Obituary: Edite Kroll
publishersweekly.com – Tuesday September 29, 2026
Literary agent Edite Kroll, known for her passion for mentoring and supporting authors, and her keen eye for talent, died at her home in Maine following a long illness. She was 87.
Kroll was born in Blasheim, Germany, in 1939 and was educated in Germany, France, and England. In the early 1960s, she was working in foreign and subsidiary rights and editing children’s books at London publisher Chatto & Windus, which was then home to revered authors and editors Leonard Woolf and Cecil Day-Lewis. It was at there that she met American editor and eventual children’s book author Steven Kroll, whom she married in 1964. (The couple later divorced.)
The Krolls relocated to New York City in 1965 and Edite landed a position as associate children’s book editor at Knopf. She then transitioned to the same role at Holt, Rinehart and Winston, before she and her husband both left Holt and moved to Maine, where Edite embarked on a freelance editorial career that included translating German children’s books into English.
By 1973, back in New York, Kroll joined publishing house M. Evans as a children’s book editor. The following year she moved to Harper Junior Books as associate children’s book editor, and in 1976 she was appointed executive assistant to Charlotte Zolotow, then associate publisher of the division. Kroll later represented Zolotow and her daughter Crescent Dragonwagon as author clients for many years.
New Literary Agent Listing: Ellen Scott
firstwriter.com – Tuesday September 29, 2026
Handles religious nonfiction including Biblical analysis, art criticism, essays, youth material for middle and high school readers, and work engaging faith and culture. Seeks projects countering purity culture or advocating for disabled communities from an orthodox Christian perspective. In fiction, looks for generational, character-driven, Christ‑haunted novels exploring recovery or change, especially those drawing on Greek tragedy. Interested in thoughtful, voice‑led storytelling across both fiction and nonfiction.
Quest is a highly designed sci-fi and fantasy magazine built for web fiction
itsnicethat.com – Monday September 28, 2026
Every story gets its own typeface, artwork and visual world, with gaming-inspired navigation, sound and video bringing each piece to life online.
One of the best things about alternative literature is that it really originated online, and with it, ushered in a new world of blog writing, GeoCities prose and intertextual genre writing that would’ve previously been rare finds in niche magazines. Those magazines are now largely online, just take a look at Tractor Beam, a “soilpunk” magazine, Elastic, made for art and literature surrounding the new psychedelic. And today, we are looking at Quest, for boundary-pushing sci-fi and fantasy writing – created by founders Ross Gendels, associate creative director at Base Design in New York and Zane Miller, a freelance creative director and writer. To say Quest has a strong visual idea for itself would be an understatement; this isn’t just made by people passionate about reading genre fiction, but about accommodating it with a platform that feels like an extension of its prose.
Issue 2 launched in August 2026 with nine fiction stories, an essay, a dispatch, 11 artists and 11 typefaces used across the site. Quest received 1,154 submissions – double its first issue – and is funded entirely by readers and subscribers who believe writers and artists should be paid properly for their work. It’s also a space for readers to explore and for contributors to experiment. Using sci-fi and fantasy as a filter to examine society, culture and politics, every piece of writing is paired with commissioned artwork and set in its own typeface, both chosen to extend the world of that specific text. Oh, and it’s totally free (and anyone can subscribe on Patreon or join the Discord without a paid membership).
New Publisher Listing: Iron Stream
firstwriter.com – Monday September 28, 2026
Publishes Christian nonfiction aimed at encouraging readers to engage with the mission of God, representing a large catalogue of authors and works. Member of a major evangelical trade association, the imprint handles material from several earlier lines and continues to produce resources across devotionals, inspirational works, and mission‑focused titles.
Profile Books completes sale of 2000AD publisher Rebellion’s SFF and horror imprint, Solaris
downthetubes.net – Sunday September 27, 2026
Profile Books has completed its acquisition of the SFF and horror imprint Solaris from 2000AD publisher Rebellion Publishing first announced back in June, for an undisclosed sum, taking over all turnover and e-book distribution.
Founded in 2007, Solaris was acquired by Rebellion in 2009, growing to publish 30 to 35 titles per year, with a focus on commercial genre fiction. New titles range from speculative fiction to mysterious folklore, supernatural horror and explosive space opera, offering something for every genre-loving reader.
Published authors include Katherine Addison (in the UK and Commonwealth), fantasy author and fashion historian Natania Barron, Vajra Chandrasekera, C.S.E. Cooney, R.T. Ester (author of The Ganymedan), Corry L. Lee, Emma Newman, MK Hardy, Ren Hutchings, Lavanya Lakshminarayan, Simon Jimenez and Rebecca Roanhorse (both also only in (in the UK and Commonwealth), RuNyx and Adrian Tchaikovsky.
Dystel, Goderich, & Bourret Leaves AALA Over Ethics Disagreement
lunch.publishersmarketplace.com – Saturday September 26, 2026
Dystel, Goderich & Bourret has resigned from the Association of American Literary Agents in protest over the organization’s new Canon of Ethics, the agency announced. The agency takes issue specifically with a clause in the canon that allows agencies to offer paid editorial services to non-clients, and could decide to represent those clients in the future. The cannon states that agents must put in writing that providing those services does not “indicate or imply that the member will represent them as a literary agent.” In DGB’s view, the policy indicates a “conflict of interest.”
Was this award-winning book written by AI? Scandal deepens skepticism in literary world
cbc.ca – Saturday September 26, 2026
Thélyson Orélien's debut novel shortlisted for prestigious prizes. Then the allegations started pouring in
A Quebec-based author is at the centre of an artificial intelligence scandal shaking the French literary world and raising questions around how the industry should be using AI — and its detection tools.
Breakthrough star Thélyson Orélien, a Canadian-Haitian poet and author, has been accused of writing his debut novel using generative AI, which he vehemently denies. The scandal comes as C’était ça ou mourir is being considered for various prestigious awards.
The allegation first surfaced Monday – the same day Orélien won the Prix du roman Fnac – on the anonymous X account "Balance ton Claude," which claims to expose AI slop.
The account claims to have analyzed several excerpts from the book using the AI-detector tool Pangram, which found the text was "100 per cent" AI.
Choose Your Own Adventure Publisher Launches Adult Imprint
publishersweekly.com – Saturday September 26, 2026
Chooseco, publisher of the Choose Your Own Adventure gamebook series, has announced the launch of CYOA Unbound, an imprint that will publish nonlinear, multiple-ending gamebooks for adults. The first two titles, both novels, will be released in 2027.
The list opens with an interactive retelling of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice by C. Davitt Bell, to be published in paperback in July 2027. It will be followed in September by Culty by Fancy Feast, which the company is pitching as The White Lotus meets Sex and the City. The publisher said both books will use the same interactive format as its middle grade titles, but with adult narratives and themes.
Chooseco said it will span genres, with forthcoming titles to include reimagined classics, horror, mysteries, thrillers, and romance.
New Magazine Listing: The Marginal Page
firstwriter.com – Friday September 25, 2026
An independent, youth-led literary magazine based in India, dedicated to publishing thoughtful and original creative work. We welcome fiction, nonfiction, poetry, essays, reviews, photography, and other forms of literary and visual expression. We aim to provide a space for emerging and established writers to share work that is distinctive, meaningful, and worth reading. We are open to a wide range of voices, perspectives, styles, and subjects.
"Flashlight": Exploring Fiction Writing with Hopkins Faculty and Alumni
hub.jhu.edu – Tuesday September 22, 2026
Odyssey is thrilled to invite you to a virtual conversation with National Book Award winner and Johns Hopkins Writing Seminars professor Susan Choi. Discussion will focus on her latest novel, Flashlight, a spellbinding account of family, loss, memory, and the unseen forces that shape our lives. "Explosive" (The New York Times Book Review) and "astonishing" (The Atlantic), Flashlight was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize, longlisted for the National Book Award, and named one of Barack Obama's favorite books of 2025. It was a Best Book of the Year with The New Yorker, Time magazine, The Washington Post, and numerous other publications.
The event will consist of readings from the novel, a conversation about the craft of fiction, and time for audience questions, giving attendees the opportunity to engage directly with Choi about her writing process and the ideas at the heart of her novels. She will be in conversation with Writing Seminars lecturer and Moser Family Writer-in-Residence Gabriella Fee.
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