16 new and upcoming books by Maryland authors to read this summer

Memorial Day is fast approaching, and we’re already looking ahead to summer reading plans.

Thankfully, you don’t have to go far to find a slew of great new books by authors who grew up, live and/or set their stories in Maryland.

And you can meet some of them soon at bookish events including the Gaithersburg Book Festival on Saturday and at bookstore events across the state.

In the meantime, these recently or soon-to-be-published books by Maryland authors are ones you’re going to want to add to your summer reading list.

‘Mom Brain’ by Nicole Hackett (out now)

Harford County native Hackett turns “mom brain” — postpartum brain fog — into the basis of a high-concept psychological thriller. Busy mom Georgia Evans sets out on a luxury wellness retreat called “The Program,” meant to help cure mothers of “mom brain.” But as she grows more enticed with the founder’s mission, dark turns emerge that she never saw coming.

‘Read This to Look Cool’ by Maeve Dunigan (out now)

Comedian and The New Yorker satirist Dunigan, who grew up in Catonsville and graduated from the University of Maryland, makes her literary debut in “Read This,” a collection of humorous essays about yearning to fit in and look cool amid relatably cringey experiences, like writing One Direction fanfiction and trying not to sound dramatic after her appendix ruptures at a McDonald’s.

‘Chain of Ideas: The Origins of Our Authoritarian Age’ by Ibram X. Kendi (out now)

Professor and activist Kendi, a Baltimore native, is well-known for his 2019 book, “How To Be an Antiracist.” His latest work explores the rise of the white supremacist “great replacement theory,” which claims nonwhite immigrants are plotting to wrest power from white Americans. Why did that thinking gain traction and how can Western culture free itself from such ideology?

‘Enormous Wings’ by Laurie Frankel (out now)

Frankel, who grew up in Columbia, taught college in Baltimore and will attend the Gaithersburg Book Festival, delivers her sixth novel this spring. “Enormous Wings” drops a major bombshell: 77-year-old Pepper Mills, a begrudging new member of a retirement community, learns she’s pregnant. Navigating a world of researchers, activists and media all eager to use Pepper to advance their own agendas, Pepper must figure out how to stay in charge of her own life.

‘Burnout Summer’ by Jenna Ramirez (out now)

Ramirez, who grew up in D.C.’s Maryland suburbs, offers a quintessential beach read for romance lovers. Her new novel chronicles Camille Luna’s quarter-life crisis, which she aims to solve by spending her summer at the beach with Danny Brennan, the “lovable burnout” from her old college friend group. But who’s the real burnout now?

‘Spain My Way: Eat, Drink, and Cook Like a Spaniard’ by José Andrés (out May 19)

Celebrity chef Andrés, a longtime Bethesda resident, publishes his latest cookbook just in time for your summer dinner parties. “Spain My Way” offers just that: his guide to cooking the best Spanish food, from a slew of tapas and paella to burnt Basque cheesecake and sangria to wash it all down.

‘The Maidenheads’ by Benny B. Peterson (out May 26)

Peterson is a Maryland native, and it shows: The first chapter of “Maidenheads” alone includes references to Baltimore’s Charles Village, Johns Hopkins, Howard County, Silver Spring and D.C.’s 9:30 Club. In this ode to the DMV indie music scene, the novel follows newly single Jamie, who unexpectedly joins her old ex-girlfriend’s successful new band and navigates both her return to performing and the return of complicated feelings toward her ex.

‘Fourteen Ways of Looking at Jellyfish’ by Carole Boston Weatherford (out May 26)

Boston Weatherford, a Maryland resident and speaker at the Gaithersburg Book Festival, is the author of numerous children’s books that have garnered accolades, including a Newbery Honor, a Coretta Scott King Author Award and Young People’s Poet Laureate honor from the Poetry Foundation. Her latest book, best for children ages 6-8, pairs colorful paintings of aquatic life with poetic musings on the mysterious jellyfish.

‘The Final Target’ by Nora Roberts (out May 26)

Prolific romance and suspense author Roberts was born in Silver Spring and now lives in Boonsboro. Her latest of the more than 200 novels she’s published in her career stars Arden Bowie, an author who enlists the help of a former LAPD detective in the aftermath of a stalker fan assaulting her.

‘Fancy Meeting You’ by Louise Marburg (out June 2)

Baltimore native Marburg is making her novel debut at age 65. She sets the scene in Baltimore for a coming-of-age story about 50-year-old Laura, who, chapter by chapter, meets a new character who teaches her something about herself.

‘Off The Record’ by Sara Goodman Confino (out June 9)

University of Maryland alum and longtime MCPS teacher Goodman Confino takes readers back to 1962 D.C., where aspiring reporter Judy Greenberg is on a mission to break a major story with the help of charming reporter Jack Fields. Keep an eye out for several references to UMD’s The Diamondback, plus Silver Spring’s gone-but-not-forgotten Montgomery Donuts. You can catch Goodman Confino at the Gaithersburg Book Festival this weekend.

‘To Catch A Sinner’ by Lucy Wilson-Tagoe (out June 23)

Elkridge native Dylan Allen writes under the pen name Lucy Wilson-Tagoe in her latest, in which a steamy romance between a D.C. journalist and a mysterious lawyer unfolds amid deceit and power struggles.

‘Rewrite the Stars’ by Lindsay Hameroff (out July 7)

Hameroff, who will also appear at the Gaithersburg Book Festival, graduated from Pikesville High School, the University of Maryland and Towson University’s masters program. Her latest novel is a rom-com about a semiretired actress who moves her kids from paparazzi-ridden Los Angeles to a Poconos lake house, where sparks fly with the man tasked with renovating her worn-down home.

‘A Last Time For Everything’ by Evan S. Porter (out July 21)

Arthur and Wren have been together for a decade in their one-bedroom Baltimore apartment in Baltimore-native Porter’s second novel. They’re still struggling to assimilate into adulthood, but when a surprise pregnancy forces them to grow up, the two set out to complete their teenage bucket list before everything changes.

‘Wild Goose Chase’ by Sarah Adler (out July 28)

Adler, who lives in Frederick and is set to speak and autograph books at the Gaithersburg Book Festival, pens a delightfully quirky rom-com in her latest work. Stick with me: Bubbly Annie must help brooding antique store owner Callahan to track down his illegal taxidermy goose to save both of their careers.

‘The People’s Historian’ by Dave Zirin (out Aug. 4)

Political sportswriter Zirin, whose local ties include previous gigs at St. Mary’s Today, the Prince George’s Post and Montgomery College, departs from his usual athletically inclined books in this biography of Howard Zinn. He chronicles the life and legacy of the highly influential radical historian known for his best-selling book, “A People’s History of the United States.”