The Hub

News, Notes, Talk

Great turnip literature to devour during the British vegetable shortage.

Amid food shortages that Farmer MacGregor would despair of, Great Britons were this week urged to “cherish the specialisms that we have in this country” by UK environment secretary, Thérèse Coffey, who insisted to parliament that there were turnips enough Read more >

By Janet Manley

Exclusive cover reveal: See the cover for Ed Park's Same Bed Different Dreams.

Literary Hub is pleased to reveal the cover for Ed Park’s long awaited second novel Same Bed Different Dreams, which will be published by Random House this fall. Here’s a bit about the novel from the publisher: March, 1919. Far-flung Korean Read more >

By Literary Hub

We regret that the Grinch appears to have lost Christmas in a forthcoming sequel.

Lessons were learned in Dr. Seuss’s 1957 classic, How The Grinch Stole Christmas. But, per USA Today, the Grinch appears to have fallen into old habits in a commissioned sequel, set the year after his heart grew three sizes. How Read more >

By Janet Manley

Cover reveal: See the cover for Rachel Eliza Griffiths's Promise.

Literary Hub is pleased to reveal the cover for Rachel Eliza Griffiths’s novel Promise, which Danielle Evans calls “a stunning exploration of the weight and triumph of legacy” and which will be published by Random House in July. Here’s some Read more >

By Literary Hub

Chip Gaines bought Larry McMurtry's legendary bookstore to... fix up, we hope?

After Lonesome Dove author Larry McMurtry died in 2021, his bookstore in Archer City, Texas, was turned over to the long-term store manager, Khristal Merklin. But as CNN reports, in November 2022, the deed was snapped up by Fixer Upper’s Read more >

By Janet Manley

Florence Welch's Gatsby musical will premiere next year.

Did everyone else know that Florence Welch (of Florence + the Machine fame) was writing both music and lyrics for a Broadway-aimed musical adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby? I certainly didn’t, and I pride myself on knowing Read more >

By Dan Sheehan

Let famous authors do the reading for you in the Toni Morrison virtual marathon.

As snow begins to hem in parts of the U.S., it’s a good time to remind you that a virtual marathon reading of Toni Morrison’s Song of Solomon kicks off on Thursday and flies, suitcase in hand, through February 25, Read more >

By Janet Manley

Jeremy Strong's book list is perfect for reading atop a bluff in strong and moody winds.

The premiere of Succession’s fourth season is less than a month away, and the shadowy outline of a wilted Prince Hal is already angling down the hall. Jeremy Strong, who plays Kendall Roy, the firstborn failson of the Henry IV/King Read more >

By Janet Manley

Okay, so you can write books with AI.
But why bother?

As was perhaps inevitable, ChatGPT—the free chatbot created by OpenAI that has been ruffling feathers ever since it was launched in November—has now spawned “a boom in AI-written e-books on Amazon,” according to Greg Bensinger at Reuters. Bensinger counted over Read more >

By Emily Temple

Announcing the seventh annual Honey & Wax Book Collecting Prize.

Literary Hub is pleased to announce that submissions are now open for the seventh annual Honey & Wax Book Collecting Prize, which awards $1,000 for “an outstanding book collection conceived and built by a woman aged 30 or younger,” who Read more >

By Emily Temple

Behind the open letter asking the AWP Conference to require masks.

When we first put the petition up, I wasn’t sure anyone would sign it. An irrational fear, I told myself. After all, I was one of 29 co-signers that included Alexander Chee, Maggie Smith, Kelly Link, Khadijah Queen, Sarah Schulman, Read more >

By Alyssa Harad

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