The Hub

News, Notes, Talk

Watch Amanda Gorman's Super Bowl poem.

Last night, as you may or may not know if you’re reading this space, was the Super Bowl. As you probably do know, this year was the first time the Super Bowl included a poetry performance—and of course, it was Read more >

By Emily Temple

Elon Musk is writing a book (because starting a podcast is "not that easy").

Another day, another billionaire announcing his intention to write a book. Elon Musk announced on Twitter that it was “[t]ime to tell the story of Tesla & SpaceX” [NEW TWEET] “Of Earth and Mars” [NEW TWEET] “Lessons learned”. And, because Read more >

By Jessie Gaynor

Samantha Irby is one of the writers on the Sex and the City reboot.

Much has been made of the fact that Samantha will not be appearing in And Just Like That…, the HBO Max reboot of Sex and the City, but luckily, the show will have a Samantha behind the scenes—Samantha Irby. In Read more >

By Jessie Gaynor

Here's your first glimpse of HBO's Made for Love adaptation.

Earlier this afternoon EW gave us our first look at one of the most anticipated literary adaptations of the year: HBO’s Made for Love. The TV series adaptation of Tampa-author Alissa Nutting’s deranged and darkly comic 2017 novel stars Cristin Read more >

By Dan Sheehan

Move over, Wolf of Wall Street. There's a new stock market story in town.

For some reason, it looks like publishers are already eager to sign book deals about the rogue Reddit users who bought up all that GameStop stock. In case you’ve been living under a rock or willfully ignoring the Internet (I Read more >

By Katie Yee

Read the American short stories George Saunders thinks will stand the test of time.

There’s so much contemporary fiction released every day, it’s hard to keep track—and it’s hard to know which works will still be remembered in a year and which will slip into obscurity. Luckily, we have George Saunders to guide us. Read more >

By Walker Caplan

Here are the best reviewed books of the week.

Melissa Broder’s Milk Fed, Dantiel W. Moniz’s Milk Blood Heat, Lauren Oyler’s Fake Accounts, and Mark Harris’s Mike Nichols: A Lifeall feature among the Best Reviewed Books of the Week. Brought to you by Book Marks, Lit Hub’s “Rotten Tomatoes Read more >

By Book Marks

Berger from Sex and the City is the most realistic writer in television history.

Because it’s a pandemic, we have a new baby, and we already finished Top Chef, my husband and I have been watching Sex and the City. It’s his first time watching it, but—yes, I am a white woman in my 30s—not Read more >

By Jessie Gaynor

Ruth Ozeki has a new novel, The Book of Form and Emptiness, and it's coming this fall.

Lit Hub is pleased to announce that this fall, Viking will publish a new novel by Ruth Ozeki—her first since the release of her 2013 masterpiece, A Tale for the Time Being, which was was shortlisted for the Booker Prize Read more >

By Literary Hub

Anatomy of a literary fracas: Alam v. Franklin.

If you don’t hang out in the New York Review of Books Letters section, you may have missed this fairly heated exchange between Rumaan Alam and Ruth Franklin, who reviewed his National Book Award-nominated novel Leave the World Behind in the publication’s last Read more >

By Jessie Gaynor

Mark your calendars! Kazuo Ishiguro is kicking off this May’s Wordplay Festival.

Ready your pens! Get your notebooks in order! Do whatever you need to prepare to behold (virtually) the genius of Kazuo Ishiguro this May. Today, The Bay Area Book Festival and Minneapolis’ Loft Literary Center announced a sneak peek of Read more >

By Rasheeda Saka

Chloé Zhao is making a Dracula western...in space!

You, a sceptic, might assume that every conceivable spin on Bram Stoker’s Dracula has been done to death already. After all, since the novel’s publication way back in 1897, we’ve seen Warrior Backstory Dracula (Dracula Untold), Spoof Dracula (Dracula, Dead and Loving Read more >

By Dan Sheehan

Of course Hunter Biden is publishing a memoir in April.

Today the Associated Press reported that Hunter Biden, son of famous memoirist Joe Biden, will publish a memoir of his own on April 6. The memoir will be published with Gallery Books, an imprint of Simon & Schuster. Beautiful Things, Read more >

By Walker Caplan

On discovering a secret society in an Alice in Wonderland-themed restaurant.

For several summers, between college semesters, I was a hostess at an Alice in Wonderland-themed restaurant in Manhattan called Alice’s Teacup. At the time, I was living in Gravesend, Brooklyn, so I would leave my home at six in the Read more >

By Katie Yee

STREET WRITER: The literary video game we didn’t know we needed.

Tired of the subtweets? The peevish reviews? The [gasp] indecorous email sign-offs? Do you wish the literary world would just conduct its brawls out in the open for all to see? Well, now you can fight along at home with Read more >

By Jonny Diamond

Amanda Gorman is on the cover of this week's issue of TIME.

On Friday, February 5, TIME Magazine’s issue will be devoted to the contemporary renaissance and indelible power of Black art, including that of writers Amanda Gorman, Brit Bennett, Jasmine Guillory and Jacqueline Woodson. The cover of TIME has traditionally been a coveted spot Read more >

By Emily Temple

Furloughed Waterstones booksellers are petitioning their hedge fund owner for minimum wage.

2020 was a hard year for bookstores, for obvious (pandemic) reasons, and the UK-based retailer Waterstones is no exception: last March, it closed its 280 UK branches due to health concerns and the majority of staff were placed on furlough. Read more >

By Walker Caplan

If you have an extra £475,000, you can buy this full set of first edition James Bond novels.

Got £475,000 to spare? Here’s a fun place to put your money, if you’re Gamestop-averse: a full set of Ian Fleming’s James Bond novels is currently up for sale by rare-book dealer John Atkinson at John Atkinson Fine & Rare Read more >

By Walker Caplan

Here are the United States Artists’ 2021 Writing Fellows.

Here’s some wonderful literary news to start your morning (drumroll, please): today, United States Artists (USA) announced its 2021 USA Fellows, which includes eight writers. The award honors the creative accomplishments of its selected fellows by supporting their ongoing artistic Read more >

By Rasheeda Saka

Here's the very cool cover for Colson Whitehead's next novel, Harlem Shuffle.

This week, TIME Magazine revealed the cover for Colson Whitehead’s next novel, Harlem Shuffle, which was—like his previous two novels, The Underground Railroad and The Nickel Boys—designed by Lit Hub favorite Oliver Munday. The novel takes inspiration from classic caper narratives, and so does Read more >

By Emily Temple