Members and friends, we hope you’re doing well! This week, our members have been keeping busy with reviews of books by authors including Catherine Airey, Paraic O’Donnell, Lidia Yuknavitch, Sarah Chihaya, Geraldine Brooks, Imani Perry, and more—plus fascinating interviews and exciting news. Take care, and as always, thanks for reading!
Member Reviews/Essays
Former NBCC board member Mark Athitakis wrote about Catherine Airey’s novel, Confessions, and the rise of analog media in fiction for The Atlantic.
Bruce Krajewski reviewed Paraic O’Donnell’s The Naming of the Birds for The Guardian.
In her Girl Writing column for the Washington Independent Review of Books, Ellen Prentiss Campbell wrote about character names and the virtue of mercy.
Cassandra Whitaker reviewed Cavar’s Failure to Complyfor Vagabond City.
Charles Green reviewed Brad Gooch’s Radiant: The Life and Line of Keith Haring for the Washington Blade.
Former NBCC board member Anita Felicelli reviewed Lidia Yuknavitch’s Reading the Waves for Alta.
Briallen Hopper reviewed Sarah Chihaya’s Bibliophobia for The New Republic.
Mike Good reviewed Nicholas Yingling’s The Fire Road for Colorado Review.
Hope Reese wrote about expert-recommended decluttering books for The New York Times.
Cory Oldweiler reviewed Kari Dickson’s translation of Erling Kagge’s After the North Pole for The Minnesota Star Tribune.
Nell Beram reviewed Reunion by Elise Juska for the Portland Press Herald.
NBCC Co-Vice President/Events Lauren LeBlanc reviewed Geraldine Brooks’ Memorial Daysfor the Los Angeles Times.
Erik Gleibermann reviewed Imani Perry’s Black in Blues and Lee Hawkins’ I Am Nobody’s Slave for Oprah Daily’s Black History Month roundup.
Karl Wolff reviewed At the End of the World There is a Pond: Poems by Steven Duong for the New York Journal of Books.
Linda Hitchcock reviewed Beezy Marsh’s Queen of Diamonds and Marianne Cronin’s Eddie Winston Is Looking for Love for BookTrib.
In The Brooklyn Rail, John Domini reviewed Sand-Catcher, a novel by the Palestinian expat Omar Khalifah, translated by Barbara Romaine.
Former NBCC board member and recipient of the Nona Balakian Citation for Excellence in Reviewing Steven G. Kellman reviewed Jeff Sebo’s The Moral Circle for Arts Alive San Antonio.
Tom Peebles reviewed Timothy Garton Ash’s Homelands: A Personal History of Europe on his blog.
Chris Barsanti reviewed Glenn Adamson’s A Century of Tomorrows for PopMatters.
Aiden Hunt reviewed Blade by Blade by Danusha Laméris for New Pages.
For the Duluth News Tribune, Jay Gabler wrote a column about Vanessa L. Torres’s YA contemporary fantasy novel On the Wings of La Noche.
Member Interviews
Edna Bonhomme interviewed Shon Faye about her latest book, Love in Exile, for Frieze.
Eric Olson profiled Thomas Kohnstamm for The Seattle Times.
Jake Casella Brookins talked to Hilary Strang, the director of the Master of the Arts Program in the Humanities at the University of Chicago, about Kim Stanley Robinson’s novel Aurora for the podcast A Meal of Thorns.
Member News
John Skoyles has been appointed the interim editor-in-chief of Ploughshares.
Meg Waite Clayton’s Typewriter Beach (Harper, July 1) was just named a Zibby Most Anticipated Book of 2025. Galleys are available on Edelweiss and Netgalley, or email meg@megwaiteclayton.com to be connected with her publicist.
NBCC Vice President/Membership and Technology Rebecca Hussey, with co-hosts Frances Evangelista and Dorian Stuber, discussed Lydia Kiesling’s novel Mobility for the One Bright Book podcast.
Shara Lessley, editor-at-large for West Branch, edited a feature on the 30th anniversary of Brigit Pegeen Kelly’s SONG, including essays by David Baker, Amit Majmudar, Gabrielle Bates, and C. Dale Young.
Robert Allen Papinchak has had two poems—“grief” and “Getting on the ferry”—accepted by North of Oxford.
“Fountain pen” by Toshiyuki IMAI is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0.