High Note

After revealing our 2025 person of the year on Friday, we’ll be rolling out our five PW Notables throughout this week, starting with former Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden. Plus, we’ve announced BISG’s Brian O’Leary as the winner of our third annual lifetime achievement award. Amazon’s new AI-powered “Ask This Book” feature in the Kindle App will give spoiler-free answers to readers’ questions about the book they’re reading, reports the Verge. A North Carolina library board has been dissolved by country commissioners after it voted to keep a picture book about a trans boy on library shelves, reports the Washington Post. The Guardian investigates how indie darlings like Jacqueline Harpman’s I Who Have Never Known Men and Vincenzo Latronico’s Perfection became overnight hits. Rolling Stone looks at how the queer hockey romance novel Heated Rivalry became a hit HBO series. The Financial Times charts the efforts of publishers, prizes, and government programs in the battle to stave off declines in children’s reading rates. Lit Hub asked 52 book designers to pick their favorite book covers of the year. And literary agent and former sales exec Carole Bidnick has died at 76.