AGP Executive Report

Publishing Awards: Russian-born billionaire Dmitry Bukhman’s philanthropy is taking over sponsorship of the International Booker Prize, renaming it the Bukhman International Booker Prize and doubling the top award to £100,000 for author and translator. Georgia Books: The Georgia Writers Association named 14 winners for the 2026 Georgia Author of the Year Awards, including a new horror category winner, Michael Wehunt’s “The October Film Haunt.” Community Reading: Beaver Dam Library’s new storybook trail in Edgewater Park uses rotating book pages along a quarter-mile path to boost early literacy outdoors. Romance on the Move: Two local romance booksellers—one running a mobile romance bookstore and another doing pop-up events—credit Bridgerton for reigniting their reading and launching their shops. Graphic Novel Spotlight: Maia Kobabe’s middle-grade graphic novel “Opting Out” digs into seventh-grade survival through a Hindu family’s “change happens” pep talk. Book Fairs: China’s Jiangsu Book Fair opened in Suzhou with 400+ publishing groups and a big push on youth reading, plus an online section featuring 200,000 titles. Book Trade/Deals: Hodderscape signed a three-book deal for Jamie Cass’ debut “Starfall.”

Education & Schooling: The Independent School of Jakarta says it will now keep students from age 2 through A-Levels and on to university, ending the old Year 8 cutoff. Publishing & Reading Tech: reMarkable expands its lineup with the Paper Pure, a cheaper 10.3-inch E Ink writing tablet aimed at focused note-taking. Libraries & Access: Sharjah’s “Library for Every Home” initiative is highlighted at a world library conference, citing millions of books delivered to families. Book Culture & Community: Zenith Bookstore in Duluth marks nine years of community impact, while Iowa’s Wren and Purl joins a 62-shop indie tour with stamps, prizes, and audiobook drawings. Literary Events Worldwide: Nepal’s Ratoghar LitFest wraps up with poetry, honors, and a new translation launch, and Georgia and Brazil kick off a cultural cooperation memorandum covering literature, museums, and creative industries. Controversy & Policy: U.S. federal student-aid rules shift again, with theology losing “professional” status for loans while other fields are restored. AI & Learning: Anthropic’s Claude Science gets more attention as a research-focused workbench for scientists.

Book Trade & Retail: Oxford gets a new bookstore, while Oxford’s Bad Girl Books opens as a dedicated romantasy shop after pop-ups drew big crowds—more genre-specific retail, more author events. Publishing Industry & Access: Libraries Connected secured £65,770 from Arts Council England to improve how public libraries and independent publishers work together on e-books, and the UK’s £65k libraries programme targets gaps in e-book access. AI in Research & Writing: Anthropic and NVIDIA push “agentic” tools deeper into scientific workflows via Claude Science and BioNeMo, aiming for auditable, reproducible outputs that still keep humans in control. Science, Media, and Controversy: U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson asks Elsevier/Toxicology Reports for documents after the journal removed a paper on vaccines and SIDS, escalating scrutiny of scientific publishing decisions. Community & Culture: Qatar Museums rolls out July programming across museums with calligraphy, geometry, storytelling, and literature-focused family activities. Local Reading Life: Frostburg’s “Pirates Ahoy!” brings kids and an illustrator-author for a reading and drawing demo tied to The Pirate’s Bed.

Publishing & Books on Screen: Harlan Coben’s bestselling novel I Will Find You is now a Netflix eight-episode miniseries, continuing the author’s hit-to-TV pipeline after Fool Me Once. Banned Books Spotlight: Dua Lipa opened Portugal’s “The Manifesto Library” at Livraria Lello, a permanent collection of 100 challenged titles built around themes of power, control, voice, and memory. AI for Research (and Reading): Anthropic launched “Claude Science,” a research workbench that pulls together scientific databases and tools so researchers can analyze literature and draft results in one place. Indie Book Retail: Tulsa’s Palomino Books & Music opens July 1, pairing Indigenous-focused books with used copies and community events. Book Industry Business: Shueisha will end its Disney Japan deal for Marvel manga adaptations, with titles going out of print after Sept. 30, 2026. Classics Live: Dame Mary Beard announced an Australia/New Zealand tour tied to her new book Talking Classics.

AI & Publishing Culture: Kate Kase and AI expert Mia Jordan launch Late Night With AI, a playful “it’s a book, but don’t tell the bots” format that turns AI explanations into a talk-show style read. Big Sales, Big Politics: Simon & Schuster says Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan’s Regime Change has sold 300,000+ copies in its opening week and is already on its third printing. Controversy Watch (Books & AI): Jamir Nazir wins the Commonwealth Short Story Prize after an AI-use review cleared the regional winner—weeks after The Serpent in the Grove sparked “Did AI write this?” allegations. Tech for Science: Anthropic rolls out Claude Science, aiming to help researchers streamline literature review, analysis, and manuscript work. Health & Caregiving Reads: Boston Children’s Hospital reports rare-condition diagnosis gains using AI, while a University of Surrey team develops support for unpaid carers dealing with grief before bereavement. Community & Libraries: Lac La Hache’s public library closes for summer renovations, with services shifting to nearby branches and digital access still available. Indie Book Events: The Great Pittsburgh Book Crawl runs July 18–26 with 30 bookstores and a free passport for stamps and prizes. New Titles: Chuck Tingle’s horror romance Fabulous Bodies hits July 7; Gene Corapi’s Washington Strolls offers 14 walking routes with 335+ points of interest.

Government Publishing Access: Maharashtra is rolling out an online and counter “book store” for official government publications, with doorstep delivery via India Post through mahapublications.maharashtra.gov.in. Mental Health & Supplements: A new systematic review asks whether creatine could work as an add-on treatment for depression, based on five randomized trials across multiple countries. Book Censorship Alarm: A report says U.S. book bans are no longer random local fights but increasingly coordinated campaigns, citing high challenge counts and political pressure groups. Literary Spotlight: An Irish American author discusses “Something Bigger,” a novel built around a real priest who confronted the Ku Klux Klan. Science & Alzheimer’s Genetics: Niigata University updates the risk estimate for Alzheimer’s in Japanese people with APOE-e4 homozygosity, finding it’s lower than a decades-old figure. Writing Systems Wonder: A study highlights Hangul’s unique design—created by King Sejong with a known inventor and surviving explanation of letter construction. Publishing/Tech: Kobo and StoryGraph add syncing, while an AI “MedSkillAudit” framework aims to block unreliable medical research agent skills before deployment. Rare Book Market: Christie’s London is set to auction a rare first edition of Emily Brontë’s “Wuthering Heights.”

Book Retail Deals & Promotions: Macao’s Cultural Affairs Bureau (IC) is running a month-long summer promotion for its Online Bookshop, with 20% off 380+ titles plus themed bookmarks, running through July 31. YA Spotlight at Industry Conference: Children’s Institute 2026 in Schaumburg put YA front and center, with authors Elizabeth Acevedo, Jasmine Guillory, and Nicola Yoon drawing heavy attention from booksellers and publishers. Local Bookstore Closures: Anaheim’s Booktown USA is being forced to close after 23 years, clearing out shelves as the end approaches. School Book Access Fight: West Valley High School in California will require parent opt-in for two extracurricular book club titles, Nic Stone’s “Dear Martin” and Cherie Dimaline’s “The Marrow Thieves.” New Publishing/Reading Tech: A review highlights the BOOX Go 10.3 (Gen II) as a more open Android-based alternative to locked-down e-ink writing tablets. Community & Author Events: Libraries and bookstores keep pushing summer programming, including outdoor classic-literature screenings like Caltech’s “Pride and Prejudice” night.

Summer Reading & Kids Culture: Cheshire West and Chester libraries kick off a free “Read to the Beat” Summer Reading Challenge (July 4 onward), with kids reading across formats for medals and themed events. Book Fairs & Community Events: Chiang Mai Book Fair 2026 returns (June 26–July 5) with 210+ publishers, storytelling contests, and workshops. Publishing & Book Culture Picks: A summer roundup spotlights new titles on bookbinding history, Muriel Spark, Harold Bloom’s letters, and “literary cricketers.” Censorship & Banned Books: Dua Lipa’s Manifesto Library opens in Portugal with 100 books challenging censorship and dominant narratives. Press Freedom Under Pressure: Hong Kong arrests bookseller-journalist Leticia Wong over alleged seditious materials, part of a wider crackdown since 2020. Manga Ending: Kadokawa’s “Spirits & Cat Ears” ends with final volumes 12 and 13 planned for release together later this year. Literary Entrepreneurship: A Northern Ireland writer launches a literary agency to represent academic and emerging voices.

Publishing & Books in Schools: Texas approved a required Bible-and-classics reading list for millions of public school students, reshaping the “what kids read” fight nationwide. Education Accountability: Odisha’s BJD demanded the ouster of a school minister and a CBI probe after alleged textbook blunders and a Rs 380-crore scam claim. Religion & Texts: A homily asks what it means to be an LGBTQ Catholic, while a separate piece highlights the Bhagavad Gita’s new translations into Kurmali and Santali. Literary Culture & Events: Essence Fest expands daytime “experiences” in New Orleans, and Bucks County’s Tinicum Arts Festival returns for its 75th year with books, artists, and live music. Book/Media Releases: Prime Video began airing the adaptation of Carley Fortune’s Every Summer After (Every Year After), and Marvel teased Mary Jane in an anime-style Spider-Man variant cover. Industry Tech & Reading Tools: BOOX Go 6 (Gen II) is pitched as a distraction-free mobile e-ink jotter, and Idaho’s free audiobook service spotlights accessibility for readers with disabilities. Arts & Community Loss: Veteran Kannada journalist/filmmaker N.S. Shankar died at 67.

Audiobooks & Reading Habits: Audible and Penguin Random House India say audiobooks are “untethering” stories from a single time and place, helping people read more and move between audio, e-books, and print. Book Reviews: Piyush Mishra’s memoir Tumhari Auqaat Kya Hai is praised as raw and self-interrogating, while Call It Madness (Regal House) uses family secrets and disputed memories to turn Vermont into a haunting maze. Summer Reading Picks: A beach-ready romance, She Wrote, He Wrote: A New York Love Story, leans into alternating voices and fast, rom-com energy for dating-age readers. Publishing Culture & Events: A satire, The Complete Works of Jane Austen, Abridged, and Gypsy keep festival stages busy through July. Community & Access: Manipur’s private reading hubs are thriving amid unrest, offering long hours, Wi‑Fi, and power backups for exam prep. Books as Travel: “Literary tourism” and BookTok’s travel trend are pushing readers to plan trips around authors, settings, and bookshops. Tech & Policy: A new warning on app-store rules argues they could undermine parents’ rights and raise privacy risks. Health & Skin: Monsoon humidity is driving dermatophytosis surges, with misuse of steroid-antifungal combos flagged as a key problem.

Texas Education Culture War: The Texas State Board of Education voted 9-5 to approve Bible passages and Christian-infused curriculum for 5.5 million public school students, with phased rollout starting in 2030-31—sparking fresh separation-of-church-and-state debate. AI & Reading Tech: Margaret Atwood told the Babell Literary Festival that AI is “garbage in, garbage out,” while Amazon expands Kindle AI with spoiler-free recaps and an “Ask this Book” assistant for context. Book World on the Ground: Vroman’s hosts Jeremy Atherton Lin discussing his queer memoir “Deep House,” and the store’s Paseo concert series brings free jazz from Pasadena Conservatory of Music faculty. Libraries & Access: Loneliness Books in Tokyo spotlights LGBTQ+ publishing, and the Library of Congress adds Nepali writers’ voices to its digital archive. Publishing Integrity: Malaysia urges Islamic authors and publishers to ensure accuracy and originality after criticism over Quranic quotations in a newly published book. Community Book Culture: Friends of Venice Library honors volunteers for its bookstore that funds local reading programs.

Local author events: Smith Memorial Library and the Friends of Chautauqua Writers’ Center launch “Locals at the Library,” a weekly Thursday front-porch meet-and-greet with authors selling and signing books (July 2–Aug. 27). Education & curriculum debate: India’s NCERT adds an “Emergency” chapter to Grade 9, sparking renewed BJP vs. Congress arguments over how the period should be taught. Publishing & AI controversy: Hachette withdraws the UK edition of a self-published horror novel after claims that most of it may have been AI-written, reigniting the fight over “creative originality” and AI detection. Books in schools: Wisconsin’s Whitewater Unified School District gets $81,186 for books and ebooks, including Spanish-language materials. Library access & community: Charlotte County Libraries seek adult English-learning tutors across branches. Culture through literature: Tellico Village Players bring Readers’ Theater to elementary schools, using short scripts to teach kids story elements and encourage reading. Wildlife policy: Indiana proposes raising the bobcat trapping quota from 250 to 400, with activists calling the data insufficient.

FCRA Crackdown: India’s government tightened Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act rules, banning foreign funds from being used for religious conversion and adding stricter NGO oversight. Literary Milestone: PM Narendra Modi marked Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay’s birth anniversary, praising him as the “Vande Mataram” composer and a key literary force behind patriotism. Book Culture & Access: Brooklyn Public Library opens a free, anti-bans art exhibition by children’s author Christopher Myers, using stained-glass and tapestries tied to frequently challenged books. Indie Bookstores: A new downtown Pocatello shop, Hares & Hatters, brings a “new books + author events” model to a used-book gap. Texas Reading Fight: A Texas school board vote could make Bible passages required reading, reigniting church-state and First Amendment concerns. Publishing/Industry Watch: Anglia Ruskin University launched a 10-year children’s book illustration scholarship after a £515k donation in memory of Paula Heister. Summer Reading Picks: Bookstore owners share what makes a great summer read—fast, fun, and easy to pick up again.

Publishing & Books on the Shelf: A new how-to for writers, “The Complete Expert-to-Author Guide,” lands at Vroman’s July 14, while “Hike Indiana State Parks” fills a long gap with trail-by-trail guidance for Indiana’s 24 parks. LGBTQ+ Voices & Community: Jeremy Atherton Lin discusses “Deep House” at Vroman’s, and Nepal-based queer artist Ugem Manandhar reflects on visibility and belonging through art. Poetry & Literary Culture: Sean Hill’s “The Negroes Send Their Love” explores history and possible futures, and Susan Choi’s “Flashlight” keeps readers hooked with a family disappearance that spans decades. Education & Curriculum Fight: India’s NCERT/CBSE updates spark controversy, including changes to how the Emergency is taught and what constitutional terms appear. Book World Beyond Pages: iHeartMedia launches a year-round iHeart Soccer Podcast Network, and Texas moves toward requiring Bible stories in K-12 reading. Local Bookish Life: East Brown Cow welcomes Stone Fox Creamery to Old Port Square for summer, and a children’s literature conference gets a new endowment honoring Karen Huff.

Publishing & Sales: The Association of American Publishers reports US publishing revenues rose 4.4% in April 2026, a sign the market is still finding momentum. Book Trade & Rights: Texas education officials are set to approve a “sweeping” new state book list that would require Bible excerpts for students starting in 4th grade, reigniting church-state separation fights. Censorship & Access: Hong Kong police arrested booksellers over alleged “seditious” publications, adding to pressure on free-speech and independent publishing. Literary Culture: Jane Yolen, a towering force in children’s books and inventive retellings, has died at 87. Community Reading: Patten Free Library kicks off Summer Reading 2026 with “Plant a Seed, Read,” plus prizes, events, and family activities. Tech & AI for Research: Microsoft made its cloud-based “Discovery” agentic AI generally available, aiming to speed up hypothesis-to-discovery work in data-heavy science. Heat & Travel: A record-breaking European heatwave is forcing abrupt closures of major attractions, including the Eiffel Tower and Louvre.

Hong Kong Booksellers Under National Security Scrutiny: Police arrested two shop owners over alleged “seditious” sales, including a biography of jailed media figure Jimmy Lai, raising fresh concerns for independent bookstores and free expression. AI & Math Integrity: The International Mathematical Union endorsed the Leiden Declaration, urging researchers and institutions to keep human accountability, proper attribution, and ethics front and center as AI tools accelerate in math. Local History in Bookstores: Old Gilead Bookstore in Grand Rapids hosted a free historical program, “Missionaries of the Maumee,” as part of a wider community history weekend. Reading as a Social Force: A feature on Delhi’s Daryaganj Sunday Book Market frames the bazaar as informal “welfare infrastructure” for students amid underfunded education. Publishing/Books in the Spotlight: The German Book Trade’s Peace Prize winner will be announced in Frankfurt, honoring contributions to peace through literature, arts, and science. New Fiction for Readers: Guillermo Stitch’s “The Coast of Everything” gets a review for its sprawling, nested sci-fi storytelling style.