It’s that time of year again, when we anticipate the upcoming fall season with listings of the books we predict will make a splash as summer wanes and the weather cools. We expect, however, that the titles we’ve chosen—50 books across 15 categories—will stay hot for a long time to come. Having considered thousands of books published between Aug. 1, 2016, and Jan. 31, 2017, we’re hopeful and confident and excited to pass on our enthusiasm.
The editors have selected more than 700 adult titles for this feature (fall children’s announcements will appear in the July 18, 2016 issue) in anticipation of their attracting attention and, of course, generating sales. Our mission is to offer booksellers and librarians a helping hand in finding books to order and promote in the upcoming months, and to provide the industry with information that reflects our passion and experience. All of these titles can be browsed by publisher, imprint, category, publication date, and format on our website. Other information is also available there, including author bios, marketing plans, and full descriptions of the books. To see the complete listings, please go to publishersweekly.com/announcements.
Fall 2016 Adult Announcements: Art, Architecture & Photography
From imaginary museums to heritage sites, archives, and bookshops, the big art books this season pay tribute to the cultural institutions that house, preserve, and inspire great works of art.
Fall 2016 Adult Announcements: Business & Economics
Some of the biggest business books planned for the fall highlight the impact of technology on society.
Fall 2016 Adult Announcements: Comics & Graphic Novels
Fall’s graphic novels are teeming with emerging cartoonists exploring life and meaning, while established creators return to favorite themes. Riad Sattouf’s memoir continues, Jason Shiga presents a mind-bending puzzle, Sarah Glidden examines refugee life in Iraq, and Margaret Atwood turns to a fantasy about a cat-bird-man.
Fall 2016 Adult Announcements: Cooking & Food
This season we see a focus on home cooking and the return of some big names: Alton Brown is publishing his first book in five years, and Anthony Bourdain is publishing his first in 10. Meanwhile, perennial bestsellers like Ina Garten, Donna Hay, and Guy Fieri again have standouts. In cuisine trends, keep your eye on the food of Cuba.
Fall 2016 Adult Announcements: Essays & Literary Criticism
This fall’s literary nonfiction disproves, or at least complicates, the notion that the writer’s life is a lonely one. Collections of correspondence capture authors in conversation with family members, publishers, and each other, while literary histories reveal the relationships that nurtured classic books on the way to publication.
Fall 2016 Adult Announcements: History
The variety of books in the category is on full display in this season’s top history titles, with biographies of Renaissance princes, family histories, war journalism, Soviet spy thrillers, and true crime accounts.
Fall 2016 Adult Announcements: Lifestyle
Anti-aging continues to be a hot topic, but now with a broader application, as authors focus on how to prolong both life span and “healthspan.” Elsewhere, this season’s titles show a yen for the counterintuitive, speaking up in favor of dirt, fat, and a new idea for combating food allergies.
Fall 2016 Adult Announcements: Literary Fiction
This fall’s fiction presents a mix of the everyday and the seismic. From deathbed confessions and earthquakes to family portraits and a total reimagining of the Underground Railroad, life’s moments, from smallest to largest, are explored.
Fall 2016 Adult Announcements: Memoirs & Biographies
In a season of books from big names—note Bruce Springsteen and Amy Schumer—there’s happily room for many more stories: tales of unexpected heroes helping others or bearing misfortune with humor and courage, stories of athletic triumph, bios of intriguing historical figures, and more.
Fall 2016 Adult Announcements: Mysteries & Thrillers
Big books from major authors, impressive first novels, and unusual anthologies demonstrate the amazing diversity of this popular genre, which continues to dominate bestseller lists.
Fall 2016 Adult Announcements: Poetry
The mainstream and the underrepresented, the indigenous and the immigrant, the modern and the ancient all find their space in poetry, in the play of language. These poets pose much-needed challenges to language and its operation.
Fall 2016 Adult Announcements: Politics & Current Events
With the presidential election just months away, this fall’s crop of politics books dives into the issues and cultural trends that are driving the daily news cycle.
Fall 2016 Adult Announcements: Romance & Erotica
Romance fans will be sad to see some popular series wrapping up, including Stephanie Laurens’s Adventurers Quartet and Debbie Macomber’s Rose Harbor series. But there’s plenty of new excitement on the horizon, including a novel linking Tessa Dare’s two popular Regency series, and a series launch from fan-favorite Regency author Mary Balogh.
Fall 2016 Adult Announcements: Science
Off-planet observations—the search for extraterrestrial life and curiosity about our universe—and time travel are among the wide-ranging subjects in this fall’s science books. The mind/body/consciousness zeitgeist also presses on, smartly incorporating air and sea creatures as well as land lubbers.
Fall 2016 Adult Announcements: SF, Fantasy & Horror
International fiction, including several exciting books in translation, and collections of short fiction are the highlights of this fall’s list. Longtime fans of science fiction and fantasy will also be delighted to see new books from cherished authors Connie Willis and Peter S. Beagle, and a collection of novellas by the legendary Ursula K. Le Guin.
Correction: This article was corrected to reflect the accurate number of titles in our listings.
