The creative, bracing essays of Rebecca May Johnson’s "Small Fires" redefine the act of cooking and elevate the value of domestic labor. They critique what it means to interpret recipes; with a combination of intellectual rigor and... Read More

Sean Ferrell’s novel "The Sinister Secrets of Singe" is a complex morality tale—an epic-scale steampunk vision of troubled family relationships. In the near past, the residents of Liberty bucked for autonomy against their sovereign,... Read More

Syrian refugees fight to survive in Haya Saleh’s moving novel "Wild Poppies", about how brotherhood endures wartime. Omar is fifteen. His father was martyred in a bombing. Omar and his remaining family shelter at his aunt’s home.... Read More

In his graphic novel "Nuking Alaska", Peter Dunlap-Shohl reveals the disturbing history of nuclear weapons in his home state. Recounting near-misses and actual nuclear disasters in Alaska and elsewhere, this book weaves personal accounts... Read More

In A Traveler’s Guide to the End of the World, veteran nature writer David Gessner uses powerful examples of environmental devastation to show myriad ways in which climate change is altering areas across the United States. The book... Read More

A botanist hurries to find a murderer who uses poisonous bouquets as their calling card in Kate Khavari’s charming series mystery novel A Botanist’s Guide to Flowers and Fatality. At University College London in the early 1920s, men... Read More

Willie Edward Taylor Carver Jr.’s poetry collection is a celebration of the awkwardness of growing up queer and poor. These autobiographical, narrative poems focus on Carver’s coming-of-age in rural Kentucky. They track his religious... Read More

A woman once undone by empathy now finds that it could be her salvation in Claire Fuller’s stunning postapocalyptic novel "The Memory of Animals". In her childhood, Neffy split her time between her father’s Greek island and her... Read More