the plug on that plan.

The issue, Okoyomon told ARTnews this week, was not the piece’s disturbing subject matter but a more practical problem: they felt they needed more space to realize such an ambitious project. “It didn’t work,” they said of the initial lobby idea. The dolls and animals “needed to be lower. You have to engage with them in a place where you can look at them and be with them.”

We met on the Whitney Museum’s the eighth floor, where their installation, titled Everything wants to kill you and you should be afraid (2026), finally went on view Wednesday. Cupping their poodle, Gravity, they seemed proud of the fully realized version, and they had every right to be—the installation is one of the great pieces of this Whitney Biennial.

An expanded and readapted version of a work previously shown in 2025 at the Kunsthaus Bregenz, a vaunted contemporary art museum in Austria, Okoyomon’s piece features around 50 stuffed animals and dolls that dangle from the floor’s rafters. Sunlight pours in from a skylight that is not regularly exposed to the public, underscoring the sense that this installation is oddly beautiful, despite an uncomfortable mix of cutesiness and queasiness that has become Okoyomon’s signature and made them one of the most exciting sculptors working today.

Precious Okoyomon with their installation Everything wants to kill you and you should be afraid (2026), now on view in the Whitney Biennial. Photo Christopher Garcia-Valle for ARTnews

Torn-open plushies, uncontrollable kudzu, and piles of earthen matter sculpted to form deities have all appeared in Okoyomon’s work, which has been shown in venues ranging from the Venice Biennale to the Palais de Tokyo. According to Okoyomon, binding much of their work is an inquiry into violence and healing. “So much of my stuff comes from endlessly processing,” Okoyomon said. “Adam Phillips says we never get over the masochism of our childhood. And it’s true.”

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