9 New and Upcoming Books With Philly Connections

Where We Keep the Light: Stories From a Life of Service

by Governor Josh Shapiro
Pennsylvanians (and everybody else) should probably get to know our governor a little better, as he is likely to stay in the “presidential possible” conversation for a while. In this mid-career memoir, Shapiro opens up about faith, family, and politics, including the firebombing of the governor’s residence in Harrisburg last April and his stint on Kamala Harris’s VP shortlist in 2024. The New York Times recently gave the book a shout-out, highlighting some of the tea Shapiro spills: “Ultimately, he said, he decided to withdraw from the process himself. He asked to be connected with Harris to share the decision, he wrote, but said he was told ‘the VP would not handle bad news well and that I shouldn’t push.’” Harper Collins, out now.

To Kill A Cook

by W.M. Akers
The Philly-based author of Critical Hit and Westside returns with another engrossing mystery novel, this time about a food critic trying solve the murder of her chef friend in ’70s New York. To Kill A Cook is billed as a both a gritty crime story and a “feminist screwball comedy,” and Publishers’ Weekly calls it “pure fun.” Putnam, out now.

My City Need Something: Portraits and Prose for Black Existence 

by Christopher R. Rogers
Packed with vivid text and black-and-white images by photographer Karim Brown, this slim, stylish tome is an open letter to PnB Rock, the rising Philly rapper who was robbed and killed in Los Angeles in 2022. In the 2014 song for which this book was named, Rock offered a laundry list of issues plaguing his North Philly neighborhood (senseless gun violence, unresponsive police, “missing babies”). Here organizer/educator Christopher R. Rogers picks up the torch; whereas the song left the listener unsure about the Something this city needs, Rogers’s book arrives, tentatively, at a few suggestions — love, community, hope, clear eyes — all the while referencing June Jordan, Jalen Hurts, Toni Morrison, and more. Deeply personal and unapologetically digressive, My City Need Something offers a peephole into the lives of beautiful people on troubled streets in a Philadelphia most of us only half know. Common Notions, out now.

Keeper of Lost Children

by Sadeqa Johnson
The Philly-born Johnson — whose trophy case includes accolades from Goodreads, the NAACP, and Reese Witherspoon — explores the lives of mixed-race children orphaned by WWII in her much anticipated new historical novel. When All Things Considered talked to Johnson about using fiction to bring difficult historical truths to light, Johnson explained her craft thusly:  “I think that what I’m doing is sort of leaving a road map for the younger generations. I always tell my kids, if we don’t know where we came from, we have no idea of how to make sense of the times that we’re in now. I see historical fiction as a way to make our American history a little bit more palpable. You know, it’s easier to swallow than a textbook.” Simon and Schuster, out now.

The Monster and Puppet Show

by Kate Micucci
The forever-adorbs multi-hyphenate — you may know her from Scrubs, Garfunkel and Oates, lots of cartoons, and Instagram, where she turns curbside trash into whimsical works of art — recently released her first children’s book, about a monster and puppet who put on a show. The New York-based Micucci returns to her hometown of Nazareth on March 21st for a live reading. Hachette, out now.

Shut up and Read: A Memoir from Harriett’s Bookshop

by Jeannine A. Cook
In 2025, Jeannine A. Cook turned heads with her kinda dreamy, loosely autobiographical debut novel It’s Me They Follow, about an aspiring writer and Black entrepreneur opening an independent bookshop — the excellent Harriett’s Bookshop — in Fishtown. Less than a year later, here’s the gritty and direct Shut up and Read — a de-mythologized memoir about opening that same Fishtown bookshop, surviving the pandemic and becoming a phenomenon well outside of her hometown. Harper Collins, March 10th.

Stand

by Senator Cory Booker
The second presidential hopeful in our list (or third? Rooting for you, Ms. Micucci), New Jersey Senator Cory Booker delivers a message of unity and talks principles in his second book (following his 2016 memoir, United). Stand is said to expand upon his record-setting 25-hour speech delivered on the Senate floor just about a year ago in which he spoke passionately against Donald Trump’s anti-Constitutional rhetoric and executive orders. Booker’s March 26th appearance at the Parkway Central Library is already sold out. St. Martin’s Press, March 24th.

We’re A Bad Idea, Right?

by K.L. Walther
Prolific Bucks County-born author K.L. Walther specializes in beachy, YA romance novels (including The Summer of Broken Rules, What Happens After Midnight, and While We’re Young). In We’re A Bad Idea, Right?, two best friends fake a relationship for rom-com reasons and end up flirting with the real deal. Walther will discuss and sign We’re A Bad Idea, Right? with fellow novelist Betty Corello at the Center City Barnes and Noble on April 3rd. Penguin Random House, March 31st.

Partly Strong, Partly Broken

by Nathaniel Popkin
The always-busy Philly author — known for both his fiction and non, including Song of the City: An Intimate History of the American Urban Landscape and Philadelphia: Finding the Hidden City — returns with a new novel about a rabbi struggling to keep her interfaith community from unraveling just before the start of the horrific 2023 attack on Israel and subsequent devastation of Palestine. Sounds heavy, but Popkin’s compassionate storytelling will likely make this a rewarding read. He will discuss his work with journalist Karen Heller at the Athenaeum in Philadelphia on May 5th. New Door, May 5th.