News of note for readers: February 9, 2026

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

• Bridgerton author Julia Quinn says she's struggled to write much in the past few years, given the state of the world, and is focusing her energy on speaking out against the US government's treatment of immigrants (Vanity Fair). 

• Congratulations to the finalists for the 2026 Audie Awards! (Audio Publishers Association)

• Penguin Classics reported a huge spike in UK sales of Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights, which has a movie adaptation hitting theaters this week (The Guardian).

• Tomorrow is the anniversary of writer Voltaire returning to Paris after nearly three decades in exile, so take a look back at the welcome he received (Literary Hub). 

• Suzannah Lessard, author of the bestselling memoir The Architect of Desire: Beauty and Danger in the Stanford White Family, died January 29 at age eighty-one (The New York Times).

• Author Elon Green is deeply concerned with fellow writer Michael Connelly's new true-crime podcast (Defector).