Canticle, the debut novel from Janet Rich Edwards, has sparked widespread excitement with its release from Spiegel & Grau this month, earning praise in a lengthy piece by Ron Charles in The Washington Post and from Publishers Weekly, Kirkus, and Foreword Reviews while being named as one of December’s most anticipated books by Goodreads as well as one of People’s Best Books of the month. People also ran an exclusive essay Edwards wrote tracing the origins of her inspiration for Canticle, providing a glimpse at her experience as an author that she also delved into on Literary Hub and Oprah Daily. Set in the Belgian city of Bruges during the 13th century, the novel has been called “compelling, lyrical, and fresh” by Kiran Millwood Hargrave and “a true gem of historical fiction” by Bruce Holsinger.
Sean Sherman’s Turtle Island Receiving International Attention
Authored in collaboration with Kate Nelson and Kristin Donnelly, Sean Sherman’s new book Turtle Island: Foods and Traditions of the Indigenous Peoples of North America has generated widespread and exceptional enthusiasm, generating press coverage in The New York Times, The Guardian, Forbes, the Minnesota Star Tribune, Vogue, and other publications. Sherman was interviewed on “The Daily Show” in promoting a culinary masterpiece that Robin Wall Kimmerer proclaimed “an expression of Indigenous identity and a pathway for reconnection to the land” and Mark Bittman declared “belongs in the kitchen of anyone who’s serious about some of the most important roots of ‘American’ cooking.”
Update, December 3, 2025: Turtle Island has been named one of the 14 best cookbooks of the year by The New York Times.
The Blue Food Cookbook Published by Harvest
This week marks the release of The Blue Food Cookbook: Delicious Seafood Recipes for a Sustainable Future by award-winning chef and TV host Andrew Zimmern and leading sustainable seafood expert and educator Barton Seaver. The two authors worked in collaboration with the PBS docuseries Hope in the Water to present this treasure of culinary wisdom covering fish, shellfish, and plants from the world’s oceans, lakes, and rivers, sharing strategies for how to best buy, prepare, and cook seafood with both technical savvy and a commitment to environmental protection. Featuring a foreword by Shailene Woodley, The Blue Food Cookbook has been lauded by Martha Steward, Eric Ripert, José Andrés, Carla Hall, Dan Buettner, and many others while receiving coverage in publications such as Garden & Gun and Library Journal.
Update, November 7, 2025: Andrew Zimmern appeared on “Good Morning America” to talk about recipes from The Blue Food Cookbook.
Jeremy Miller's Into the Dark Sky Sells to Liveright
Jeremy Miller’s Into the Dark Sky: Journeys with the Meteorite Hunters, Stargazers, Astrophotographers, and Desert Nomads Striving to Save the Night has sold at auction to Liveright. This work of narrative journalism and astronomical nature writing will feature new reporting to investigate the scourge of light pollution, understand humanity’s ancient and intimate connection to the stars, and reckon with what we will have lost if we can no longer see them.
One Thousand Vines Named as Finalist for IACP Awards
The International Association of Culinary Professionals has announced that One Thousand Vines: A New Way to Understand Wine by Pascaline Lepeltier is a finalist for an IACP Award in the “Reference and Technical” category. Recognizing excellence in cookbooks, digital media, food writing, photography, and styling in the culinary industry, the IACP Awards are among the most prestigious and coveted in the field, selecting honorees through rigorous technical testing while adhering to high ethical standards. The winners will be announced November 5 at a ceremony in Brooklyn, New York.
Update, November 6, 2025: One Thousand Vines won the IACP Award.
Cocktail Codex Translation Rights Sold in Brazil
Editora Senac in São Paulo has acquired the right to publish a Portuguese edition of Cocktail Codex in Brazil, the eighth foreign territory where translation rights for the book have been claimed. Published by Ten Speed Press with over 250,000 copies sold in English alone, the James Beard 2019 Book of the Year and Spirited Award Winner at the 2019 Tales of the Cocktail festival has already had translation rights sold in Italian (Readrink), Russian (Eksmo), simplified Chinese (Beijing Science & Technology Publishing), traditional Chinese (Cite), French (Éditions First), Korean (Sigongsa), and Spanish (Alfaomega).
Yia Vang Appears in The New York Times
To answer the question “What Is Great Hmong Food?”, last week The New York Times looked to Yia Vang, whose Minneapolis restaurant Vinai was recently named to Time magazine’s World’s Greatest Places of 2025 list after becoming a semifinalist for the year’s James Beard Award’s Best New Restaurant. Vang later won a Beard Media Award for his “Relish” television program on PBS, currently in the middle of its sixth season.
Update, August 26, 2025: The New York Times returned to Minneapolis for a review of Vinai by chief restaurant critic Tejal Rao.
Translation Rights Sold for Canticle
Italian publisher Astoria/Mauri Spagnol has acquired translation rights to Janet Rich Edwards’s Canticle, which is due out from Spiegel & Grau in the United States this December. In the meantime, the novel has been generating plenty of advanced praise from authors such as The Mercies’s Kiran Millwood Hargrave (“Compelling, lyrical, and fresh”), Culpability’s Bruce Holsinger (“a suspenseful page-turner that is also rigorously researched and utterly convincing—a true gem of historical fiction”), and The Birth of Venus’s Sarah Dunant (“a brave, intense novel about the mystical nature of a young woman’s faith and how easily it can find itself in opposition to politics and entrenched power”), among others.
Update, August 28, 2025: French publisher Editions Philippe Rey has acquired translation rights for Canticle.
Pooja Bavishi's MALAI Published by Weldon Owen
Pooja Bavishi, founder and CEO of the artisanal ice cream company Malai, has released a new cookbook of the same name, containing 100 recipes featuring the vibrant flavors of South Asian cuisine. Showcasing such enticing ingredients as cardamom, rose, almond, pepper, mango, chai, orange, lychee, fennel, and saffron, this first-of-its-kind cookbook describes how to prepare ice cream bars, pies, cakes, cookies, and more, all while sharing the personal stories that have shaped Bavishi on a highly fulfilling culinary journey (which she described on a recent episode of NPR’s “Morning Edition”).
Ozoz Sokoh’s CHOP CHOP Published by Artisan and Appetite Canada
Culinary anthropologist and creator of the Kitchen Butterfly website Ozoz Sokoh has published her first cookbook, CHOP CHOP, released in the U.S. by Artisan and in Canada by Appetite, an imprint of Random House Canada. A Warri native and Ontario resident, Sokoh has put together a colorful compendium celebrating classic Nigerian cuisine from all six of the country’s primary regions. She recently discussed this rich diversity on an episode of WNYC’s “The Splendid Table” while earning praise from the Los Angeles Times (“Pages devoted to plantains, grilled meats, leaf wraps, steamed puddings and Nigerian breakfasts are interspersed with historical and cultural context for deeper understanding beyond a delicious meal”) and the Toronto Star (“Both a cookbook and culinary textbook — crafted by a lifelong home cook tracing the roots and stories behind the dishes she makes”), among others.