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News, Notes, Talk

Donald Trump’s vanity publishing project is making him a lot of money.

Donald Trump’s spray-on fascism is continuing to make him a shit-ton of money. Back in November, the lifelong loser (of elections, of casinos, of dignity) published a coffee table book with a brand new press called Winning Team Publishing, founded Read more >

By Jonny Diamond

The beloved Gaza bookstore destroyed by an Israeli airstrike will open again next week.

A brief but happy update: The Bookseller has reported that Samir Mansour Bookshop, the largest bookstore in Gaza, will reopen next week after being destroyed by an Israeli airstrike last May. The reopening was made possible by a GoFundMe campaign Read more >

By Walker Caplan

Should Dublin Airport be renamed after James Joyce or Enya?

That’s (kind of) the question being debated back in my homeland today as the country continues to celebrate the 100-year anniversary of the publication of Ulysses, unabashed fart-enthusiast James Joyce’s modernist magnum opus about one man’s odyssey through Dublin on an Read more >

By Dan Sheehan

Want to see Charlotte Brontë’s “sensual” outfit?

Ever wanted to see Charlotte Brontë’s intimate apparel? You’re in luck—kind of. As The Guardian just reported, a new exhibition at the Brontë Parsonage Museum, showcasing Charlotte Brontë’s wardrobe, includes this “sensual” outfit: Yes, it’s . . . huge and Read more >

By Walker Caplan

"The past is happening quickly." Revisiting one of the best poems on time and loss.

73 years ago, Kashmiri-American poet Agha Shahid Ali was born. During his short life (he passed at the age of 52 due to cancer), he wrote celebrated collections like The Country Without a Post Office, Rooms Are Never Finished, and A Nostalgist’s Read more >

By Snigdha Koirala

When Gertrude Stein refused to take William James's philosophy final (and still got an A).

This week we’re celebrating the 148th birthday of Gertrude Stein, experimental novelist and poet—and by extension, we’re celebrating Stein’s penchant for bending rules and subverting the expected, which started early in her career. Case in point: when she refused to Read more >

By Walker Caplan

Take an early peek at Hulu's adaptation of Conversations With Friends.

At the risk of reigniting the Sally Rooney Discourse—today, Hulu and BBC Three released a few early images from their upcoming adaptation of Sally Rooney’s bestselling first novel Conversations With Friends, which will premiere sometime this spring. (If you somehow Read more >

By Emily Temple

A Fake Accounts TV series is on its way from Anonymous Content.

Here’s an adaptation that sounds genuinely great: Deadline has just reported that Anonymous Content will develop Lauren Oyler’s breakout novel Fake Accounts as a series. Julia Garner (Ozark) will produce under her new production banner, and, amazingly, the series will Read more >

By Walker Caplan

Have you always wanted to have a conversation with an AI version of poet Nikki Giovanni?

Well. Umm. Now’s your chance? Personally, it never occurred to me that I might have a midday chat with an AI version of poet Nikki Giovanni, but now—thanks to StoryFile’s Black Voices Collection—I can! Honestly, it’s not quite as weird Read more >

By Jonny Diamond

A right-wing pastor held a literal book-burning in Tennessee last night.

The pro-Trump, anti-vax pastor Greg Locke—who, after his recent ban for COVID misinformation, called Twitter “censorship Nazis”—organized and carried out a literal book burning last night in Mt. Juliet, TN, a suburb of Nashville. Locke—a true shitbag who recently claimed Read more >

By Jessie Gaynor

Here is the longlist for the 2022 Dylan Thomas Prize.

This morning, Swansea University announced its longlist for the 2022 Dylan Thomas Prize. Among UK’s most prestigious awards, the Dylan Thomas Prize celebrates work written in the English language from across the world by authors aged 39 or under, and Read more >

By Snigdha Koirala

An explosive new Anne Frank book has been put on pause after its research was called into question.

Ambo Anthos, the Dutch publisher of Rosemary Sullivan’s The Betrayal of Anne Frank, has indefinitely suspended printing of the book after central elements of research were called into question. The book’s thesis—that the Frank family’s location was leaked to the Read more >

By Walker Caplan

10 fictional publishing houses, ranked.

If you have ever watched TV, it will come as no surprise to you that Hollywood is weirdly obsessed with books and the people who work around them. A lot of movies (especially rom-coms) revolve around bookstores (hello, You’ve Got Read more >

By Katie Yee

Announcing this year's class of PERIPLUS fellows.

The PERIPLUS fellowship, a program for writers that are Black, Indigenous and people of color, is announcing its second class of fellows. This year, the PERIPLUS collective awarded the fellowship to 59 writers, who met with mentors every month to receive Read more >

By Literary Hub

A professor has offered to teach Maus to all students affected by its ban.

Last week, in one of the latest events in a highly concerning wave of book bans sweeping the U.S., a Tennessee school board voted unanimously to ban Maus, Art Spiegelman’s Pulitzer-winning graphic novel about his father’s experience in the Holocaust, Read more >

By Walker Caplan

This great wave of American book-banning is not slowing down.

It’s been much reported of late that America is in the middle of neo-puritanical book-banning frenzy. It’s horrifying but not unsurprising, particularly in the wake of a decades-long Republican strategy to consolidate power at the state and local level through Read more >

By Jonny Diamond

20 new books to hunker down with this week.

There are two kinds of people in this world: the ones who delight in every snowfall, who run through the banks and make angels as though they cannot feel the cold… and the ones who prefer to be indoor cats Read more >

By Katie Yee

The true story behind Mr. Darcy’s infamous hand flex.

Perhaps one of Austen fans’ favorite moments on film comes from an early scene in the 2005 film adaptation of Pride and Prejudice. It comes before any kisses or declarations: it’s when Mr. Darcy holds Elizabeth Bennett’s hand as he Read more >

By Walker Caplan

Reading on a smartphone affects “sigh generation.” (Scientist or... poet?)

I can’t believe they’re just letting poets walk in off the street these days and do science. This is clearly the only logical explanation for the latest paper in Nature which, among other things, makes the very poetic claim that Read more >

By Jonny Diamond

Exclusive cover reveal: Chinelo Okparanta's Harry Sylvester Bird.

Lit Hub is pleased to reveal the cover for Granta Best Young American Novelist winner Chinelo Okparanta’s new novel Harry Sylvester Bird, which will be published by Mariner Books this July. Mariner describes Harry Sylvester Bird as “a brilliant, provocative, Read more >

By Literary Hub