News of note for readers: June 4, 2026

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

• Marjane Satrapi, author of the bestselling and influential memoir Persepolis, died June 4 at age fifty-six (The Guardian).

• Alan Gribben, a Mark Twain scholar who caused great controversy with his plan to replace all uses of the n-word in upcoming editions of some Twain novels, died May 9 at age eighty-four (The New York Times). 

• Read an excerpt from Vanessa Miller's upcoming novel, The Ladies Hall, which is based on the three pioneering women who became the first Black female graduates of a four-year college program; the book comes out August 11 (People).

• Here are Barnes & Noble's picks for the best books of 2026 so far (B&N).

• Kevin Young has won this year's the Griffin Poetry Prize for Night Watch; it's the world’s largest international prize for a single book of poetry published in English (Literary Hub).

• The Choose Your Own Adventure print books are — finally — coming out as ebooks (Publishers Weekly).