“Do You Think This Conversation Is Going Well?” and Other Pickup Lines

By Gemma SieffSeptember 25, 2026

“The dating app has engineered what one might call an Enneagrammatical system of bookish star signs.”

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“Narrow Escape,” by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

Fiction by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, in English for the first time: The police lieutenant appeared to be writing down exactly what Gleb was telling him, but relying upon completely different words.

Aleksandr SolzhenitsynSep 27, 202614 min read

Literary Hub

Lit Hub Daily: September 24, 2026

During the season of big books, how do you choose one to read? With a flowchart, obviously. | Lit Hub How Imogen Crimp’s Give Me Everything You’ve Got demonstrates the loaded nature of an artist’s room. | Lit Hub Criticism

Lit Hub DailySep 24, 2026

The Paris Review

John Berger, Death’s Secretary: A Conversation with Tom Overton

“The first letter I sent to him was about a print that he’d made, which was in the archive—a Chagall-inspired Virgin Mary standing on a donkey.”

Scott SchomburgSep 24, 2026

Literary Hub

Two great works of art to ease your transition into autumn.

To my fellow summer weary, too sweaty, beach-skeptical readers out there: We made it. We’ve officially crossed the threshold into fall, and it feels great. Summer’s brash extroversion is finally at an end and I’m very much looking forward to

James FoltaSep 23, 2026

Public Books

The Treachery of Machine Realism

“The bombed elementary school in Iran appears to have become a target thanks to satellite imaging. In this case, what the image represented — and to who — was a matter of life and death.” The post The Treachery of Machine Realism appeared first on Public Books.

Morgan BarrySep 23, 2026

The Conversation

Australian poetry classics: Les Murray’s The Broad Bean Sermon is inexhaustible food for contemplation

The Broad Bean Sermon, while not his best-known poem, shows why Les Murray is considered by some to be Australia’s preeminent poet.

David McCooey, Professor of Writing and Literature, Deakin UniversitySep 24, 2026