Spawning Season
Joseph Osmundson is a queer microbiologist, and his earlier book, Virology, was a National Book Critics Circle Award finalist. Here he takes on a question he thought he’d settled: whether to have a child. When a lesbian couple he’s known since college asks him to be a bio-dad and co-parent, the plan runs into hard questions about race and family. The National Book Foundation describes it as memoir blended with science writing, set against climate change and political upheaval. A Nonfiction finalist for readers curious about how families get built beyond biology.
Publisher’s description at Bloomsbury. Finalist status from the National Book Foundation.
From the author of Virology, a National Book Critics Circle Award and Lambda Literary Award finalist. Spawning Season is a 2026 National Book Award finalist for Nonfiction. Winners are announced November 18.
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