Today in Bookish and Literary History, September 9

1836 Ralph Waldo Emerson publishes his influential essay "Nature" in the US, outlining his beliefs in transcendentalism

2014 The Moor's Account by Laila Lalami is published

The story is narrated in the first person by Mustafa ibn Muhammad ibn Abdussalam al-Zamori, a Moroccan slave who has been taken by his Spanish master, Andrés de Dorantes, on an expedition to the New World.

• 2014 Langum Prize for American Historical Fiction Director's Mention
• 2014 The Wall Street Journal Best Books
• 2014 NPR Best Books
• 2014 New York Times Notable Books of the Year
• 2014 Kirkus Reviews Best Fiction Books
• 2015 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction finalist
• 2015 Man Booker Prize longlist
• 2015 American Book Award winner
• 2015 Arab American Book Award winner
• 2015 Hurston/Wright Legacy Award winner

2014 Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel is published

It takes place in the Great Lakes region before and after a fictional influenza pandemic, known as the Georgia Flu, has devastated the world, killing most of the population.

• 2014 National Book Award (finalist)
• 2015 Arthur C. Clarke Award (won)
• 2015 Toronto Book Award (won)
• 2015 PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction (shortlisted)
• Baileys Women's Prize for Fiction (finalist)

2019 Poet John Milton's own copy of Shakespeare's First Folio of 1623 has survived with his annotations according to scholar Jason Scott-Warren in Philadelphia library, could be world's most important modern literary discovery

2025 Hot Wax by M.L. Rio will be published

A vivid and immersive tale of one woman’s reckless mission to make sense of the events that shattered her childhood, and made her who she is.

2025 All These Ghosts by Silas House

A timely and poignant poetry collection by acclaimed author and former Poet Laureate of Kentucky Silas House, including the poem read at Governor Andy Beshear’s 2023 inauguration and an interview by Barbara Kingsolver.

2025 All This Could Be Yours by Hank Phillippi Ryan

Is a debut author's blockbuster bestseller about to ruin her life? A glamorous book tour becomes a deadly cat-and-mouse chase in this new and captivating thriller by "master of suspense" (Publishers Weekly) and USA Today bestselling author Hank Phillippi Ryan.

2025 Does This Make Me Funny?: Essays  by Zosia Mamet

From the singular mind of Zosia Mamet, a collection of charmingly witty and achingly vulnerable essays about the challenge and magic of growing up in show business

2025 Letters to Kafka by Christine Estima

A sweeping, tragic romance and feminist adventure about translator and resistance fighter Milena Jesenská’s torrid love affair with Franz Kafka.

2025 Life, and Death, and Giants by Ron Rindo

Gabriel Fisher was born an orphan, weighing eighteen pounds and measuring twenty-seven inches long. No one in Lakota, Wisconsin, knows what to make of him. He walks at eight months, communicates with animals, and seems to possess extraordinary athletic talent. But when the older brother who has been caring for him dies, Gabriel is taken in by his devout Amish grandparents who disapprove of all the attention and hide him away from the English world.

2025 Little Movements by Lauren Morrow

A sparkling debut novel about a woman who must figure out whether being creatively fulfilled is compatible with being happily married, and what it means to be a Black artist in one of the whitest parts of America.

2025 Muscle Man by Jordan Castro

A hilarious, suspenseful metaphysical thriller following a day in the life of an English professor who would rather be lifting weights from the author of the cult hit The Novelist

2025 North of the Sunlit River by Jessica Bryant Klagmann

From the author of This Impossible Brightness comes a heartrending trek through grief, hope, and the Alaskan wilderness as a young woman seeks the truth that will heal her.

2025 Seven Reasons to Murder Your Dinner Guests by KJ Whittle (UK)

Seven strangers meet for an anonymously hosted dinner party. As the evening winds down, seven cards appear, one in front of each of the guests. On the card is a number – the age at which they will die. Thinking it an elaborate prank, the guests disperse into the night, hoping to forget the morbid evening forever.

2025 The Belles by Lacey N. Dunham

It’s 1951 at the secluded Bellerton College, and Deena Williams is an outsider doing her best to blend in with her wealthy and perfectly groomed peers. Infamous for its strict rules as much as its prestige, attending Bellerton could give Deena the comfortable life she’s always dreamed of.

2025 The People's Project by Saeed Jones and Maggie Smith

A liberatory anthology of twenty-seven writers—a community in book form—charting paths ahead for action and care in the face of political uncertainty, curated by Maggie Smith and Saeed Jones.

2025 The Righteous by Ronald H. Balson

From the New York Times bestselling and National Jewish Book Award–winning author: a gripping novel of foreboding, betrayal, heroism, and hope set in World War II Budapest

2025 The Stars Over Rome by Charlotte Betts (UK)

In a world where women are often overlooked, can Gabriella defy expectations and carve out a place for herself in a rapidly changing society?

2025 The Women of Oak Ridge by Michelle Shocklee

In the hills of Tennessee, two women work at a Manhattan Project site during World War II and uncover truths that irrevocably change their lives in this captivating new story from award-winning Southern fiction author Michelle Shocklee.