Even Library staff can struggle to keep up with all the bookish news out there. From social media to local papers, books are a hot topic. In this monthly post we are highlighting some regional literary news and connecting you with our library collections so you can keep your finger on the pulse of Pittsburgh. Check out what was trending and topical this past month.
News Story – City Paper: Ahead of his new essay collection, Damon Young talks humor, shame, and gentrification
Book mentioned – That’s How They Get You by Damong Young
“From the Thurber Prize-winning author of What Doesn’t Kill You Makes You Blacker comes a ground-breaking collection of Black humor from some of the most acclaimed writers and performers at work today.”
eFormats – Release date for eBook will be June 3rd, 2025.
News Story – Post Gazette: 2 emerging Pa. authors win Whiting Awards and $50,000 prize
Book mentioned – Weird Black Girls by Elwin Cotman
“From Philip K. Dick Award finalist Elwin Cotman, an irresistibly unnerving collection of stories that explore the anxieties of living while Black–a high-wire act of literary-fantastical hybrid fiction.”
Book mentioned – The Road to the Salt Sea by Samuel Oluwatosin Kolawole
“Able God works for low pay at a four-star hotel, where he must flash a smile for wealthy guests. When not tending to the hotel’s overprivileged clientele, he muses over self-help books and the game of chess. But Able’s ordinary life is upended when an early morning room service order leads him to Akudo, a sex worker involved with a powerful but dangerous hotel guest.”
eFormats – This title is also available for checkout as an eBook on hoopla and in eAudio on hoopla.
News Story – Qburgh: How this new book reminds us that pop culture often leads the way in LGBTQ+ progress
Book mentioned – The Secret Public by Jon Savage
“A monumental history of the gay influence on popular culture, from the rise of Little Richard to the collapse of disco in 1979: award-winning author Jon Savage takes us on a fast and captivating journey through the history of pop music as seen through the eyes of queer artists.”
eFormats – This title is also available for checkout in eAudio on hoopla.
News Story – Post Gazette: Nights at the Eden Park Roller Rink
Book mentioned – All Skate: True Stories from Middle Life by Lori Jakiela
“From grade-school crushes to pandemic roller-skating disasters, from the dread of bathing suit season to the embrace of flawed and beautifully fragile bodies, from the uncomfortable joy of Swedish death-cleaning to the easy joy of holding on to the tiniest moments that matter, ‘All Skate’ is one woman’s testimony to the eternal powers of humor, love, and kindness.”
News Story – Littsburgh: Three Poems from Letters to My Younger Self by Shaheen Dil
Author mentioned – The Boat-makers Art by Shaheen Dil
“Shaheen Dil’s poems blossom with lush descriptions, from Kennywood, an amusement park in Pittsburgh, to Karimpur, a village in Bangladesh.”
News Story – Post Gazette: Pittsburgh authors’ books among most challenged in the U.S. in 2024
Book Mentioned – The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky
“Charlie is a freshman. And while he’s not the biggest geek in the school, he is by no means popular. He’s a wallflower– shy and introspective, and intelligent beyond his years, if not very savvy in the social arts. We learn about Charlie through the letters he writes: trying to make friends, family tensions, exploring sexuality, experimenting with drugs and dealing with his best friend’s recent suicide.”
eFormats – This title is also available for checkout as an eBook on Libby and an eAudio on Libby.
Book Mentioned – Me and Earl and the Dying Girl by Jesse Andrews
“Seventeen-year-old Greg has managed to become part of every social group at his Pittsburgh high school without having any friends, but his life changes when his mother forces him to befriend Rachel, a girl he once knew in Hebrew school who has leukemia.”
eFormats – This title is also available for checkout as an eBook on Libby, as an eBook on hoopla and an eAudio on Libby.