The Spotlight of Festival Directors is back this week with a focus on the Hay Festival’s Cristina Fuentes La Roche, who is the International Director. Find out more here.

There’s been some fantastic suggestions from directors featured in this series previously, giving details of books you may have overlooked. Take a look at them here.

The Times and the Sunday Times Cheltenham Literature Festival has revealed a preview of highlights for this year’s festival, which takes place in person from 8-17 October. The theme is Read the World and aims to showcase new voices in fiction and poetry as well as international literary greats. This year’s fiction programme includes Maggie O’Farrell, Torrey Peters, Elif Shafak, Jeanette Winterson, Colm Tóibín and Colson Whitehead, while guest curator Bernardine Evaristo chairs a panel featuring Mary Jean Chan, Paul Mendez, Andrew McMillan, and Richard Scott in a celebration of queer writers. Crime writers appearing include Richard Osman, Mick Herron, Ann Cleeves and Robert Peston. The full programme is announced in the summer.

The LoveReading LitFest will be hosting the Branford Boase Award ceremony online on 15 July. Established in 2000 to commemorate award-winning author Henrietta Branford and influential Walker Books editor Wendy Boase, the Branford Boase is awarded annually to the author of an outstanding debut novel for children.

Scotland’s international crime-writing festival Bloody Scotland has announced its Crime Debut of the Year shortlist and includes novels by Emma Christie, Robbie Morrison, Mark Wightman and self-published author Alistair Liddle.

‘BILA HUDOOD: Arabic Literature Everywhere,’ an inaugural online literary festival funded by the Royal Society of Literature, has announced full schedule of events due to take place between 9 and 11 July. More info and highlights available via ArabLit.

Fascinating read in LitHub on the connection between Patrick Suskind’s Perfume and Nirvana’s ‘Scentless Apprentice’ titled ‘How Kurt Cobain’s Favorite Novel Made Its Way Onto Nirvana’s Final Album’.

The 13 Best Book Covers of June according to Emily Temple – you can add your own favourite contenders in the comments too.

A wave of post-Trump books hits bookshelves and try to ‘make sense of the chaos’. More here via NPR.

“I was 12 in 2003, when The Return of the King was in theaters, and Frodo kissing Sam goodbye as he left Middle-earth made me sob like my heart was being ripped out, without understanding why.” Begins this essay by Molly Ostertag on Queer readings of the Lord of the Rings.

AudioFile’s best audiobooks of June can be found listed here.

Octavia Butler’s best writing advice tackles stamina, inspiration, mechanics, process, and more.

22 page-turners compiled by Guardian Australia staff to help their readers through the latest lockdowns includes Alex Michaelides, John Grisham, Rumaan Alam, Patricia Lockwood and many more.

Elle McNicholl’s debut children’s book A Kind of Spark has just won the Waterstones children’s book Prize after the author was told that no one would want to read a fun book featuring disabled heroes.

Russia’s publishing industry is a market facing a paper shortage despite being home to 20% of the world’s forests. More here in Publishing Perspectives.

Good Omens, the television series based on the book of the same name by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett has been renewed for a second season. More on the news from Neil himself via his blog.

Will Smith reveals the title and artwork for the upcoming memoir Will.

New Zlatan book on footballer’s life lessons and wisdom due to be released in October this year. More here.