Members and friends, we’d like to remind you that applications for the NBCC Emerging Critics Fellowships are open until Friday, June 5, 2026, at midnight Pacific time! These fellowships seek to identify, nurture, and support the development of the next generation of book critics, and are open to critics of all experience levels who seek to review and write about books for print and digital outlets. Learn more about the fellowships and find a link to apply here!
Member Reviews/Essays
Brian Tanguay reviewed Cults Like Us by Jane Borden for the California Review of Books.
McKenzie Watson-Fore wrote an essay about the discourse surrounding Caro Claire Burke’s Yesteryear and the chronic underrepresentation of individuals with religious commitments in mainstream literature, for her Substack, Critic at Play.
Marcie Geffner reviewed The Oracle’s Daughter: The Rise and Fall of an American Cult by Harrison Hill and The Infinite Sadness of Small Appliances by Glenn Dixon for her Substack, Mostly Books.
For Locus, Jake Casella Brookins reviewed Centroeuropa, written by Vicente Luis Mora and translated from the Spanish by Rahul Bery, and Transmentation Transgression by Darkly Lem.
David Starkey reviewed White River Crossing by Ian McGuire for the California Review of Books.
Linda Hitchcock reviewed A Deadly Episode by Anthony Horowitz and Murder Mindfully, written by Karsten Dusse and translated from the German by Florian Duijsens, for BookTrib.
Tom Peebles reviewed Laura Field’s Furious Minds: The Making of the MAGA New Right on his personal blog.
Cory Oldweiler reviewed Electric Shamans at the Festival of the Sun, written by Mónica Ojeda and translated from the Spanish by Sarah Booker, for the Los Angeles Review of Books.
Clea Simon reviewed Rebecca Novack’s Murder Bimbo for The Arts Fuse.
Member Diane Josefowicz wrote an article, “Six Mysteries Featuring Miniatures, Effigies, and Tiny Scenes,” for CrimeReads.
Joan Silverman’s newsletter, Away From It All, highlights “essays by leading writers on any and everything, but the news.” The current issue features essays by Barbara Hurd, Nicole Walker, and Rachel Z. Arndt. For more information, visit awayfromitall.substack.com.
Kate Preziosi reviewed Electric Shamans at the Festival of the Sun, written by Mónica Ojeda and translated from the Spanish by Sarah Booker, for the Chicago Review of Books. Kate’s work was also featured in Literary Hub‘s “5 Book Reviews You Need to Read This Week.”
For The Baffler, Kristen Martin wrote about Paige Towers’ What They Stole: A Familicide Rooted in Intercountry Adoption.
Member Interviews
Clea Simon interviewed Jill Lepore about her Pulitzer Prize-winning We The People: A History of the U.S. Constitution for the Harvard FAS Current.
For the podcast A Meal of Thorns, Jake Casella Brookins talked to critic and author Gareth Watkins about Sisyphean, written by Dempow Torishima and translated from the Japanese by Daniel Huddleston.
Elaine Szewczyk profiled Richard Russo for Publishers Weekly.
Former NBCC President Laurie Hertzel is featured on Dani Shapiro’s podcast, Family Secrets, discussing Hertzel’s new memoir, Ghosts of Fourth Street, published by the University of Minnesota Press.
Paul Wilner interviewed Barry Walters about Mighty Real: A History of LGBTQ Music, 1969-2000, for the Nob Hill Gazette.
Hope Reese interviewed Stephanie Coontz and Bruce Feiler for Greater Good Magazine.
Anne Charles interviewed poet, scholar, and editor Julie R. Enszer about her most recent poetry collection, The Lamed-Vovniks, on the Vermont cable access show All Things LGBTQ.
Member News
Bloomsbury Academic published Anjali Enjeti’s third book, Ballot, earlier this year. It’s about voting and voting rights in an increasingly anti-voting climate.
Nicole Yurcaba’s poetry collection Not Sleeping in Newark has published with Atomic Bohemian Press in Wales.
Philip Herter’s poem “Miracles” has been selected for Dispatches from the Avant-Garage by Rebecca Kosick published by Wayne State University Press.
NBCC lifetime member Susan Henderson was awarded a MacDowell Fellowship for the fall of 2026. She earned her eighth Pushcart Prize nomination for “Ode to Complicated Mothers,” published in Elm Leaves Journal. And she is on the advisory board for the Huntington African American Museum, which will be built near the former stop on the Underground Railroad on Long Island, New York.
Meg Waite Clayton’s Typewriter Beach, an instant USA Today bestseller that got some really nice attention in the Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, USA Today, Publishers Weekly, the Today show and elsewhere, comes out in paperback from Harper on June 30. She’s doing events in ten states from Massachusetts to California starting June 23, and would love to connect with fellow critics for coffee and/or coverage along the way.
“Open Door Bookstore in Schenectady, New York” by Henry Bellagnome is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0.