6 of the Best New Book Releases Out September 22, 2026

Big Release Fall is officially underway! This means we’re getting Empire, the final book in a stunning YA romantasy duology, by Sabaa Tahir. We’re also getting new John Green (his adult debut, actually) and Naomi Alderman, which I have more on below. Before we get to that, though, there are a couple new cookbooks that I think are of the culture-shifting variety. By that I mean that they show us new ways to relate to food that disentangle us from the very commercial and capitalist ways we relate to it now. The first is by someone I’ve been following on social media for a while now. Alexis Nikole Nelson is known as the Black Forager, and she teaches how to find sustenance in your own backyard. Her book Happy Snacking, Don’t Die! teaches safety when foraging, and comes with a few handy recipes. Then there’s Gyetk by Rachel Greening and Spencer Greening. It shares 60 recipes from the Ts’msyen people, who are native to the Pacific Northwest Coast. Once you’ve had your fill of foodie-reading, there are also a couple of witchy books to really get into the season with: Witch Daughter by Tanaz Bhathena (love and loss in ancient Persia), Witches of the Wheel by Lindsay Merbaum (a queer, meta...