The Hub

News, Notes, Talk

Exclusive cover reveal: See the cover for Justin Torres's new novel Blackouts.

Literary Hub is pleased to reveal the cover for Justin Torres’s new novel (!!) Blackouts, which will be published by FSG this October. Here’s a bit about the book from the publisher: Out in the desert in a place called Read more >

By Literary Hub

Disappearing romance novelist, and author of Cocky Cowboy, found alive in Hawaii.

In what sort of sounds like the plot to a romance-thriller, romance writer Faleena Hopkins has been found safe in Hawaii after fleeing the contiguous United States following a run in with Wyoming state troopers. According to the Daily Beast: Read more >

By Jonny Diamond

Live like the other half with a Phantom of the Opera Airbnb stay.

Gaston Leroux walked so that Andrew Lloyd Webber could run, and now you can walk, run, and then sleep in the bed they collectively made with a one-night stay courtesy of Airbnb at the historic Palais Garnier in Paris—the real-life Read more >

By Janet Manley

Literary giants have thoughts on the new edits to Roald Dahl's works.

The news has rumbled through Giant Country that Puffin has been editing out words like “fat,” “crazy,” and “ugly” from new editions of Roald Dahl’s works. The Daily Telegraph reported that some of the changes achieved a more gender-neutral feel—boys Read more >

By Janet Manley

12 new books to get your hands on this week.

Hot off the presses: new books from Rebecca Makkai, Nona Fernández, and more! * Rebecca Makkai, I Have Some Questions for You (Viking) “This psychological thriller hits all the high notes, complete with at least a few revelations you won’t Read more >

By Katie Yee

Good… news? The HarperCollins Union has approved a new deal!

After almost hitting the 100-day mark on the picket line, HarperCollins Union members (UAW 2110) have agreed to a tentative deal with management. According to this tweet, yesterday, employees expect to return to work on February 21. Big News!!! We Read more >

By Jonny Diamond

Exclusive cover reveal: Here's the cover for Emerson Whitney's Daddy Boy.

Literary Hub is pleased to reveal the cover for Emerson Whitney’s Daddy Boy, forthcoming from McSweeney’s in May. From the author of Heaven, Daddy Boy explores transness, adulthood, and the exhilarating ways our lives might surprise us. Here’s a little more about Daddy Read more >

By Literary Hub

Calvin & Hobbes creator Bill Watterson is back.

Almost three decades after the ink dried on his final Calvin & Hobbes strip, Bill Watterson is back with a gritty, R-rated reboot of his most famous creation. Calvin x Hobbes: The Condition of Man is a dystopian Neo-noir graphic Read more >

By Dan Sheehan

Watch the new trailer for certified genius Bob Odenkirk’s Lucky Hank.

I love Bob Odenkirk: Better Call Saul remains the best spin-off in the history of the genre; for the record, it is definitively better than its source material, Breaking Bad. Odenkirk, who is obviously very funny, has the kind of Read more >

By Jonny Diamond

200 New York Times writers have called out the paper's anti-trans bias.

This morning, a group of almost 200 journalists and writers released an open letter addressed to the New York Times, expressing their “serious concerns about editorial bias in the newspaper’s reporting on transgender, non-binary, and gender nonconforming people” and criticizing how the Read more >

By Dan Sheehan

Vote now for the new name of the Booker Prize trophy (Iris, obvs). 

Now’s your chance to play a small part in literary history by helping to choose the name for the Booker Prize trophy. The elegant statuette, designed in 1969 by children’s book illustrator Jan Pieńkowski, appears to be a fleetingly clad Read more >

By Jonny Diamond

All Shirley Jackson Award finalists get stoned.

Here’s something fun I learned today: much like poor unfortunate Tessie Hutchinson at the close of “The Lottery“—the (second?) most famous short story in New Yorker history—all Shirley Jackson Award finalists get stoned. Now, when I say “stoned,” I’m not Read more >

By Dan Sheehan

Read a 1918 suffragette's "advice on marriage to young ladies."

For you on Valentine’s Day, an oldie but a goodie: an anonymous 1918 suffragette’s extremely tart list of advice to young ladies considering marriage—which you may remember if you were on the internet at all a few years ago, and Read more >

By Emily Temple

18 new books to borrow from your local library.

Clear your schedules! This week, we see the publication of new books by Zadie Smith, Greta Thunberg, Alejandro Zambra, and more! * Zadie Smith, The Wife of Willesden (Penguin) “A triumph of dramatic creativity … a total delight. Highly recommended.” Read more >

By Katie Yee

Amy Marie Spangler on loss, grief, and anger after the earthquake in Turkey.

Last week an earthquake struck Turkey and Syria. As an agent and translator who works with international writers and publishers, I began to hear from many of my colleagues, so I decided to write a message to them.  When I Read more >

By Amy Marie Spangler

Here are the finalists for the $50,000 Gotham Book Prize.

Today, the Gotham Book Prize, an annual award that began during the first year of the pandemic to honor and support the best writing about New York City, announced its eleven 2023 finalists. “There’s no other city that has the Read more >

By Emily Temple