Literary Hub

Literary news, essays, and book criticism. High-volume, mixed signal, but the essay output is consistently strong.

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Lit Hub Weekly: September 21 – 25, 2026

During the season of big books, how do you choose one to read? With a flowchart, obviously. | Lit Hub Ed Simon explores the limits of language to understand why “pain makes poor poets out of all of us.” |

Lit Hub DailySep 26, 2026

Literary Hub

Booksellers are sounding the alarm over Trump’s anti-antifascist presidential memo.

A group of concerned booksellers recently sent an open letter to the American Booksellers Association and the American Booksellers for Free Expression raising an “urgent concern” about the Trump administration’s NSPM-7 anti-antifascist memorandum. The presidential security memo issued last year

James FoltaSep 25, 2026

Literary Hub

Have They Ruined Our Beloved Scholastic Book Fair?

Oh, Scholastic Book Fair. If you made your way through a public school in North America anytime during the past half-century, you should recall that shiny catalog. That sudden, circus-like presence in the school library. On Monday, the critic Michelle

Brittany AllenSep 25, 2026

Literary Hub

Shrine: A Little Book About Paul Thek

There is a photograph of Paul walking on a lawn and carrying a life-sized version of the cross. It appears to be quite heavy, made of wood. It can be seen to rest upon his shoulders. This is somewhere in

Lit Hub ExcerptsSep 25, 2026

Literary Hub

Elizabeth Alexander on Finding Life in the Second Spring of Middle Age

If I could have been a dancer, a real dancer, beyond those years at St. Mark’s, I probably would have done it. But my gifts were not that lavish, and my considerable drive was directed toward more than just dance.

Elizabeth AlexanderSep 25, 2026

Literary Hub

“Regular, rigorous, and Reliable.” How to Keep Fighting for a Better World

We can cultivate qualities that help us to stick around in struggle. This is something that came up when I spoke in 2023 with Philadelphia activist Suzy Subways about her decades of movement experience. “Don’t compare yourself to others in

Chris DixonSep 25, 2026

Literary Hub

“Ode to a Leaf Blower,” a Poem by Jill Bialosky

Leaves tangled & braided in limp limbs of the still surviving perennials, our yard a battlefield of trees towering at least seventy feet high, squeezing out the sun, & slowly letting go of their dead. I suited up in jeans,

Jill BialoskySep 25, 2026

Literary Hub

Remembering Grazia Deledda, the Sardinian Nobel Prize-Winner We Should All Be Reading

“Cross the sea,” a young Grazia Deledda wrote in a poem to Americans in 1893, “and tell everyone that the island of Sardinia is still waiting to be discovered and known.” On the 100th anniversary of her Nobel Prize for Literature, the powerful legacy

Jeff BiggersSep 25, 2026

Literary Hub

Got Writer’s Block? Go to the Theater!

This first appeared in Lit Hub’s Craft of Writing newsletter—sign up here. I love art that seems like it came from outer space, that seems unrelated to anything else in the Zeitgeist, that makes me wonder how the artist ever came up

Amy FusselmanSep 25, 2026

Literary Hub

What Should You Read Next? Here Are the Best Reviewed Books of the Week

Gloria Steinem’s An Unexpected Life, Naomi Alderman’s The Strangers, Chuck Klosterman’s Rock*, and Doireann Ní Ghríofa’s Said the Dead all feature among the best reviewed books of the week. Brought to you by Book Marks, Lit Hub’s home for book reviews. *

Book MarksSep 25, 2026

Literary Hub

A Prophetic Classic About the Dangers of Tech is Back in Print

Paulina Borsook saw there was something rotten afoot in Silicon Valley in the 1990s, and in her book Cyberselfish: A Critical Romp through the Terribly Libertarian Culture of High Tech, she set out to document and understand a peculiar mindset

Paulina BorsookSep 25, 2026

Literary Hub

Lit Hub Daily: September 25, 2026

After 26 years, Cyberselfish, Paulina Borsook’s prophetic look at big tech, is more relevant than ever. | Lit Hub Technology “To win in significant ways, we will have to build and sustain movements, propelled by urgency, that move at a pace

Lit Hub DailySep 25, 2026

Literary Hub

What Doireann Ní Ghríofa is Reading Now, and Next

In her new book, Said the Dead, Doireann Ní Ghríofa is “the Reader,” a third-person protagonist. “In the asylum edgelands, she stumbled on a ghost story,” Ní Ghríofa writes. Following clues of happenstance and augury, she seeks the details of

Doireann Ní GhríofaSep 24, 2026

Literary Hub

I’m Having a Hard Time Saying No: How Can I Be More of a Literary Asshole?

Well, hello there! Welcome back, friends. You’ve arrived at the very best destination in town. That’s right, everyone’s partying at Am I the Literary Asshole?, an advice column that doesn’t take itself too seriously, but DOES take a wedge of

Kristen ArnettSep 24, 2026

Literary Hub

Sanna Wani on Crafting a Poetics of Daughterhood

I have always been a writer that draws on my personal life in my writing. The two—my creative practice and my life—often travel often side by side, one after the other, each taking turns leading. So when I am asked

Sanna WaniSep 24, 2026

Literary Hub

Sam A. Miller on YouTube Storytelling and Choosing Science Fiction

Fiction writer and popular YouTuber Sam A. Miller joins co-hosts Christian Barter and V.V. Ganeshananthan to talk about his debut story collection, Still Lost: Tales from the Year 2080, as well as his educational and comedic videos. Miller reflects on

Fiction Non FictionSep 24, 2026

Literary Hub

The Independent Press Top 40 Bestsellers: Nonfiction

1. Crossing the Wine-Dark Sea: Journeys Through Ancient Literature by Emily Wilson (Liveright) 2. The Rise and Fall of the Artificial State by Jill Lepore (Liveright) 3. Live Laugh Love: The Secret History of White Christian Women and the World

Literary HubSep 24, 2026

Literary Hub

The Independent Press Top 40 Bestsellers: Fiction

Here are this week’s Independent Press Top 40 Bestsellers for fiction, based on sales in hundreds of independent bookstores nationwide, generously provided by the American Booksellers Association. Compiled, designed, and distributed by The Independent Publishers Caucus. * 1. The Calamity

Literary HubSep 24, 2026

Literary Hub

Beautiful Distance

The azaleas growing by the new hospital’s gates are in full bloom, a bright pink that makes my eyes sore. May is my wife’s favorite month. She’s always said that May evening skies are the most beautiful, with their layers

Lit Hub ExcerptsSep 24, 2026

Literary Hub

The Artist’s Room Is Not a Neutral Space

At the BFI, Ruby has barely finished showing her film before the tax is levied: which parts are real? The interviewer wants origins, autobiography, the little certificate of suffering audiences sometimes seem to require before they trust invention. Ruby thinks

Demetris PapadimitropoulosSep 24, 2026

Literary Hub

9 to 5: Inside The Movement That Inspired the Iconic Film

When Dolly Parton died recently, radio stations and music streamers filled our ears with her irresistible anthem, “9 to 5.” The song topped the music charts and was nominated for an Oscar. It transformed Parton, making her movie debut, into

Jonathan KaufmanSep 24, 2026

Literary Hub

5 Book Reviews You Need to Read This Week

Our smorgasbord of sumptuous reviews this week includes Anahid Nersessian on Ashton Politanoff’s Dad Had a Bad Day, Peter Beinart on Akbar Shahid Ahmed’s Crossing the Red Line, Jennifer Wilson on Lars Anderson’s Brady, Sanjena Sathian on Min Jin Lee’s American Hagwon, and Jeff

Book MarksSep 24, 2026

Literary Hub

Which Big Fall Book Should You Read?

It’s officially fall, and the season of Big Books is well underway. Here at Lit Hub, we’ve already told you what we think you should read, and pointed you toward the books most likely to be talked about around your

Emily TempleSep 24, 2026

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

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

Literary Hub

Judy Blume and Ann Patchett are headlining a freedom to read telethon.

A group of right-to-read advocates and authors are hosting a live telethon tomorrow to draw attention to freedom to read issues and candidates before the midterms. Show Up, Speak Up! Vote for the Freedom to Read is a variety show

James FoltaSep 23, 2026

Literary Hub

How Harry Styles drove a bookseller to jail.

Harry Styles, the amphibious pop star who’s just coming off a 30 day engagement at Madison Square Garden, has made a new enemy. And I’m not talking about Channing Tatum. Meet Bonnie Slotnick, beloved bookseller and purveyor of cookbooks in

Brittany AllenSep 23, 2026

Literary Hub

Avalon, Rise

The American Academy of Pediatrics could not explain why Martin, at seven years old, rolled around on the living room floor flapping his arms and cawing, while Teddy, who was not yet five, waited placidly on the front walk. Teddy

Lit Hub ExcerptsSep 23, 2026

Literary Hub

10 Essential Ukrainian Reads, From Memoir to Novel

Dr. Sasha Dovzhyk is a Ukrainian writer, journalist and founder of Index: Institute for Documentation and Exchange. Her latest book Apocalypse Baroque: Tales from Ukraine at War will be published in the UK September 24th. She recently participated in Lviv

Sasha DovzhykSep 23, 2026

Literary Hub

What Learning to Paint and Reading The Elements of Style Have in Common

I envy painters the freedom to convey thoughts without words. So much so that at one difficult stretch in my life I resolved to give up writing and pick up a paint brush. It wasn’t that I supposed that by

Susan CollSep 23, 2026