New Books for May 2025
Small, Independent, and University Press, and Author-published Books
NewPages learns about many wonderful book titles each month to share with our readers. You can read more about some of these by clicking on the link to their blog post. If you are a publisher or author looking to be listed here and featured on our blog, social media, and in our weekly newsletter, please visit our FAQ page.
Antillia, Henrietta Goodman, The Backwaters Press
“Goodman reflects on the impossibility of reclaiming the past while acknowledging the potential for understanding within our memories.” Read the book review here.
Black in Blues: How Color Tells the Story of My People, Imani Perry, Ecco
Perry weaves histories of the famous and lesser known African Americans and events through the use of the color blue. Read the book review here.
Crunchwrap Truth, Kevin J.B. O’Connor, Bottlecap Press
This debut chapbook of absurdist political-food poems “resists easy categorization.” See sponsored blog post here.
The Dictionary People: The Unsung Heroes Who Created the Oxford English Dictionary, Sarah Ogilvie, Vintage
Ogilvie once worked for the OED and here includes the word-collecting efforts of hundreds of dictionary contributors. Read the book review here.
Henry V: The Astonishing Triumph of England’s Greatest Warrior King, Dan Jones, Viking
“Jones’s first biography impresses with its depth and research.” Read the book review here.
Hesitation Waltz, Amie Whittemore, Midwest Writing Center Press
“Amie Whittemore advocates for ‘strange thinking’ as we seek solutions to the ‘world’s problems.'” Read the book review here.
If I had Said Beauty, Tami Haaland, Lost Horse Press
A collection of poetry dedicated to known and unknown ancestors exploring the possible narratives and distant origins of what lies behind a sense of self. See sponsored blog post here.
It All Felt Impossible: 42 Years in 42 Essays, Tom McAllister, Rose Metal Press
A compelling document of an idiosyncratic human existence that volleys skillfully between the mundane and the profound. See Editor’s Choice blog post here.
Meditations: The Assorted Prose of Barbara Guest, Ed. Joseph Shafer, Wesleyan University Press
Six decades of writing on literature and art by one of the most significant poets of our time. See Editor’s Choice blog post here.
The Ministry of Time, Kaliane Bradley, Avid Reader Press, 2024
Time travel that examines how we construct our understanding of others through the stories we create about them. Read the book review here.
Mother of Methadone: A Doctor’s Quest, A Forgotten History, and a Modern-Day Crisis, Melody Glenn, Beacon Press
A historical look at the creation of methadone and other treatment drugs and the stigma in the medical and social justice realms. Read the book review here.
No Less Strange or Wonderful, A. Kendra Greene, Tin House Books
Essays as “both subject and springboard for meditations on what it means to move through this world, both natural and human-created.” Read the book review here.
Poppy and Mary Ellen All Fed Up: Book Two of the Frankenmuth Murder Mysteries, Roz Weedman & Susan Todd, illus. Lane Trabalka, Mission Point Books
Chicken dinners, Mah Jongg, and murder in a popular Michigan Bavarian-themed town – what more could you want in a summer read? See blog post here.
Remember Us to Life, Joanna Rubin Dranger, Ten Speed Graphic
This memoir explores one woman’s search for identity as she slowly uncovers the truth of how her Jewish relatives “disappeared” during World War II. See Editor’s Choice blog post here.
Self Geofferential, Geoffrey Gatza, BlazeVOX [books]
This fresh collection of poetry and collage, “gallant colorful celebrations,” blends family trauma stories and rewritten fables. Read the book review here.
Twist, Colum McCann, Random House
A novel in which Anthony Fennell, an Irish journalist and playwright, is assigned to cover the underwater cables that carry the world’s information. Read the book review here.
Upstage, Bruce Andrews & Sally Silvers, Ugly Duckling Presse
“…a candid reflection on existence during tumultuous times,” expressed through poetry and urban photography. Read the book review here.
Where do you live?, Dr. Hanaa Ahmad and Jennifer Jean, Arrowsmith Press
Two poets. Two women. In great the tradition of epistolary poetry, they speak to each other and to us. It will hit you where you live. See Editor’s Choice blog post here.
More Notable New Books
Poetry
The Always, Robin Reagler, Flowersong Press
Analog Glitch, Lova Delis, Anhinga Press
The Best of Rattle Poets Respond 2014-2024, Rattle Poetry
The Dead & The Living & The Bridge, MC Hyland, illus. y Jeff Peterson, Meekling Press
My Heart is a Pomegranate/ Mi Corazón es una Granada, Jessica Helen Lopez, Flowersong Press
The Nancy Poems, John Morgan, Cirque Press
The Opposite of Cruelty, Steven Leyva, Blair
Penguin Noir, Nicelle Davins, illus. Cheryl Gross, Livingston Press
Quick Change Artist, Julie Marie Wade, Anhinga Press
Splenectomy, Eloise Birtwhistle, Stewed Rhubarb Press
Subtraction Isn’t Always Less, Ann Hudson, Next Page Press
Fiction
Creepy Campfire Tales: Frights to Tell at Night, Anastasia Garcia, illus. Teo Skaffa, Gibbs-Smith
Dancing Woman, Elaine Neil Orr, Blair
The Daughters, Ben Rogers, University of Nevada Press
Destroy Me Gently, Please, Max Talley, Serving House Books
Don’t Be Lonely, Lone Ranger, Joe Taylor, Nat 1 Publishing, Livingston Press
Fragments of Cerulean, Neal H. Paris, Revelation House Works
The Journal of Djuna Malik, Liza Wieland, Livingston Press
Shelter Me, Daren Dean, Livingston Press
Voices, Enid Harlow, Livingston Press
Zero Day Blue Jay, Jeffrey S. Markovitz, Livingston Press
Nonfiction
Absolute Ethical Life: Aristotle, Hegel and Marx, Michael Lazarus, Stanford University Press
Always There, Always Gone, Marty Ross-Dolen, She Writes Press
Authenticate Your Life, Cori Roberts, Authentic Publishing
Cartographies of Empire: The Road Novel and American Hegemony, Myka Tucker-Abramson, Stanford University Press
Democracy and Beauty: The Political Aesthetics of W. E. B. Du Bois, Robert Gooding-Williams, Columbia University Press
Ice Breakers: A Kid’s Guide to Hockey and the Greatest Players Who Changed the Game, Tom and Jerry Caraccioli, Quarto
Misguided: Where Misinformation Starts, How It Spreads, and What to Do About It, Matthew Facciani, Columbia University Press
Something Between Us: The Everyday Walls of American Life, and How to Take Them Down, Anand Pandian, Stanford University Press
The Topography of Isolation, Doug Emory, Iron Horse Literary Review Press
The Uses of Diversity: How Race Has Become Entangled in Law, Politics, and Biology, Jonathan Kahn, Columbia University Press
See April 2025 book titles here.
To discover more great books from small, independent, and university presses, visit the NewPages Guide to Publishers as well as our Books Received monthly roundup. Subscribe to our weekly newsletter to stay up to date!