Back to books for fall 2026
- C-print
- 1 hour ago
- 4 min read
With the arrival of fall, back-to-school nostalgia has inevitably kicked in. Besides stocking up on stationery (a habit reinforced by the annual Japanese Stationery Awards — a recently cultivated niche obsession of yours truly), I have been researching publishing houses’ fall catalogues, bookmarking this season’s reading material. In putting together C-print’s fall reading list, I have been on the lookout for works that distinguish themselves for their high quality and unique perspectives. Works that challenge and expand concepts of being, thinking, seeing and, well, just extra everything.
LITERATURE
High on the list is Marlon James latest novel The Disappearers. It has already garnered critical acclaim and has been longlisted for the Booker Prize. The novel chronicles queer life in Jamaica in the 1980s and 1990s centering around a group of gay men who are preparing to stage the play Fortune and Men’s Eyes by John Herbert. The theatre troupe is subjected to a homophobic attack which leads to the murder of one of the men. The novel delves into the impact this horrific event has on the survivors of the attack as they all, in their different ways, try to heal and the restraints placed on that recovery by societal norms and a homophobic climate.
My introduction to Claudia Rankine’s work was through her poetry and the book Plot. It was a revelatory experience in the sense that I physically felt it. Rankine’s language, not unlike a microscopic lens, has the ability to bring into focus the course of inner thoughts the mind wanders through in daily life and to expand our apprehension of the worlds within us. I am therefore eager to read her newly released book Triage. It is an autobiographical work (but is ultimately genre-defying) centering around a turbulent friendship between two characters and how it evolves through the years.
The C-print team recently had the opportunity to listen to Vincenzo Latronico in conversation with Mikael Rosengaard at Louisiana Literature 2026 (read the C-print team’s report from the festival here) about his much talked about novel Perfection. Having read the book and after listening to Latronico’s interview (or rather TED talk as he himself remarked), it is fair to say that the millennial angst had found its voice. I am however cautious not to pigeonhole Perfection into any sort of generational novel category since such a characterisation does run the risk of limiting its interpretative scope.
In reflecting upon his latest work, which he cited as being a political novel, he put forth a broader dimension of the societal questions he grapples with in his work - the loss of community in modern society and our modern day consumerist and individualist attempts to restore, or rather, re-create it. I am therefore looking forward to getting hold of his latest novel Una splendida Rovina (Giulio Einaudi edore) (at the moment available in Italian; so I am waiting impatiently for the translated edition).
John Silver’s Fruit Fly is appearing on many reading lists at the moment and I can understand why. The plot is enticing: an author faced with a very long writer’s block attempts to appropriate a struggling addict’s story in order to reclaim her literary status - but how far is she willing to go? Witty, sharp, fast-paced and satirical it is definitely a page-turner that poses heavy questions on the right to authorship.
For the complete fall reading list see below.
ART BOOKS
The independent publishing house Mack Publishing, founded in 2010, focused early on in publishing photography books. One of their first publications was Alessandra Sanguinetti’s exquisite book The Adventures of Guille and Belinda and The Enigmatic Meaning of Their Dreams, tender and visually compelling - I often find myself returning to the Sanguinetti’s world. The publishing house has since branched out but their photography publication is just stellar. From their newly published works I am eager to get my hands on Irina Rozovsky’s photography book Mountain Black Heart. Through a collection of images taken during Rozovsky’s travels in the Balkan region during the past decade, fragments of the cultural mosaic of the region are brought forth.
Delving deeper into kaleidoscopic worlds I am equally looking forward to medidate over painter Clara Gesang-Gottowt’s abstract landscapes in her recently published Målningar / Paintings 2021–2025. With a selection of images of abstract nature motives in hues of red and blue Gesang-Gottowt’s paintings are a visually entrancing experience. This is the second book of hers published by Kalejdoskop Förlag. The house has been around for many years and has, after its rebirth 2009, has presented an eclectic and interesting mix of publications.
And below, in no particular order, a C-print fall reading lists in literature and art & photography respectively.
LITERATURE
Lynne Tillmann, Cast in doubt, Peninsula Press (2026)
Hannah Levene, A Pizza Hut a Pizza Hut Kentucky Fried Chicken and a Pizza Hut, Cipher Press (2026)
Isabella Nilsson, Om varmhållning av levande döda, Ellerströms (SE) (2026)
Adréane Frenette-Vallières, Du kommer att välja bergen, Aska förlag (SE) (2026)/ Tu choisiras les montagnes, Editions du Noroît (2022)
Marlon James, The Disappearers, Riverhead Books (US)/Hamish Hamilton (UK) (2026)
Vincenzo Latronico, Una splendida rovina, Giulio Einaudi editore (2026)
Charles Baudelaire, Paris Spleen, Eris (2026)
My Center is Not in the Solar System: Tributes to Etel Adnan, Mack Publishing/Bidoun (2026)
Federico Sargentone, Midcareer Writing, Sorry Press (2026)
Claudia Rankine, Triage, Allen Lane (2026)
John Silver, Fruit Fly, Magpie (2026)
ART BOOKS
Clara Gesang-Gottowt, Målningar / Paintings 2021–2025, Kalejdoskop förlag (2026)
Tehching Hsieh, One Year Performance 1978–1979, Void (2026)
Irina Rozovsky, Mountain Black Heart, Mack Publishing (2026)
Jon Giorno, The performative word, Mousse Publishing (2026)
Corina Wahlin
Corina Wahlin is a writer focusing on art and literature. She is a longstanding and regular team contributor to C-print as a writer and photographer. She has also worked as editor for the independent literary publishing house Aska Förlag.