Literature & Essays

Fiction, criticism, literary journalism

I’ll Take the Fire

One night in November 2021, I lost my sense of taste and smell. There was a woman sleeping in my bed. I licked her shoulder, buried my nose in her neck. I moved my face down between her legs. I

Lit Hub ExcerptsJun 10, 2026

Literary Hub

How We Paint Dogs Says More About Us Than It Does Them

Dogs have long occupied a position at the boundary where the human animal meets the rest of creation. The great Victorian critic John Ruskin thought that the artists of Renaissance Venice—Titian, Veronese, Tintoretto—painted dogs “to give the fullest contrast to

Thomas W. LaqueurJun 10, 2026

Literary Hub

Why Do We Keep Murdering Our Darlings?

Why is everyone killing off their main characters? In the academic year 2021-2022 at the liberal arts college where I teach, I was startled by the trend. A plot contagion. Nothing is off limits, I said to my short story

Sarah BraunsteinJun 10, 2026

Literary Hub

“Our Damage Doesn’t Define Us.” What We Owe to the Natural World and Each Other

Once a year, I google the name of a man who will always be a stranger to me. In 2008, my former spouse discovered this man lying behind the fast-food restaurant where they both worked, bleeding to death from what

Chera HammonsJun 10, 2026

Literary Hub

To Know a Person Entirely: Re-Discovering My Grandfather Through Fiction

There is something I need to tell you about my grandfather: his name was Ben. He smoked Virginia Slims. He drove a big, low Cadillac with a beer between his knees. He was a lawyer. He helped license a line

Sofia MontroneJun 10, 2026

Literary Hub

Brodie Crellin Recommends Six Books With Actually Realistic Sex

Sex is an integral part of a person’s life, but when it appears in fiction it can sometimes feel hesitant or awkward on the one hand, or risky or provocative, deployed as a demand for attention, on the other. Sex

Brodie CrellinJun 10, 2026

Literary Hub

Is This the Strangest Soccer Novel Ever Written?

This piece was published in collaboration with Golden Goal, a literary magazine about the intersection of politics, culture and sport at the 2026 World Cup. To read more, visit their website: goldengoal.world. * Over the years, writers from around the world have tried their

Tobias CarrollJun 10, 2026

Literary Hub

Retracing the Steps of Sylvia Plath in Paris (and Rome, and Cape Cod, and Wellesley…)

The train pulled into Nice at 11:20pm. It was December 31st, 2021, and after I had found my small pension-hotel to drop off my bag, I went out into the streets. There was a flurry of excitement; groups of people

Helen BainJun 10, 2026

Literary Hub

The Man Who Killed the Last Eastern Elk in America—And Was Proud of It

It’s difficult to say with certainty when the last eastern elk was killed, but most accounts agree that Jim Jacobs pulled the trigger. Known as “The Seneca Bear Hunter,” Jacobs had killed hundreds of deer and bear in his lifetime.

Andrew MooreJun 10, 2026

The Rumpus

Unpublished foreword to William Wantling’s 7 on Style [circa 1974] - The Rumpus

His writing didn’t contain the trickery and the sheen that the larger American poetry audience demands—and things never became easy for him, that’s why he

Charles BukowskiJun 11, 200910 min read

The Rumpus

Down in the Dumpster - The Rumpus

"What Joshua Mohr is doing has more in common with Kafka, Lewis Carroll, and Haruki Murakami, all great chroniclers of the fantastic. He’s interested in

Joshua FurstJun 6, 20095 min read

Public Books

Rash Reading, Slow Watching with Virginia Woolf and Chantal Akerman

In the hands of this writer and this filmmaker, “the mother” is someone with whom to have a lifelong conversation, a contested perspective through which to read the world. The post Rash Reading, Slow Watching with Virginia Woolf and Chantal Akerman appeared first on Public Books.

Morgan BarryJun 9, 2026

Literary Hub

Lauren Acampora Recommends 7 Books About Deep Human-Animal Connections

From birth, we’re surrounded by animals. We cling to stuffed animal friends, wear clothing adorned with bunnies and bears, and listen to stories of anthropomorphized creatures. The first books we encounter, too, are often tributes to animals. As a child,

Lauren AcamporaJun 9, 2026

Literary Hub

A content creator tried to trademark “Hot Girls Read.” BookTok clapped back.

In a bit of unhinged book news, an influencer has come under fire this week after attempting to trademark the slogan “Hot Girls Read.” Allie Mitrovich, the content creator behind Allie Rose Co., took to the portal on June 3rd

Brittany AllenJun 9, 2026

The Paris Review

The Vanishing Library: Timothy Ely’s Odd Little Book from Outer Space

“The few words it contains are indecipherable, of no language. (The letters look Hebrew—if you don’t know Hebrew and have never seen Hebrew letters before.)”

Max RossJun 9, 2026

Literary Hub

Lit Hub Daily: June 9, 2026

How remaining unmarried allowed Muriel Spark’s “intellectual monster” to run free. | Lit Hub Biography Dave Eggers talks to Jane Ciabattari about writing a novel that understands visual artists (as a visual artist). | Lit Hub In Conversation Books by

Lit Hub DailyJun 9, 2026

The Conversation

Meet the internet movement trying to tackle the manosphere. It’s called BreadTube

Video essayists on YouTube are trying to beat the manosphere at it’s own game. Here are five insightful channels to watch.

Marian-Andrei Rizoiu, Associate Professor in Behavioral Data Science, University of Technology SydneyJun 9, 2026

Literary Hub

Andrew Sean Greer, Dave Eggers, Leila Slimani, and more: 23 new books out today!

More heavy-hitters descending on our bookstores this morning: Andrew Sean Greer’s Villa Coco, Dave Eggers’s Contrapposto, and Leila Slimani’s I’ll Take the Fire are only to name a few. A healthy balance of fiction and nonfiction make up today’s offerings:

Julia HassJun 9, 2026

Literary Hub

Villa Coco

Dinner was very late for American tastes: eight thirty. I took the Baronessa’s comment to mean I was to wear my best clothes; of course I had packed only one jacket and tie, and that only because I imagined life

Lit Hub ExcerptsJun 9, 2026

Literary Hub

“Effaced…” A Poem by Jawdat Fakhreddine

“Effaced…” by Jawdat Fakhreddine translated by Huda Fakhreddine Effaced, our villages, squares and skies. Nothing remains but smoke, and fires roaming freely. Houses, gardens, fields, all gone. The spring choked. No one was there to say farewell. The villagers scattered

Jawdat Fakhreddine and Huda FakhreddineJun 9, 2026

Literary Hub

Grief, Rage, and Restraint: Zinzi Clemmons on Telling Her Own Story

Being invited to interview a writer that one admires is so rewarding, and I’m thrilled that I got the chance to speak with Zinzi Clemmons about her new book Freedom: Essays. We need Clemmons’s voice. We need her critique. It

Myriam GurbaJun 9, 2026

Literary Hub

Lauren Acompora 7 Books About Deep Human-Animal Connections

Lauren AcamporaJun 9, 2026

Literary Hub

Lit Hub Asks: 5 Authors, 7 Questions, No Wrong Answers

The Lit Hub Author Questionnaire is a monthly interview featuring seven questions for five authors with new books. This month we talk to: Ben Fountain (Rasputin Swims the Potomac) Courtney Maum (Alan Opts Out) Nayantara Roy (Sisters of a Halved

Teddy WayneJun 9, 2026

Literary Hub

What’s in a Book’s Name? One Writer’s Journey to Finding the Perfect Title

For me, coming up with titles is always a team effort. Titling my first book, a quirky history of people who look for the Garden of Eden on Earth, had me stumped, until my friend the writer Josh Garrett-Davis suggested

Brook Wilensky-LanfordJun 9, 2026