Books and literature

Oxford University Press has named “brain rot” its word of the year.

Award-winning author TJ Klune (“The House in the Cerulean Sea”) on when he felt able to quit his day job and when he first felt like he’d made it as a writer.

BBQ pitmaster Dominique Leach and “The Chi” star Cortez Smith team up on ‘Chicago Today’ to talk about their new cookbook, “Chicago Smoke,” sharing how their love for food brought them together.

PR powerhouse Maha Abouelenein joins “Chicago Today” to discuss her new book, Seven Rules of Self-Reliance, which aims to boost your confidence and independence.

Darryl Postelnick, America’s beloved TikTok dad, is back with his new cookbook, “R. U. Kidding Me? Cooking with Darryl.”

The Nobel Prize in literature has been awarded to the South Korean author Han Kang for what the Nobel committee called her “intense poetic prose.”

Get ready to cozy up this October with Beloved by Toni Morrison, the newest pick for the Chicago Today’s Banned Book Club.

Journalist Josh Noel dives deep into the infamous spirit Malört, revealing its unique history in his new book “Malört: The Redemption of a Revered and Reviled Spirit.”

“The book uses the same techniques as the show to encourage speech and 20 milestones, all through a playful story!”

Banned Books Week started in 1982 and draws attention to censorship.

Two new reports provide a mixed but compelling outlook on the wave of book removals and challenges as the annual Banned Books Week begins for schools, stores and libraries nationwide.

The Banned Book Club is back, and this month’s pick is none other than The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky.

Verlean Singletary and Courtney Woods, the dynamic mother-daughter team behind Da Book Joint in Bronzeville, share their top picks for summer reading from fantasy rooted in African mythology to a murder mystery set in 1970s LA.

Mickey Bergman, the mastermind behind Brittney Griner’s release from Russia, is pulling back the curtain on the perilous world of international negotiations in his new book, In the Shadows.

Ahead of Ella Jenkins’ 100th birthday, NBC Chicago’s LeeAnn Trotter takes a look inside a children’s book chronicling the life of the “First Lady of children’s music.”

Edna O’Brien has died at age 93. She was one of the world’s most admired and controversial writers who scandalized her native Ireland with her debut novel, “The Country Girls,” which was censored and even burned.

Richard Behar’s new biography, “Madoff: The Final Word,” takes readers into the fraudster’s final years in prison, and all that came before.

In an emotional interview, Jason and Rhonda Halpert discuss their new book “Caretaker,” a suspenseful tale born from personal loss and creative therapy.

Dr. Mahalia Hines, a respected figure in Chicago’s education system and board member of The Obama Foundation, discusses her new book “Tomorrow’s Children: How to Raise Children to Stay Human in a High-Tech Society.”

Jonathan Van Ness of “Queer Eye” joins “Chicago Today” at the Chicago Humanities Festival to discuss his latest children’s book. Van Ness shares the inspiration behind “Gorgeously Me,” expressing his desire to create a story that embraces individuality and self-love.