The Hub

News, Notes, Talk

The State Department pulled $1 million in funding for the Iowa International Writing Program.

Photo from the IWP’s webpage. The legendary and beloved International Writing Program was told on Wednesday that the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs was terminating their federal funding. The loss amounts to around $1 million Read more >

By James Folta

Three unionized Barnes & Nobles in NYC have ratified an historic first contract.

The Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union announced yesterday that workers have ratified union contracts at three New York City Barnes & Noble stores, which is a first for Barnes & Noble in the U.S.  Through organizing and solidarity, over Read more >

By James Folta

18 Canadian performing arts organizations have joined the cultural boycott of Israel.

As reported by Richie Assaly in the Toronto Star yesterday, Buddies in Bad Times Theatre—the largest queer theater company in the world—is among 18 theater and performing arts organizations that have joined a “cultural and academic boycott” of Israel: On Read more >

By Dan Sheehan

Stop linking to Amazon already!

Folks, the time has come to stop linking to Amazon. For good. If you’re reading this site, you likely already knew this in your heart. And I’m actually not here to give you the litany of reasons why Amazon’s extractive Read more >

By Drew Broussard

What makes a good villain? 15 writers weigh in.

Putting together our bracket to determine the best villain in literature brought up a lot of existential questions about villains: What makes a good one? Can a character be villainous without being an antagonist? What even is a villain? I Read more >

By James Folta

A Small Press Book We Love:
The Bear by Andrew Krivak

Small presses have had a rough year, but as the literary world continues to conglomerate, we at Literary Hub think they’re more important than ever. Which is why, every (work) day in March—which just so happens to be National Small Read more >

By Jonny Diamond

An Indiana bill is threatening Dolly Parton's Imagination Library.

Sometime after she wrote two of the best songs of all time in an alleged single sitting, Dolly Parton turned her talents to charming the world. She’s acted in perfect films (9 to 5), continued to make perfect country, pop, Read more >

By Brittany Allen

A Small Press Book We Love:
The President's Room by Ricardo Romero

Small presses have had a rough year, but as the literary world continues to conglomerate, we at Literary Hub think they’re more important than ever. Which is why, every (work) day in March—which just so happens to be National Small Read more >

By Drew Broussard

An architecture journal’s Palestine issue was abruptly shelved.

Image by Amal Al-Nakhala and Journal of Architectural Education Earlier this week an influential academic publication on architecture, Journal of Architectural Education, or JAE, had its forthcoming fall issue on Palestine canceled by its publisher “without having read the content of Read more >

By James Folta

Here are the finalists for the 2025 PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction.

This week, the PEN/Faulkner Foundation announced the finalists for the 2025 PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction. A three judge panel—comprised of authors Bruce Holsinger, Deesha Philyaw, and Luis Alberto Urrea—considered 414 novels and short story collections published in the US during Read more >

By Brittany Allen

A Small Press Book We Love:
Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer

Small presses have had a rough year, but as the literary world continues to conglomerate, we at Literary Hub think they’re more important than ever. Which is why, every (work) day in March—which just so happens to be National Small Read more >

By Jonny Diamond

Laila Lalami! Alanis Morissette! 24 new books out today.

March is here, the third month of a year that continues to feel like many years compressed into a few months. Still, with March comes a new season, new chances for hope (one hopes), new horrors (one hopes less fervently Read more >

By Gabrielle Bellot

A Small Press Book We Love:
Visitation by Jenny Erpenbeck

Small presses have had a rough year, but as the literary world continues to conglomerate, we at Literary Hub think they’re more important than ever. Which is why, every (work) day in March—which just so happens to be National Small Read more >

By Emily Temple

What books are the characters from this year’s best picture nominees reading?

It’s that time of year again, when Hollywood’s eyes turn to That Golden Man, the big man-shaped award, that wonderful action figure we all want to hold but cannot play with: Mr. Oscar himself. This year a lot of the Read more >

By James Folta

Helen Oyeyemi! Ryan Chapman! Marie-Helene Bertino! 26 books out in paperback this March.

March, miraculously, is here, the third month in a new year that has already felt like a year or two compressed into these first few months. But, even as 2025 seems defined by chaos so far, there are certainties to Read more >

By Gabrielle Bellot

Every one of Bridget Jones's boyfriends, ranked.

There’s a new Bridget Jones movie, and tis a truth universally acknowledged that some of us are obliged to comment. The four film franchise launched off Helen Fielding’s bestselling Bridget Jones’s Diary is wildly hit and miss. But there’s something Read more >

By Brittany Allen

Here's the longlist for this year's International Booker Prize.

The longlist for this year’s International Booker Prize 2025 has been announced. The annually given prize recognizes international literature in translation. The winning book will receive a £50,000 purse, divided equally between author and translator(s). Shortlisted titles receive £5,000. This Read more >

By Brittany Allen

Omar El Akkad! Ada Calhoun! Joni Mitchell! 26 new books out today.

What a February it has been, a February that has felt more like a year (or three) than a month, a February in which it seems as though every day has yielded new political emergencies and embarrassments and head-spinning paradigm Read more >

By Gabrielle Bellot

Book ban boomerang: VP Vance’s book is caught up in military school "ideology" checks.

In maybe the most high profile example of the “leopards ate my face” phenomenon, Vice-President-In-Name-Only J. David Vance’s book Hillbilly Elegy is being pulled from the shelves at at least one Department of Defense school for being “potentially related to Read more >

By James Folta

All Fours is being adapted for TV. Here's our dream cast.

Miranda July’s All Fours, one of the buzziest novels of 2024, is coming to a small screen near you. Starz has acquired the project and now a mysterious pre-production commences. Of course, we’re chiefly concerned with casting. Who should play Read more >

By Brittany Allen