Posted on October 16, 2025 at 2:00 PM by Sadye Scott-Hainchek
Catch up quick with the bookish news of the past few days ... or take a deeper dive into each story. Your choice!
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The steering committee for Georgia's Helen Ruffin Reading Bowl restored the books it had previously dropped from the voting list — including a title about book bans — after receiving pushback from students, educators, parents, and librarians about their removal (open letter via Book Riot on Instagram).
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Here's a double-dose of excerpts: you can read from The Rose Field, the final installment in Philip Pullman's Book of Dust trilogy, and you can listen to a passage from it, too (The Guardian).
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You can also read an excerpt from the collection Poppy State by Myriam Gurba, titled "That Mexican" (Electric Literature).
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A UK startup has partnered with some independent publishing houses to create an "organic literature" certification — signaling that artificial intelligence was only used for specific small tasks — with plans to expand the initiative globally next year (The Guardian).
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Another literary project, but closer to home for many of us: LitBox, a vending machine filled with books by local authors, in Washington, DC (NPR).
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Actor, comedian and author Jeff Hiller will host the National Book Awards ceremony on November 19 (People).
Categories: Today in Books