New Books Enter the Public Domain for 2026: William Faulkner, Nancy Drew, Agatha Christie & more

· 01/02/2026 · Michael Schmitt

Adapted from "Coming from the Mill" by Laurence Stephen Lowry

Happy Public Domain Day! With 2026 comes a new collection of works entering the US public domain published in 1930. Many of these are now available in Serial Reader including works from William Faulkner, Agatha Christie, Franz Kafka, Langston Hughes, plus the first several Nancy Drew titles and others.

A list of highlights is below and you can find the full list of new books in Serial Reader in the "New to the Public Domain" collection. For more on works entering the public domain, check out Duke Law's excellent article.

As I Lay Dying
William Faulkner
17 issues
Journey across the Mississippi countryside through the eyes of the Bundren family in this Southern Gothic novel, ranked among the best fiction of the century. • More info ›
The Secret of the Old Clock
Carolyn Keene
14 issues
Teenage sleuth Nancy Drew sets out to help a struggling family claim their rightful inheritance from snobbish - and dangerous - frauds. • More info ›
The Castle
Franz Kafka
30 issues
Kafka's last novel, a twisting surreal journey to gain access to the authorities of a mysterious castle. • More info ›
The Aloe
Katherine Mansfield
9 issues
Woven from Mansfield's childhood memories of pastoral New Zealand life. Moves between family members, exploring their internal lives vs their outward masks and roles. Would later become "The Prelude" • More info ›
Not Without Laughter
Langston Hughes
23 issues
A semi-autobiographical account of the "sad and the beautiful realities of black life in a small Kansas town" in the 1910s. • More info ›
Destry Rides Again
Max Brand
22 issues
Fierce cowboy fighter Harrison Destry plots vengenance against the men who stole years of his life. • More info ›
Previous
New Books Enter the Public Domain for 2025: Virginia Woolf, William Faulkner, Ernest Hemingway & more
Mastodon Mastodon