News of note for readers: September 16, 2026

Catch up quick with the bookish news of the past few days ... or take a deeper dive into each story. Your choice! 

• Writer Annie Dillard, who won the Pulitzer Prize for Pilgrim at Tinker Creek, died yesterday at age eighty-one (The New York Times).

• Writer Bonnie Greer, whose books include Hanging By Her Teeth and Obama Music, died yesterday at age seventy-seven (The Guardian).

• Barnes & Noble has bought the indie bookstore chain Joseph-Beth Booksellers, which has locations in Ohio and Kentucky (Book Riot). 

• Here are the 2026 National Book Award longlists for translated literature and for poetry (National Book Foundation).

• Civics for All, a New York City Public Schools program, has released an educational comic book called Know Your Rights, to help residents handle encounters with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (The New York Times). 

• In other illustrative news, two classic Arthur stories are becoming graphic novels next year, in honor of Marc Brown's aardvark's fiftieth anniversary: Arthur Makes a Comic and Arthur’s Underwear (People).

• And in other milestone-related re-release news: Black Panther co-founder Bobby Seale, who's approaching his ninetieth birthday, will reissue his 1970 memoir Seize the Time in February and publish a new memoir, I, Bobby, near the end of 2027 (The Associated Press).

• This excerpt from Against Convenience: Embracing Friction in an Age of Endless Ease by Gabe Bullar looks at the prices we're willing to pay — literally and figuratively — in order to eat "convenient" food (Longreads).