IMLS Opens to FY26 Grant Applications
After almost a year in existential limbo, the Institute of Museum and Library Services has opened its discretionary grant funding cycle for fiscal year 2026, allowing institutions to submit project proposals. more...Wiley Names Inaugural AI Chief
To accelerate its efforts to make more licensing deals with AI developers and other tech companies, Wiley has named Armughan Rafat to the newly created position of chief AI and data services officer. more...
Independent Publishers Caucus Launches Bestseller List with ABA
The Independent Press Top 40 is a new weekly bestseller list that ranks the most popular fiction and nonfiction titles from indie publishers, as sold by American Booksellers Association member stores. more...
Folio Literary Management Acquires Greenhouse Literary Agency
The deal, which Folio said reinforces its commitment to children’s and YA books, will see Greenhouse’s list and team join the agency’s children’s division, Folio Jr., with director Chelsea Eberly taking the role of VP and agent. more...and more.
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ReligionReligion Book Deals: Jan. 21, 2026
Recent deals include a look at the life and assassination of Archbishop Oscar Romero, a collection of interviews with spiritual leaders on the challenges of the moment, a series of comic-book style Bible stories, and more.
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Awards & Prizes
NBCC Announces Award Finalists
The National Book Critics Circle has unveiled the finalists for its annual awards, which will be presented at a ceremony on March 26 in New York City.
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Obituaries
Pioneering Gay Book Publisher Don Weise Dies at 59
Weise, a well-known advocate for publishing LGBTQ voices, died January 10. He led one of the first publishers dedicated to gay and lesbian authors, Alyson Books, and started two indie presses with the goal of expanding opportunities for underrepresented writers.
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Religion
When Disaster Becomes a Plague: PW Talks to Steven Weitzman
In Disasters of Biblical Proportions (Princeton Univ., Feb.), the scholar traces how the story of the 10 plagues has been repeatedly reimagined to help people make meaning, express moral outrage, and find hope for a better world.
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Religion
The Purpose and Power of Jewish Humor: PW Talks with the Editors of ‘Wit Happens’
Scholars Jennifer Caplan, Jarrod Tanny, and Avinoam Patt discuss Jewish humor and satire as a global phenomenon as well as a historic strategy by an often-threatened minority for coping with difficult times.
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Publisher News
Ranking 2025’s Bestselling Adult Publishers
While Penguin Random House and the rest of the Big Five dominated the PW adult bestseller lists last year, claiming 83% of hardcover slots, several titles from independents such as Entangled and Authors Equity managed to break through.
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Publisher News
Fighting Book Bans, Coast to Coast
Legal teams fan out to the north, south, east, and west for the freedom to read.
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Bookselling
This Week’s Bestsellers: January 19, 2026
Reese’s Book Club fave Laura Dave lands at #2 on our hardcover fiction list with The First Time I Saw Him. Plus Ben Markovits’s Booker-shortlisted The Rest of Our Lives gets B&N’s imprimatur, and Rosie Grant collects recipes To Die For.
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Publisher News
How ‘This Book Made Me Think of You’ by Libby Page Got Made
An inside look at the publication process for the bestselling author’s latest novel.
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Book Deals
Book Deals: Week of January 19, 2026
Viking lands New York Times reporter Ruth Graham’s exploration of young men’s growing interest in Christianity, Tiny Reparations takes Phoebe Robinson’s latest collection of comedic essays, and more.
