Oprah Winfrey has unveiled her most anticipated read for 2026, naming a new memoir by Pulitzer Prize-winning author Jayne Anne Phillips as her top pick for the year, parade.com reports.
While Winfrey is busy launching her own wellness book, “Enough,” this month, according to the report, her influential book club has turned its focus to the literary highlights of the coming year. Topping the “must-read” list is “Small Town Girls” by Jayne Anne Phillips, scheduled for publication on April 21, 2026.
Phillips, who won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 2024 for her novel Night Watch, returns with what critics describe as a “luminous” memoir in essays. The book explores her upbringing in West Virginia and the intricate nature of memory. Early reviews from Kirkus Reviews have already praised Phillips’s “vivid prose,” crowning her “West Virginia’s most eloquent daughter.”
The endorsement from Oprah’s Book Club is a significant marker for the literary calendar. “New year, new books for the TBR list,” the club shared via social media. “We’re marking our calendars ahead of a great year for books.”
Beyond the top spot, Winfrey’s 2026 watchlist includes several high-profile titles like Villa Coco by Andrew Sean Greer, Hooked by Asaka Yuzuki, Give Them Their Flowers by Octavia Spencer and London Falling by Patrick Radden Keefe.
Phillips, a Guggenheim Fellow whose career includes acclaimed works such as Black Tickets and Lark and Termite, remains one of America’s most respected contemporary voices. With Winfrey’s backing, “Small Town Girls” is poised to be one of the definitive releases of the year.
•Featured image by Frederic J. Brown on Getty Images
