If the quality of books due out this February is any indication, 2023 could be an especially great year for literature. This month’s highly-anticipated (at least by us) new releases include formally inventive work, thrilling tales of obsession, and heartfelt looks at how communities respond to unsettling crises. Here are a few of the books we’re most excited about this month.
In our afternoon reading: an interview with adrienne maree brown, Chelsea Hodson starts a press, and more.
Consider the apocalyptic writ small. While some novels and stories have taken the idea of a world-ending or world-changing event as a way to use the largest possible canvas, other writers have taken the opportunity to zero in on one specific element of society. Both Laura van den Berg’s Find Me and Karen Russell’s Sleep Donation have embraced this route, which — not unlike some of J.G. Ballard’s work — offers a chilling vision of an imploding society.
In our weekend reading: interviews with adrienne maree brown and Maggie Nelson, thoughts on Lucy Daucus’s music, and more.
In our afternoon reading: an interview with Raven Leilani, a new Quicksand album, and more.
In our morning reading, revisiting the works of Breece D’J Pancake, Elisa Gabbert on Leonora Carrington’s work, and more.