Check it out here.

I swear, Solange is out here living the life I would if I had the money and influence (and talent) she did.

Writer and poet Taqwa Ahmed al-Wawi Writes on life in Gaza for the Last Two Years

Taqwa Ahmed al-Wawi speaks of the friends she’s lost and the many times she has had to move, carrying only one bag with a few clothes and losing more and more loved ones along the way.

“I left with a single bag containing a few clothes. Every corner, every wall, every object carried a piece of my soul. I wished for a bag that could hold all the walls, all the memories, every vestige of my home.”

Pioneering Author and Journalist Ken Mochizuki, Who Wrote Children’s Books About the Incarceration of Japanese Americans, Has Died

The Asian American Journalists Association has published an article honoring the life and legacy of Ken Mochizuki, whose career spanned from acting on the show M*A*S*H to writing and publishing a groundbreaking children’s book—titled Baseball Saved Us—about a Japanese American boy who lived in an incarceration camp during WWII.

He passed away of esophageal cancer on September 20th. He was 71.

Speaking of Asian American Literature, a UC Berkeley Assistant Professor Has Published a Database That Has 1,900 works of Asian American Lit

While UC Berkeley ethnic studies department assistant professor Long Le-Khac’s new database has Asian American literature that spans from 1971 to 2023, it also asks an important question: “What counts as ‘Asian American literature?’”

Latine History Month Ends Tomorrow, But There Are Still So Many Latine Romances to Read! (A List of Recs by Romance Writer Mia Sosa)

Among the Latine romances Mia Sosa recommends are, firstly, her latest, When Javi Dumped Mari, as well as Along Came Amor by Alexis Daria and Ms. V’s Hot Girl Summer by A.H. Cunningham.

Book Fairs, Festivals, and Exhibits

The 2025 International Black Writers Festival

This year marked the fourth iteration of the International Black Writers Festival, which was held at Howard University and ran from September 30th to October 2nd.

Black Arts Movement Exhibit

There’s a photography exhibit on the Black Arts Movement, which birthed books like John A. Williams’s The Man Who Cried I Am and The Autobiography of Malcolm X.

Here’s what it looks like.

Activist Dolores Huerta Spoke at the 3rd Annual Latino Book Festival in Sacramento, CA

The festival took place at Valley High School and had live music, books by Latino authors, and lowriders. In other words, a time was had.

Philly’s 6th Annual Latin American Book Fair

Philadelphia’s first Latin American Book Fair was in 2019. In 2025, the weekend-long event brought in hundreds of people who came to connect with authors, artists, and book lovers.

Rafael Pabón Ortega, author of Surviving a la Bori, said, “These fairs are an act of resistance and cultural reaffirmation.”

Censorship

Books by Women Banned in Afghanistan Universities

A good chunk of the more than 600 books that have been banned from Afghanistan’s male-only universities were written by women.

Asian Authored Books Are Being Banned More and More As Book Bans Continue

A lot of book censorship these past few years has focused on Black history and LGBTQ+ identities, but we are always getting reminded that the purpose of the bans is to uphold white supremacy, which holds no space for anyone who exists outside of it.

Adaptations

20 Black Books That Are Being Optioned, and How You Can Help

I can’t tell you how many book adaptations I’ve actually been excited about that I end up never hearing about again. Black Fiction University on Substack has a solution to that, though.

In their latest post, they explain the adaptation process, show us how we the readers/viewers can help, and give a few specific books that have been optioned for adaptation for us to support, which include S.A. Cosby’s Southern Noir thrillers (like All the Sinners Bleed and King of Ashes), Kayvion Lewis’s Thieves’ Gambit (which would be such a fun Ocean’s Elevensy vibe), and Kennedy Ryan’s bestselling Skyland romance series (Before I Let Go and This Could Be Us).

Bookstores

The People’s Bookstore Is a New Pop-Up That Focuses on BIPOC Lit

It’s run by mother-daughter duo Murphy-Washington and her freshman daughter, Breya Jackson, and will feature titles that highlight the history of Black and Indigenous communities.

Murphy-Washington said, “Because Black and Indigenous communities were not only feeling the brunt of the attacks on culturally diverse literature, but have also historically had to fight for access to knowledge, I wanted to center literature that spoke to that struggle. I wanted to focus not only on the trials our communities have to overcome, but the triumphs and innovation that are born out of our resistance.”

The People’s Bookstore had its first event on September 6th at Beautywood Books in Arkansas.

A Bookstore/Wine Bar for Black Lesbians Opens in Brooklyn

Not only did Tiffany Dockery use her 401(k) to open a bookstore and wine bar specifically for Black lesbians, she did so in the gentrified neighborhood of Bed-Stuy, which has seen droves and droves of Black residents because of high rents and a lack of housing for the last 15 years.

A portrait of Dockery’s grandmother, Gladys, hangs in the bookstore, which Dockery hopes will fortify the spirit of the community.

Novel Spotlight

The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny by Kiran Desai has been nominated for the Booker Prize. It follows two Indian families that become intertwined through the years, over continents, and through love and loss. NPR’s review of the 700-page tome calls it “a terrific, tangled love story.”