OCTOBER 2026
DARKNESS BECOMES BRIGHT: ON THE BRIEF LIFE & IMMORTAL ART OF EDGAR ALLAN POE
by Emily Ogden
Available from Viking
Sign-up deadline for this title: September 15, 2026
A fascinating and intimate inquiry into Edgar Allan Poe’s shadowy life and horrifyingly compelling work—and why we are drawn to darkness in art
Since Edgar Allan Poe’s mysterious death in 1849, his stories and poems have captivated millions of readers around the world. Nearly two centuries later, why do we continue to descend into the darkness of his imagination—and of the genres, from horror to crime, that he pioneered?
In this spellbinding and singular book, Guggenheim Fellow and Whiting grant recipient Emily Ogden plumbs the darkness within Poe and enters it alongside him. She interweaves stories from his mysterious and tragic life—from his strange disappearances and tortured romances to his nearly fatal use of opium—with those of his most famous readers and translators, including poet Charles Baudelaire, writer Julio Cortázar, and psychoanalyst Marie Bonaparte, a descendant of Napoleon and a patient of Sigmund Freud.
Tracing their passionate attachments to Poe—and Ogden’s own, unexpectedly sparked when she taught an introductory Poe course at the University of Virginia, where Poe himself was once a student—Darkness Becomes Bright makes a different case for literature from the one we most often hear. This exquisite volume shows how Poe’s vision echoes across the generations, allowing us to make peace with our own flawed humanity..
NOVEMBER 2026:
FRIENDS AND FAMILY, by Natalie Baszile (Viking)
Sign-up deadline: October 15, 2026
From the author of Queen Sugar, a piercing examination of friendship and loyalty as two best friends find themselves at odds over their beliefs on race, identity and allyship, especially when it comes to their teenage children
Babs and Nora became friends thanks to their kids. Now, the desire to protect their children might tear them apart.
Babs and Nora have spent a decade’s worth of morning walks sharing family secrets, local drama, and advice—everything from tips on lingerie choices to Babs’s suggestions to Nora, a white woman, on how to raise Nathan, her adopted Black son.
But their worlds are turned upside down when the cops are called on their kids while they’re home alone, leading to a traumatic police encounter for Nathan. In the aftermath, Babs and Nora find themselves divided as never before, and Nathan looks for refuge with Babs and her family, where, unlike in his own home, race, identity, and culture are always up for discussion. Babs can see that Nathan is a young Black man without community trying to find himself. Torn between respecting Nora’s boundaries and embodying the values so important to her own family, Babs will make a choice that will shape their lives forever.
Set in a tight-knit enclave in the Bay Area, Friends and Family is an eye-opening exploration of friendship and privilege, race and community, and what it means to truly be a good friend and ally.
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