Publishing & Culture: Julia Donaldson was made a Dame in the King’s Birthday Honours, with a fresh plea for more libraries; the same honours list also recognizes Malorie Blackman and Peter James. Children’s Books & Literacy: A new expanded Portland Book Festival will run Nov. 2–8 after last year’s sellout, adding events like “Book Bar” and “Cook the Book.” Book Industry & Access: Book Aid International opened a new Swindon warehouse to accelerate global book deliveries, aiming to send over a million books by end-2026. Education Policy: A Bishkek textbook shortage sparked questions over who’s accountable; officials say supply bottlenecks mean some books simply aren’t available to buy. Censorship & School Libraries: Colorado’s D-20 will require parental consent for name changes and removed a transgender-narrative book from district libraries. New Releases & Ideas: Picador publishes Michael Bond’s Animate on animals and the human mind; Headline releases Christopher Lamb’s American Hope on Pope Leo XIV. Heritage & Scholarship: A researcher says he found a waqf deed dated 713 AH that could be the oldest surviving Islamic endowment document.