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Book Festivals, June’s Pick, and the Hottest Book News 📚🔥
Jenna Bush, Black Romance Book Festival, Katherine Center
Kyle Colley
June 03, 2025
Happy Tuesday!
We hope you celebrated this week with some BBQ, pool days, and a few great reads!
We have two exciting new book clubs on Bookum you should check out:
Banned Books Box Book Club, hosted by the Banned Books Subscription Box company, is reading and discussing banned books year-round!
For writers, check out Read Like A Writer, a summer reading series hosted by Permission to Write. A book club group focused on moving beyond plot and character to discuss the deliberate decisions that shape the reading experience; from voice and pacing to cultural authenticity and emotional resonance.
Join these clubs now on Bookum!
This Week’s Summer Vibes:
📚 June Book Pick
📺 Book Festivals
📖 New Katherine Center Book
This Week On Bookum:
The June Bookum Club pick is here… and this month we are going to read our first YA novel!
We’ve selected This Thing of Ours by Frederick Joseph, a Yonkers, NY-raised, 3x New York Times bestselling author, & USA Today bestselling author.
Special guests for this month’s book discussion will include the always insightful Tyreke Wesley (@tyrekewesley), Drew Jay Davis (@drewjaydavis), and Jerid P. Woods (@ablackmanreading).
Book Summary:
In an instant, Ossie Brown’s entire future is in jeopardy when a torn ACL ends his promising basketball career. Now that basketball is no longer a major part of his identity, Ossie—a Black teen who doesn’t come from wealth and privilege—must navigate his new place in the social and academic ecosystems of his affluent, predominantly white school.
When a Black teacher encourages him to join her highly regarded writing program, Ossie begins to find a new purpose, buoyed not only by the rich works of literature by marginalized authors he’s now reading, but also by new friends who see him as something more than an asset to the sports program.
Join us on the Bookum app to discuss with the group and join our Conversations on June 28 with Frederick Joseph and friends 📚
Get your copies today from @baldwinandcompany, our independent book partner for this month's book club pick!
This Week in The Book World:
Book festival season is upon us!
The Los Angeles Times Festival of Books (aka Bookchella) kicked us off in April, and since then, it seems we’ve had a book festival every weekend.
Last weekend marked the inaugural events of two soon-to-be-infamous book festivals—one in Atlanta and one in Nashville.
As André 3000 once said, "The South has something to say," and over 1,500 people showed up to the Black Romance Book Festival in Atlanta.
The event was a celebration of the most popular book genre—and Black authors.
In attendance were literary giants such as Kennedy Ryan, Kristina Forest, Natasha Bishop, and Tia Williams!
Friends of Bookum, She Well Read podcast co-hosts Alana and Samra, said of the event:
“This weekend proved what most of us already knew. Black readers will show up and show OUT. Period. So much love was in the building this weekend.” (via Threads)
Full Quote and photos
Just a 1-hour and 10-minute flight away, you could have also experienced the first-ever Read With Jenna Book Festival.
Only six years after the book club—started by President Bush’s daughter Jenna Bush—launched, it is already celebrating its first foray into book festivals.
Half book festival, half book club extravaganza, Jenna brought out 15 of the club’s selected authors to the event (Ann Patchett, Elin Hilderbrand, Christina Henriquez, to name a few).
Over 200 readers joined from 35+ states around the country.
Here’s the full scoop from the event via Today:
With many more book festivals to come this summer, let us know which ones you’re planning to attend!
This Week in Publishing:
Beach read season is here!
New York Times bestselling author Katherine Center (The Rom-Commers) is back with another summer smash: The Love Haters.
Summary:
It’s a thin line between love and love-hating in the newest laugh-out-loud, all-the-feels rom-com by Katherine Center.
Katie Vaughn has been burned by love in the past—now she may be lighting her career on fire. She has two choices: wait to get laid off from her job as a video producer or, at her coworker Cole’s request, take a career-making gig profiling Tom “Hutch” Hutcheson, a Coast Guard rescue swimmer in Key West.
The catch? Katie’s not exactly qualified. She can’t swim but pretends she can.
Add The Love Haters to your TBR on Bookum today!
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Happy Reading!
See you next week!
Footnotes (Aka other articles we are reading and Bookum content):
After Unbound’s Collapse, Boundless Faces Uphill Battle to Rebuild Trust -https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/international/international-book-news/article/97919-after-unbound-s-collapse-boundless-faces-uphill-battle-to-rebuild-trust.html
At 91, Jim McGurk releases his first novel in two book https://www.vieravoice.com/senior-life/news/at-91-jim-mcgurk-releases-his-first-novel-in-two-book/article_a25f8a4d-0947-499a-bc9b-d85ff70aefdb.html
