A recent update to a story I can’t believe everyone isn’t talking about every day: the U.S. Department of Justice has formally seized the Gilgamesh Dream Tablet (a cuneiform tablet inscribed with part of the Epic of Gilgamesh) from Hobby Read more >
Ah, the Enneagram. It’s the lesser-known but (in my humble opinion) far superior personality test. Unlike the Meyers-Briggs, which honestly offers different verdicts based on your mood and which I’m told you “should” re-take from time to time, the Enneagram Read more >
Today, the National Book Foundation announced that this year’s National Book Awards Ceremony will be held in person, at Cipriani Wall Street on November 17, 2021. Proof of vaccination will be required for guests, and the ceremony will also be Read more >
O Sport, pleasure of the Gods, essence of life, you appeared suddenly in the midst of the grey clearing which writhes with the drudgery of modern existence, like the radiant messenger of a past age, when mankind still smiled. And Read more >
Today marks the 105th birthday of the late Elizabeth Hardwick, sweeping, incisive critic, novelist and short story writer. Festively revisiting her 1985 Art of Fiction interview in The Paris Review, I was pleased but unsurprised to see her response to Read more >
Earlier this month, author MA Sieghart revealed in The Guardian that, according to statistics she commissioned from Nielsen Book Research, the top 10 best-selling female authors’ readership is only 19% men. The top 10 best-selling male authors’ readership is much Read more >
Really big book news! Frida Kahlo. The Complete Paintings, a really big book that includes all of the artist’s 152 paintings, as well as pages from her personal diary, letters, photos, and an illustrated biography, is coming in September. According Read more >
Deadline reported yesterday that A24 has won the rights to Octavia E. Butler’s beloved cult classic Parable of the Sower, which finally made the New York Times bestseller list last fall. Critically acclaimed documentary director Garrett Bradley (Time) is set Read more >
It seems like we just got done celebrating the 2020 Booker Prize winner, but it’s already that time again: the “Booker Dozen” has been announced. The 13 books longlisted for this year’s Booker, the UK’s most prestigious prize for a Read more >
How are you doing, friend? Need a hug? Need a distraction? Need to learn something new? Need an escape from your everyday life? Look no further. New books are here for you. * Matthew Specktor, Always Crashing in the Same Read more >
Haruki Murakami’s writing has inspired many creatives’ own practices, from visual artists to video game designers to filmmakers to other writers. And hopefully we’ll be seeing yet another artist-turned-Murakami-enthusiast: Joe Jonas has revealed he’s been reading Murakami as he works Read more >
This past week, the New York Community Trust announced the 2021 winners of its Helen Merrill Award for Playwriting, chosen by a committee of theater professionals. The award, one of the nation’s most significant prizes for playwrights, is named after Read more >
A century from now, when the Autonomous Underwater City State of Key West has defeated the last of its subaqueous rivals for control of What Was Once Florida (WWOF) you can be sure they will celebrate with yet another Ernest Read more >
Garth Greenwell has (wisely, well-adjustedly) left Twitter, but last night he logged back on to share the “mindblowing & moving & surreal” experience of hearing his novel What Belongs to You, the monologue of an American teacher abroad entering a Read more >
Just when you thought that Stephen King had conquered every literary medium known to man, he’s exploring new territory. This latest venture? Podcasts. Audio Up Media, iHeartMedia, and Emmy-winning producer, writer, and director Lee Metzger are teaming up to adapt Read more >
Over the weekend, the Los Angeles Review of Books published a fairly wild essay by Miguel Esteban who, at the tender age of 14, commissioned a now-famous essay on race in science fiction from Octavia Butler. The whole piece is Read more >
Katie Kitamura’s Intimacies, Omar El Akkad’s What Strange Paradise, Hermione Hoby’s Virtue, and Rachel Yoder’s Nightbitch all feature among the Best Reviewed Books of the Week. Brought to you by Book Marks, Lit Hub’s “Rotten Tomatoes for books.” Fiction 1. Read more >
Under its new “Read in Color” initiative, the Little Free Library is partnering with Brilliant Detroit—an organization which provides children educational programming and support in high-need Detroit neighborhoods—to bring thousands of diverse books to Detroit neighborhoods through Little Free Library Read more >
Good news for fans of Elvis, or Kahlil Gibran, or annotation: Elvis Presley’s annotated copy of Kahlil Gibran’s prose poem collection The Prophet is on sale now from Peter Harrington for £19,500. Presley loved The Prophet, reading it so often Read more >
Yesterday, the Belarusian Justice Ministry moved to shut down PEN Belarus, sister organization of PEN America currently run by Nobel winner Svetlana Alexievich. This news comes amid widespread crackdowns on civil society activists and independent media by the Belarusian government Read more >
