Pop culture news for readers: September 17, 2026

Here's how pop culture and literature have been intersecting lately ... 

• The documentary The Librarians, which highlights the harm that book-banners are inflicting on library workers and celebrates these staffers' fight for the freedom to read, received an award and an on-stage shout-out at the Emmys (Literary Hub).

• Hollywood figures will be participating in events to celebrate the centenary of Ernest Hemingway's novel The Sun Also Rises (Deadline).

• Six more actors have been announced as joining season two of Heated Rivalry (Variety).

• The House of Mouse: Bob Iger and The War of Succession at Disney, an unauthorized book about Bob Iger's time leading The Walt Disney Co., comes out December 1 (The Hollywood Reporter). 

• Actress Mary Steenburgen is starring in the Netflix movie adaptation of A Dog’s Perfect Christmas by W. Bruce Cameron; she's also narrating a new audiobook version of the novel as well as a new children's book inspired by it (People).

• All She Wants for Christmas, an Audible Original by Lisa Jewell, is also getting the star voice treatment: double-Emmy winner Matthew Rhys, along with Ruth Wilson, Phoebe Dynevor, and Harriet Walter, will narrate the November 2 release (Deadline).

• Watch a new trailer for The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping, based on the Suzanne Collins novel that covers the backstory of fan favorite Haymitch (The Hollywood Reporter). 

• Four copies of Swan Song: Diana, My Sister — the memoir of Charles Spencer, brother of the late Princess Diana — were stolen from a truck in the Netherlands earlier this week, days ahead of the September 22 release ... (People)

• ... whether this preview came from the stolen copies is unclear, but a claim from Swan Song — that now-King Charles said that the public would forget about Diana soon enough, following her death — has prompted the Windsors to make a statement about the book (The Hollywood Reporter).  

• Brittany Allen highlights films inspired by literature or writers that are making their way around the festival circuit (Literary Hub).