On this day in 1934, the late Lois Duncan was born Lois Duncan Steinmetz in Philadelphia. Her parents, Joseph and Lois Steinmetz, were noted photographers who contributed to publications such as Life and The Saturday Evening Post. When she was Read more >
As more and more people get vaccinated, I’m both excited for indoor spaces to open back up and grateful for the public outdoor spaces that made this year much more joyful—so I’m obviously obsessed with this forest library that strikes Read more >
Before Pale Fire, or Pnin, or Lolita, Vladimir Nabokov was just like some of us: sending poems to the New Yorker. Nabokov—already famous in Europe for his Russian-language works—was suddenly plunged back into obscurity when he relocated to America, and Read more >
Everybody has at least one book in them, or so we all like to tell ourselves. But maybe you don’t really need a book—maybe all you need is a book cover. In that case, Canadian designer Steve St. Pierre has Read more >
There’s a lot of bad news in the world, but please, look over here for a moment and meet Roshan the Book-Carrying Camel. Roshan is basically a sentient bookmobile making his way to small, rural villages in Pakistan to deliver Read more >
Well, what’re you waiting for? These books aren’t going to read themselves. * Jhumpa Lahiri, Whereabouts (Knopf) “Lahiri’s elegant phrases throughout the book reveal as much about her character as they do about the author’s understanding of her environment and Read more >
George Orwell probably hasn’t stopped spinning in his grave since that Apple Macintosh commercial came out in 1984. You know, the one with the lady in red gym shorts who throws a big old hammer at Big Brother, at which Read more >
Is this the dark woods or the shining world? The ice cream company Magnum, in partnership with the Dante Alighieri Society, is releasing a new series of ice cream bars to commemorate the 700th anniversary of Dante Alighieri’s death. Three Read more >
On May 11th, Doubleday will publish national powerhouse Stacey Abrams’s novel While Justice Sleeps, a thriller about a Supreme Court justice who slips into a coma, leaving his law clerk responsible for untangling a conspiracy involving the president of the Read more >
Amid a flood of damning stories documenting producer Scott Rudin’s abusive behavior, Michael Chabon took to Medium and published an apology for “[his] part in enabling Scott Rudin’s abuse, simply by standing by, saying nothing, looking the other way.” Chabon Read more >
Richard Wright’s The Man Who Lived Underground, Jenny Diski’s Why Didn’t You Just Do What You Were Told?, Anthony Bourdain’s World Travel, and Jonathan Ames’ A Man Named Doll all feature among the Best Reviewed Books of the Week. Brought Read more >
Want to read what everyone else is reading? MarketWatch reports that in honor of World Book Day, Amazon has released a list of their 50 overall bestselling books in the U.S. (at least in the 27 years since their launch Read more >
Poetry-heads rejoice, and then leap into action: a handwritten copy of Robert Frost’s “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening” is currently up for auction through Lion Heart Autographs. The copy is not the original manuscript of the poem, but Read more >
Let other pens dwell on guilt and misery—here’s some good Friday news: in a new study, a team from UT Austin has encoded a quote from Jane Austen’s Mansfield Park on a small plastic molecule. The goal of the study Read more >
In advance of Independent Bookstore Day on April 24, the Community of Literary Magazines & Presses has put together a map of 140 bookstores that give special support to independent publishers. The list, which was compiled by recommendations from CLMP Read more >
Literary Hub is pleased to reveal the US cover for Wole Soyinka’s new novel, Chronicles from the Land of the Happiest People on Earth, which will be published on September 28 by Pantheon Books. This will be Soyinka’s first novel Read more >
If you’ve been seeing headlines this week that say things like “Jane Austen canceled for drinking tea” and “Woke Madness! Jane Austen under historical interrogation,” and are a.) worried or b.) simply confused, let me clear things up: Jane Austen Read more >
The International Booker Prize has just announced the six books in the running for this year’s award, which celebrates the finest fiction from around the world, translated into English. The £50,000 prize is split evenly between author and translator. Said Read more >
Today is a day specifically set aside to celebrate and support environmental protection efforts. Really, this should be every day. Climate change is real. Please read Greta Thunberg’s twitter. There is certainly no shortage of books on the subject. You Read more >
Just a little, happy reminder: Independent Bookstore Day is this Saturday, April 24th. This year, the celebration is both online and in person at over 700 stores nationwide, featuring free author conversations as well as Independent Bookstore Day-exclusive books and Read more >
