Overnight, Kevin McCarthy (pointlessly) delayed the House vote on Biden’s social spending bill for eight interminable hours, engaging in an antiquated American tradition on par with the Electoral College and making kids recite the Pledge of Allegiance in schools. We Read more >
Sharon Olds, whom Billy Collins called the “poet of sex and the psyche,” turns 79 today. I first came across Olds’ work in a poetry workshop during my final year in university. It was a cold, wintry day, and we Read more >
Literary Hub is pleased to reveal the cover of Lidia Yuknavitch’s Thrust, her first major novel since 2017’s The Book of Joan, which will be published by Riverhead in June 2022. Here’s how the publisher describes the book: As rising Read more >
This December, Gagosian is launching Picture Books, a new imprint imagined by Emma Cline. In this series, artists will be “given carte blanche” to respond visually to an author’s work, and both final pieces will be published together (with the Read more >
On this day in 1953, comic book legend Alan Moore (Watchmen, V for Vendetta, From Hell, Batman: The Killing Joke) was born in was Northampton, England. In addition to his mastery of signature storytelling, Moore is known for his forthright, Read more >
Tomorrow sees the long-awaited premiere of Kurt Vonnegut: Unstuck in Time, a documentary about the life of one of America’s most beloved writers. Directed by Robert Weide and Don Argott, Unstuck in Time has been in the making for decades, Read more >
Tonight, in a digital ceremony hosted by Phoebe Robinson, the National Book Foundation announced the winners of its 2021 National Book Awards in Young People’s Literature, Translated Literature, Poetry, Nonfiction, and Fiction. The winners in each category will receive $10,000 Read more >
It seems as though we aren’t the only country that is divided over inclusive language. Recently, the makers of Petit Robert, a French reference dictionary, were criticized by the Minister of National Education for officially including gender-inclusive pronouns. According to Read more >
Patrick Radden Keefe has won the UK’s prestigious 2021 Baillie Gifford Prize for his latest book Empire of Pain: The Secret History of the Sackler Dynasty, which investigates the legacy of the family behind Purdue Pharma, which produced and sold Read more >
Today is the 70th birthday of the great Paula Vogel, the Pulitzer-winning playwright of Indecent and How I Learned to Drive. In celebration, we’re revisiting her 1997 BOMB conversation with Mary-Louise Parker, the original Lil’ Bit in How I Learned Read more >
I’ve been on a real horror-comedy kick lately, so when I stumbled across Vampire’s Kiss on Amazon Prime (it’s my boyfriend’s account—don’t at me), I was immediately sold by the description: “After a night of passionate lovemaking in which he is bitten Read more >
Nobel-winning Turkish novelist Orhan Pamuk is being investigated by the government for “insulting Turkishness”—again. Earlier this year, Pamuk was investigated on criminal charges of insulting the Turkish flag and Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the founder of modern Turkey, in his latest Read more >
Today, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and the Flamboyan Foundation’s Arts Fund announced their inaugural cohort of Letras Boricuas Fellows. This new fellowship aims to support emerging and established Puerto Rican writers, both in the archipelago and across the diaspora Read more >
It’s that time of year when we all just want to put on a chunky sweater, curl up on the couch, and pretend like we’re in a Nora Ephron movie, right? Here are 17 books coming out this week to Read more >
Some good Monday news: as Publishers Weekly has reported, at a regular meeting of their Policy and Standards Division, the Library of Congress confirmed it will replace the cataloging subject headings “Aliens” and “Illegal aliens” with the more accurate, less Read more >
Move over, bucket hats—the hottest new book merch in town is the NFT. At least, if you’re already an NFT guy and are willing to offer your wares as an incentive to move copies of your new leadership book. Gary Read more >
This weekend on Instagram, I discovered something I never knew I always wanted: a helpful update to Shel Silverstein’s psychotic parenting allegory The Giving Tree, in which a tree gives up every molecule of itself to help some ungrateful kid, Read more >
Here is your feel-good story for a dull November Monday. An Indonesian librarian has started a mobile book-exchange in which she lends out books to children in exchange for literal trash. In an effort to increase literacy in Java island Read more >
Lit Hub is pleased to reveal the new cover for Mieko Kawakami’s novel, All The Lovers in the Night, which will be published by Europa Editions in May 2022 in an English translation by Sam Bett and David Boyd. All Read more >
We’re nearly halfway through National Novel Writing Month, which is just what it sounds like; participants have under three weeks until their 50,000-word drafts should be complete. If you’re participating and feeling depleted—like the work just won’t get done—take inspiration Read more >
