PEN America Announces 2026 Emerging Voices Fellows and Mentors

Full text

Welcome to Today in Books, our daily round-up of literary headlines at the intersection of politics, culture, media, and more.

PEN America Has Announced Its 2026 Emerging Voices and Mentors

Looking at the fellows and mentors chosen for this year’s Emerging Voices Fellowship feels like looking into the future. I say that because I’m sure the 11 poetry, fiction, and creative nonfiction fellows chosen—as well as their mentors—will be making appearances in book list after book list, award ceremony after award ceremony in the coming years.

I met a few of the fellows and mentors last year during the 2025 summer Tin House workshop. Nikesha Elise Williams performed a short skit alongside one of my fellow workshop attendees and Deesha Philyaw (it was hilarious), and Diana Khoi Nguyen signed a book of poetry that I later gave my friend as a thank-you for hosting me in Portland. Then there was Chisaraokwu Asomugha, who performed a piece that was so ancestral, it felt like a summoning. I am so looking forward to what all of the fellows and mentors produce in the next few years.

How a Self-Published Book Became a Mega Bestseller

Theo of Golden is one of the bestselling books currently making all the lists right now, but its beginnings are a little unorthodox . It was written by a 70-year-old former judge who first went the self-publishing route before having his book distributed by a top-five publisher. It’s one of the few books to find success through this path that isn’t a romantasy. It seems it was able to do this mostly through word-of-mouth—it was published through Amazon’s self-publishing service in October 2023, then sent out to book clubs, libraries, and other bookish organizations. And…it actually worked. I can’t tell you how many publicity emails I get every day promoting a new book, and I’m sure the emails promoting this book were similar, but this one eventually got picked up by Simon & Schuster, and Katie Couric chose it for her book club.

To me, Allen Levi’s debut is another example of the Uplifting Fiction trend. What Katie Couric said about it kind of makes my point (she said she “ended up loving it and really appreciating its purity”). Though, to be fair, I’m not sure if calling uplifting fiction a trend is exactly accurate, since I think that people have always looked for an escape from the doom and gloom, and were doing so even before I started paying attention to literary trends.

These 5 Books Spill the Tea on America

I’ve been approaching all of these “Great American Lit” lists I’ve been coming across with automatic caution. There are so many of them coming out because America is hitting its 250th anniversary, as I had mentioned in a previous Today in Books posting, and people are looking to commemorate the event. Since anniversaries are celebratory by nature, I understand the urge to feature books in these lists that reflect that positivity. But there needs to be a balance between the real and the celebratory. That’s why I really appreciate Vox’s list of the five books that define America. While I would swap out a couple here and there, I think it does a pretty good job of highlighting books that explored major American ideologies and periods. The Scarlet Letter , Beloved , and The Great Gatsby all make an appearance in the main list, while There There , Invisible Man , and The Great Believers made another list compiled by non- Vox book experts.

Personally, I think the main list should replace Moby-Dick with historical fiction by and about First Nations characters, such as Gardens in the Dunes by Leslie Marmon Silko. There needs to be more women, Black, queer, and Indigenous writers on the list in general. We have been reading books written from the white cis-hetero male perspective on America since we started reading about America. And what we do know is that these narratives left things out. A list of books that define America should represent how America truly is and has been, not just what a certain demographic hoped it would be. That’s partially why Stephen Graham Jones’s The Buffalo Hunter Hunter was one of the best books of 2025 for me—it gave me a peek into the lives and beliefs of a First Nations community (and taught me about an oft-forgotten, real massacre) from the perspective of a First Nations person.

July’s Best Historical Fiction

Speaking of historical fiction that’ll learn you something, I always look forward to Rachel Brittain’s historical fiction round-ups each month. Growing up, sometimes I felt the historical fiction I read taught me more about history than my classes, and this month’s best releases will show you everything from 1989 Romania to an enslaved midwife’s journey to 1940s Mexico.

What are you reading? Let us know in the comments !