New Books Network

On September 24, 2021, Rachel Eliza Griffiths married her husband, the novelist Salman Rushdie. On the same day, hundreds of miles away, Griffiths’ closest friend and chosen sister, the poet Kamilah Aisha Moon, who was expected to speak at the wedding, died suddenly. Eleven months later, as Griffiths attempted to piece together her life as a newlywed with heartbreak in one hand and immense love in the other, a brutal attack nearly killed her husband. As trauma compounded trauma, Griffiths realized that in order to survive her grief, she would need to mourn not only her friend, but the woman she had been on her wedding day, a woman who had also died that day.

In the process of rebuilding a self, Griffiths chronicles her friendship with Moon, the seventeen years since their meeting at Sarah Lawrence College. Together, they embraced their literary foremothers—Lucille Clifton, Toni Morrison, Alice Walker, to name a few—and fought to embrace themselves as poets, artists, and Black women. Alongside this unbreakable bond, Griffiths weaves the story of her relationship with Rushdie, of the challenges they have faced and the unshakeable devotion that endures.

In The Flower Bearers (Random House, 2026), Griffiths inscribes the trajectories of two transformational relationships with grace and honesty, chronicling the beauty and pain that comes with opening oneself fully to love. This is a conversation not to be missed.
Rachel Eliza Griffiths is a multi-media artist, poet, and novelist. She received the MFA in Creative Writing from Sarah Lawrence College and is the recipient of numerous fellowships including Robert Rauschenberg Foundation, Provincetown Fine Arts Work Center, Kimbilio, Cave Canem Foundation, Civitella Ranieri Foundation, and Yaddo. Her literary and visual work has been widely published in journals, magazines, anthologies, and periodicals including The New Yorker, The Paris Review, The New York Times, Virginia Quarterly Review, The Progressive, The Georgia Review, Gulf Coast, Callaloo, Poets & Writers, American Poetry Review, Los Angeles Review of Books, Guernica, The Writer’s Chronicle, Transition, American Poet, Mosaic, Indiana Review, Ecotone, Black Nature: Four Centuries of African American Nature Poetry, Best American Poetry (2020, 2021), The New York Review of Books, BOMB! Magazine, and many others. You can find Rachel on Instagram.
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Abraham: The First Jew (Yale UP, 2025) is the story of Abraham, the first Jew, portrayed as two lives lived by one person, paralleling the contradictions in Judaism throughout its history

In this new biography of Abraham, Judaism’s foundational figure, Anthony Julius offers an account of the origins of a fundamental struggle within Judaism between skepticism and faith, critique and affirmation, thinking for oneself and thinking under the direction of another. Julius describes Abraham’s life as two separate lives, and as a version of the collective life of the Jewish people.

Abraham’s first life is an early adulthood of questioning the polytheism of his home city of Ur Kasdim until its ruler, Nimrod, condemns him to death and he is rescued, he believes, by a miracle. In his second life, Abraham’s focus is no longer on critique but rather on conversion and on his leadership over his growing household, until God’s command that he sacrifice his son Isaac. This test, the Akedah (or “Binding”), ends with another miracle, as he believes, but as Julius argues, it is also a catastrophe for Abraham. The Akedah represents for him an unsurpassed horizon—and in Jewish life thereafter. This book focuses on Abraham as leader of the first Jewish project, Judaism, and the unresolvable, insurmountable crisis that the Akedah represents—both in his leadership and in Judaism itself. 
Host: Renee Garfinkel, Ph.D.
Guest: Anthony Julius, Deputy Chairman, international law firm of Mishkon de Reya, and professor, University of London.

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Although historians have given considerable attention to the American Revolution, the agricultural history of the American War for Independence exists only in pieces found in scattered articles and passing references in various books dealing with the war. Nonagricultural historians have ignored it or treated it almost as an aside and unworthy of analysis, even when it is related to other war topics. Yet, the revolution had profound effects on American agriculture during the war and after.The Country People: An Agricultural History of the American Revolution (U Georgia Press, 2026) by Dr. R. Douglas Hurt brings the many pieces of this story together in a synthesis that provides an overview of agriculture during the American Revolution—from 1774 until signing of the Peace of Paris on September 3, 1783. In so doing, Dr. Hurt asks (and answers) three essential questions: What did farmers do in their daily lives during the revolutionary years from 1774 to 1783? How did the war affect farmers and planters, and how did they influence the war? And what were the consequences of the war on American agriculture?

This interview was conducted by Dr. Miranda Melcher whose book focuses on post-conflict military integration, understanding treaty negotiation and implementation in civil war contexts, with qualitative analysis of the Angolan and Mozambican civil wars. You can find Miranda’s interviews on New Books with Miranda Melcher, wherever you get your podcasts.
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In this NBN episode, host Hollay Ghadery speaks with award-winning author Rod Carley about The Great Catsby by Hilton, published by Canadian publisher Smart House (September 1, 2026). The Great Catsby by Hilton is the unforgettable and wildly entertaining new YA book by Rod Carley and his cat, Hilton. Yes, you read that right! The Great Catsby by Hilton adds some much-needed whimsy to the world. In these uncertain times, we could all use a few more cats and a little more catnip in our nine lives.

The copyright on F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby expired on the first stroke of 2021 and the literary classic entered the public domain.

Fitzgerald wrote The Great Gatsby as an indictment of the reckless wealth of post-World War I America. The selfish and careless “fat cats” of The Great Catsby by Hilton similarly ring true.

Part of the charm of the novella is that Hilton, a seven-year-old rescue tabby adopted by Rod, “writes” it. He is the first-person voice of Nick Cattaway who serves as narrator. Reimagining the story through the eyes of a domestic housecat has allowed Hilton to breathe mew life into the story. Hilton also writes the Preface.

The Great Catsby by Hilton also features twenty full-page colour illustrations in addition to an assortment of black and white drawings by Quebec-based writer-illustrator Juliette Miron (who loves both cats and dogs).

Hilton was abandoned as a kitten. All-Heart Pet Rescue in Powassan, ON, found him in a ditch and nursed him back to health. At the age of six months, he was adopted into a loving home filled with books, pillows and cat-sized windowsills. In addition to writing, Hilton enjoys chicken paté, bird watching, and long afternoon naps. The Great Catsby is his first Catification.

Rod Carley is the award-winning author of RUFF (2024 national bestseller), GRIN REAPING (2022), KINMOUNT (2020), and A Matter of Will (2017). He’s been long listed for the Leacock Medal for Humour three times and has twice received the Silver Medal from the Independent Publisher Book Awards in addition to the Bronze Medal for Humour from Foreword Review INDIES. He was a Finalist for 2023 Next Generation Indie Book Award for Humor, the 2021 Carter V. Cooper Short Fiction Prize, the 2023 ReLit Award for Best Short Fiction, and the Northern Lit Award for Fiction.

His short stories and creative non-fiction have appeared in numerous Canadian literary magazines. He was the Toronto Reference Library’s Spring 2025 Writer in Residence and is a co-founder and curator for the St. Lawrence Writers Festival. He learned to speak Tabby while minoring in Creative Writing at York University. Rod is a proud alumnus of the Humber School for Writers. www.rodcarley.ca

Hollay Ghadery is an award-winning Iranian-Canadian multi-genre writer living in Ontario on Anishinaabe land. She has her MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Guelph. Fuse, her memoir of mixed-race identity and mental health, was released by Guernica Editions in 2021 and won the 2023 Canadian Bookclub Award for Nonfiction/Memoir. Her collection of poetry, Rebellion Box was released by Radiant Press in 2023, and her collection of short fiction, Widow Fantasies, was released with Gordon Hill Press in fall 2024 and was longlisted for the Toronto Book Award. Her debut novel, The Unraveling of Ou, was released with Palimpsest Press in 2026, and her children’s book, Being with the Birds, with Guernica Editions in 2027. Hollay is a host on The New Books Network, as well as a co-host on HOWL on CIUT 89.5 FM. She is also a book publicist, the Founder of River Street, and the co-chair of the League of Canadian Poets BIPOC committee, as well as the Poet Laureate of Scugog Township. She is also a member of The National Book Critics Circle, The Creative Nonfiction Collective, and The Writers Union of Canada. Hollay was also featured on the cover of issue 10 of The Ampersand Review. Learn more about Hollay here. 
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Implementing the Right to Decide Under the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities: Supporting the Legal Capacity of All Persons with Disabilities (Hart, 2025) addresses one of the most controversial questions in contemporary human rights law: how can persons with severe cognitive disabilities make their own decisions?Historically, vulnerable persons have been considered incapable, and guardians were appointed to represent their interests, which has led to serious abuses. The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD), adopted in 2006, requires that they receive support to make their own decisions. However, governments claim it is impossible to fully implement this international requirement.In this book, Dr Janos Fiala-Butora tackles the issue of decision-making from both a legal and theoretical perspective. He explores how supported decision-making could incorporate safeguards to protect the vital interests of vulnerable persons in order to present a viable legal alternative to guardianship. The book accepts that some persons' abilities are very limited, but contends that guardianship is not the appropriate response, even in such cases. Instead, the book presents a unique Modified Support Framework, which can incorporate all persons with disabilities, fulfilling the goals of the CRPD.
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