2023 in books: Protests, bannings and the rise of AI helped shape the story of publishing
The publishing world made plenty of news in 2023, but not only because of the books themselves
NEW YORK — NEW YORK (AP) — Book publishing in 2023 was a story of cooling sales and rising conflict, marked by legal action, protests, censorship and the impact of forces well beyond the industry.
Print book sales continued to recede following the pandemic-era surge, but fiction remained strong, thanks in part to the young readers on BookTok. Colleen Hoover, one of BookTok's signature authors, continued her reign as the country’s top-selling author, even without releasing a new book in 2023. Three of her novels were among the top 10 sellers as tracked by Circana, with other popular releases including novels by two authors, Sarah J. Maas and Rebecca Yarros, regarded as leaders of romantasy, a newly branded genre that combines romance and fantasy.
Literary highlights included Justin Torres' inventive narrative on the hidden history of gay sexuality, “Blackouts,” winner of the National Book Award for fiction. Critics also praised James McBride's multiethnic crime story “The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store," R.F. Kuang's satirical “Yellowface,” Paul Murray's family drama “The Bee Sting” and such nonfiction releases as Jonathan Eig's Martin Luther King biography “King,” Naomi Klein's Internet saga “Doppelganger” and another National Book Award winner, Ned Blackhawk's “The Rediscovery of America: Native Peoples and the Unmaking of U.S. History.”
Book news was otherwise shaped by courtrooms, boardrooms, palace gossip, technological advances and growing divides in the U.S. and abroad:
The year was bracketed by million-selling tell-alls from celebrities estranged from their families: Prince Harry's “Spare” and Britney Spears' “The Woman
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