Friends, we hope you’re doing well! Our members have been busy this past week with reviews of books by authors including Djuna Barnes, Malén Denis, Kirsten King, and Koren Stamper, and interviews with writers such as Nancy Lemann, Laurie Hertzel, William and Brendan Kennedy, and George Saunders. Take care, and thanks for reading!
Member Reviews/Essays
Former NBCC President Tom Beer wrote about four intimate debut memoirs for the Debuts Issue of Kirkus Reviews.
Terese Svoboda reviewed Marion Greenwood: Portrait and Self-Portrait by Joanne B. Mulcahy for the print edition of Rain Taxi.
NBCC board member Lauren LeBlanc reviewed Djuna Barnes’ Ladies Almanackfor The Believer.
Cory Oldweiler wrote about Lithium, written by Malén Denis and translated from the Spanish by Laura Hatry and John Wronski, for Southwest Review.
NBCC board member Tobias Carroll wrote about five books in translation for Words Without Borders and reviewed Anna Kovatcheva’s She Made Herself a Monster and Kim Fu’s The Valley of Vengeful Ghosts for Reactor.
Carol Iaciofano Aucoin reviewed Kirsten King’s A Good Person for WBUR’s Arts & Culture.
For The Village Star-Revue, Michael Quinn reviewed The Endless Garment: Atlantic Basin, a group exhibition on global fashion and labor at Brooklyn’s Pioneer Works, with an accompanying poetry book.
Diane Josefowicz reviewed Happy Land by Dolen Perkins-Valdez for The Providence Eye.
Sebastian Stockman wrote about the 2026 Boston Citywide Spelling Bee for A Saturday Letter.
Emily Hall reviewed I Was Alive Here Once, an anthology edited by Sarah Coolidge, for the Ancillary Review of Books.
Melissa Holbrook Pierson reviewed True Color by Kory Stamper for The Brooklyn Rail.
Former NBCC board member and recipient of the Nona Balakian Citation for Excellence in Reviewing Steven G. Kellman reviewed Andrew Miller’s The Land in Winter for the print edition of Rain Taxi.
Lee Rossi reviewed Cold Thief Place by Esther Lin for Another Chicago Magazine.
Nicole Schrag reviewed The Girl Who Baptized Herself by Meggan Watterson for Christian Century and Sweet Home Feliciana: Family, Slavery, and the Hauntings of History by Rashauna Johnson for Washington Independent Review of Books. She also recently wrote about rejection goals for her Substack newsletter, For Love or Money.
Tony Miksanek’s review of In Defense of Sunlight: The Surprising Science of Sun Exposure by Rowan Jacobsen was featured as Booklist‘s “Review of the Day” for April 3.
Member Interviews
NBCC board member Lauren LeBlanc interviewed Nancy Lemann for The Drift.
Jay Gabler interviewed former NBCC president Laurie Hertzel about her new memoir, Ghosts of Fourth Street, for the Duluth News Tribune.
NBCC board member Tobias Carroll interviewed Tilar J. Mazzeo about her book The Sea Captain’s Wife for the Portland Press Herald.
Stephanie Gorton interviewed William and Brendan Kennedy about their Charlie Malarkey children’s books for Literary Hub.
Eric Olson profiled George Saunders for The Seattle Times.
Elaine Szewczyk profiled Deb Olin Unferth for Publishers Weekly.
Member News
Ryan Teitman’s new collection of poems, Paperweight, will be published on Tuesday, April 7, by the University of Akron Press. The book was selected by Matthew Olzmann as the winner of the Akron Poetry Prize.
NBCC Emerging Critic Fellow Michelle Chan Schmidt translated an excerpt from Hongkongese writer Cheung Yuen-man’s short story “Ashes to Ashes” for Words Without Borders‘ collection of post-2019 Fiction from Hong Kong.
Three poems by NBCC board member David Woo appear in the April issue of Poetry magazine: “The End of the Visit,” “Gay Marriage,” and “Innocence.”
Bill Marx is hosting the next free workshop in his series for Viva La Book Review on April 24 at 5:30 p.m. Eastern. His third session, titled “Survival Strategies for Reviewers,” will explore the hard realities of being a freelance book critic—how to handle rejection, find outlets for your reviews, and come up with survival strategies on the fly. You can register for the workshop and add it to your Google Calendar here.
Terese Svoboda discussed her memoir Hitler and My Mother-in-Law with Jane Scimeca for her podcast on New Books Network. Svoboda also completed the Memoir Land Questionnaire for the book. The book is also a Foreword Indies finalist in nonfiction and received a review by Melissa Kutsche in MER. Svoboda also won the Santa Fe Writers Project for an unpublished novel.
Guardians & Saints: Stories by member Diane Josefowicz was reviewed at Small Press Picks.
Selling Opportunity: The Story of Mary Kay, the new nonfiction book from Mary Lisa Gavenas, a fellow at the Leon Levy Center for Biography, will be published by Viking on April 28. Tipped by Literary Hub as one of the “Most Anticipated Books of 2026,” the book received a starred review from Publishers Weekly and is featured by The New York Times, Town & Country, and other publications on “Best Books to Read This April.”
“Library of Congress Books” by Mr.TinMD is licensed under CC BY-ND 2.0.