As autumn arrives with its crisp colors and shorter days, art enthusiasts have compelling reasons to spend more time indoors exploring new publications. This season brings an impressive collection of 12 new and forthcoming art books that offer deep insights into contemporary art discourse, featuring everything from the decades-long practice of artist Nayland Blake to the influential curatorial vision of the late Okwui Enwezor.

Among the standout releases is a two-volume anthology of Okwui Enwezor's essential writings, edited by Terry Smith. The late curator, who shaped landmark exhibitions including the 2nd Johannesburg Biennale, Documenta 11, and the 56th Venice Biennale, fundamentally shifted art discourse toward a more global perspective. The first volume focuses on his early writings aimed at renewing African art discourse, while the second volume, beginning in 2006, captures the period when his influence reached its peak. These writings serve as indispensable tools for those working to reform the art world with justice and equity in mind.

Michael Holloman's "Frank S. Matsura: Iconoclast Photographer of the American West" presents the remarkable story of a Japanese photographer who arrived in Seattle in 1901 before settling in Okanogan, Washington. Matsura's lively portraits of his friends and neighbors, many of whom were Sylix (Okanagan), offer an instructive counterpoint to Edward S. Curtis's better-known but somber ethnographic takes on Native life. This work challenges tired Western tropes and provides a more authentic picture of early 20th-century American West communities.

Cartoonist Mimi Pond brings her distinctive visual style to "Do Admit: The Mitford Sisters and Me," illuminating the lives of six aristocratic British siblings who lived starkly different lives in the 20th century. The sisters' fascinating stories include one who became a fascist and befriended Adolf Hitler, another who joined the communist party, and a third who penned numerous novels. Pond's playful sensibility and impeccable artwork breathe new life into these well-documented but endlessly intriguing figures.

Photography takes center stage in "Robert Rauschenberg's New York: Pictures from the Real World," edited by Sean Corcoran. While Rauschenberg is best known for his combine paintings that blend sculpture and painting, photography remained central to the Pop artist's work throughout his career. This collection highlights his eye for overlooked and seemingly mundane urban landscapes, celebrating an aspect of his practice that is finally receiving proper attention. Like his life partner Jasper Johns, Rauschenberg helped chart new realities for queer artists who faced significant marginalization during their era.

Marie-Laure Bernadac's "Knife-Woman: The Life of Louise Bourgeois," translated by Lauren Elkin, represents years of intensive research begun as a way to mourn the artist's passing in 2010. Bernadac conducted extensive research at the Easton Foundation, which houses Bourgeois's archive, even sleeping there occasionally. The resulting biography quotes liberally from Bourgeois herself, who kept extensive journals and threw nothing away, writing in a mix of French and English that sometimes appeared in the same sentence. The book reproduces family photos and artworks, offering deep insights into the artist's obsession with domestic space as psychic theater.

Joe Sacco, a pioneer in comics journalism, tackles political violence in "The Once and Future Riot," focusing on 2013 riots between Hindus and Muslims in Uttar Pradesh, India. Based on interviews with political officials, village chiefs, and civilians—most of them landless peasants—Sacco creates a vivid picture of anger and bloodshed that makes the events more immediate than any traditional text could achieve. This work serves as an essential parable of political violence for contemporary times.

Bimbola Akinbola's "Transatlantic Disbelonging: Unruliness, Pleasure, and Play in Nigerian Diasporic Women's Art" examines what the author calls "disbelonging"—a creative refusal of imposed belonging that becomes an ethic of unruliness, pleasure, and play. The book highlights work by Wura-Natasha Ogunji, Njideka Akunyili Crosby, Zina Saro-Wiwa, ruby onyinyechi amanze, and Nnedi Okorafor, asserting that these artists are central to the global contemporary art world, where Black women's experimental aesthetic practices are formative rather than marginal.

"My Studio Is a Dungeon Is the Studio: Writings and Interviews, 1983-2024" by Nayland Blake, edited by Jarrett Earnest, spans 40 years of insights from one of the original figures in queer and transgressive art. Blake's career has been crucial in bringing topics once marginalized—including queerness, BDSM, pornography, cosplay, and the nuances of gender and race—to the center of art conversations. This collection offers valuable insight into the artist's processes and opens doors to subjects many people remain hesitant to discuss.

Kareem Khubchandani's "Lessons in Drag: A Queer Manual for Academics, Artists, and Aunties" arrives as a timely follow-up to his previous work "Decolonize Drag." The book consists of a dialogue between Khubchandani and his drag persona LaWhore Vagistan, considering the interplay between scholarship, fashion, and music. By defying conventions that often keep academic texts dry and jargon-filled, the authors model a way to integrate research and performance, offering insights into criticism, creativity, and drag as tools for personal and communal expression.

"Painting Writing Texting" documents the friendship between painter Chantal Joffe and writer Olivia Laing since 2016, when Laing first sat for a portrait by Joffe. The book features 10 essays by Laing, known for her lyrical and empathetic cultural criticism, alongside paintings by Joffe, whose rough, expressive brushwork produces haunting and oddly seductive portraits. Their collaboration explores how creative life becomes a totality shaped by friendships and community.

The exhibition catalog "Grandma Moses: A Good Day's Work," edited by Leslie Umberger and Randall R. Griffey, offers a fresh perspective on Anna Mary Robertson Moses, the self-taught artist who became a pioneer of American folk art despite early institutional dismissal. The book begins at the beginning of her story, examining how she saw her artistic practice as part of her daily life—literally, a good day's work—providing crucial opportunities to reconsider both her life and art.

Finally, "Wifredo Lam: When I Don't Sleep, I Dream," edited by Beverly Adams and Christophe Cherix, celebrates an artist who met Picasso and decided he had the wrong approach. While European artists discovered primitivism, Lam engaged with African and Afro-Cuban aesthetic traditions with cultural specificity, challenging and inverting stereotypes. The catalog features more than 150 works, including paintings, drawings, books, and ceramics, plus a conservation analysis of his iconic work "The Jungle" (1942-43), accompanying his largest retrospective in New York City.

Other notable upcoming releases include "Native Visual Sovereignty: A Reader on Art and Performance" from Dancing Foxes Press and Brandon Taylor's novel "Minor Black Figures" from Riverhead Books. These diverse publications reflect the expanding scope of contemporary art discourse, offering readers opportunities to explore new perspectives and deepen their understanding of artistic practice across cultures, mediums, and generations.