The Hub

News, Notes, Talk

Here are the books Bill Gates thinks you should be reading this holiday season.

Bill Gates—he’s just like us. At least in the sense that he loves to read, and he periodically recommends books on his blog, GatesNotes. Today, he’s got a new list of holiday favorites for you, both fiction and non-. “When Read more >

By Emily Temple

Nearly 200 video interviews with ACT UP New York members are now available online.

Six months after the publication of Sarah Schulman’s Let the Record Show, a history of ACT UP New York’s combat of the AIDS crisis, you can browse video interviews with members of ACT UP New York online. Thanks to Schulman Read more >

By Walker Caplan

n+1’s Bookmatch told me what to get every hard-to-shop-for weirdo in my life.

One of the privileges—and burdens—of working for Big Book is that everyone assumes you have the power to recommend them the perfect book, one tailored exactly to their bad tastes and weird desires. Of course, if you can actually pull Read more >

By Jessie Gaynor

On the influential librarian who hated Goodnight Moon.

Today, Margaret Wise Brown’s Goodnight Moon is a bona fide classic; the bowl of mush and old woman whispering “Hush” have struck a chord with children, parents, and grown-up children who make memes of the book’s soothing artwork. But, surprisingly, Read more >

By Walker Caplan

Watch Chanel Miller’s Dayton Literary Peace Prize speech, delivered in Brock Turner’s hometown.

On Sunday night, both the 2020 and 2021 winners of the Dayton Literary Peace Prize accepted their awards in an in-person ceremony—including Chanel Miller, who won the 2020 Prize for nonfiction for her memoir Know My Name. Dayton, Ohio is Read more >

By Walker Caplan

10 great ways to filibuster, literary style.

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 >

By Eliza Smith

Here are 10 Sharon Olds poems you can send to your ex.

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 >

By Snigdha Koirala

Exclusive cover reveal: Lidia Yuknavitch's Thrust.

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 >

By Literary Hub

Emma Cline is launching a new imprint of highbrow "Picture Books" for Gagosian.

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 >

By Emily Temple

Remember when Alan Moore got into a public feud with Frank Miller over Occupy Wall Street?

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 >

By Vanessa Willoughby

EXCLUSIVE: Watch Kurt Vonnegut Recall Entering Dresden as a POW

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 >

By Jonny Diamond

Here are the winners of the 2021 National Book Awards.

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 >

By Literary Hub

The makers of this French dictionary are under fire for including gender-inclusive language.

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 >

By Vanessa Willoughby

Patrick Radden Keefe has won the 2021 Baillie Gifford Prize for Nonfiction.

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 >

By Emily Temple

“The play doesn’t belong to the playwright.” Paula Vogel on collaboration in theater.

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 >

By Walker Caplan

Just so you know, there’s an 80s movie about Nicolas Cage as a vampiric publishing executive.

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 >

By Eliza Smith