Colson Whitehead’s zombie novel Zone One was published nine years ago today, on what I imagine to have been a chilly and sweeping October day in 2011. I was a teenager when the novel was released, and only got around Read more >
Proving that good news is somehow still possible in 2020, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation has awarded fellowships (or as they are commonly known, “genius grants”) to a group of writers whose work interrogates structural racism through Read more >
When the annual New Yorker Festival began online yesterday, there were two notable absences: Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Sen. Elizabeth Warren, who withdrew from the event last week in support of the New Yorker Union’s planned digital picket line. In 2018, Read more >
Today, The Washington Post announced all of the finalists for the 2020 National Book Awards. The twenty-five finalists were selected from fifty longlisted writers across five genres—Young People’s Literature, Translated Literature, Poetry, Nonfiction, and Fiction—by a distinguished panel of literary experts. Read more >
You know it’s a good day when you’re greeting with brand-new books from Rumaan Alam, Phil Klay, Tana French, Sayaka Murata, and Alice Hoffman! What’s a few more books on the TBR pile amongst friends? * Rumaan Alam, Leave the World Read more >
Dear reader: the Practical Magic soundtrack is on at full volume as I write this. I’ve got a pumpkin-scented candle going. There are decorative gourds all over the place. (Seriously, I tripped on a stray one just a minute ago.) Read more >
Air/Light is a brand new literary magazine—launched today!—helmed by Editor-in-Chief David Ulin, with support from the University of Southern California English department, that aims to “celebrate an inclusive culture, illuminating voices from a diverse array of writers.” According to its Read more >
Ethan Hawke, the most bookish man in Hollywood, is back on his beautiful bookish bullshit, and I for one could not be happier. Yes, the four-time Oscar-nominated star of Gattaca—as well as many other films which are very good despite Read more >
In his pained tribute to Richard Wright, “Alas, Poor Richard” (1961), James Baldwin describes his first impression of his former idol and adversary upon meeting him in Brooklyn: My own image of Richard was almost certainly based on Canada Lee’s Read more >
It’s first thing in the morning and we’re already buzzing with literary news from abroad. From a spectacular longlist comes an amazing shortlist for this year’s Scotiabank Giller Prize, which seeks to recognize the best Canadian fiction of the year. Previous Read more >
It’s been a real week, hasn’t it? Here’s one thing that may make it the slightest bit easier: Because it is his birthday, and because I’m personally in need of anything that can slow my heart rate for a few Read more >
It would be difficult to dethrone Anjelica Huston as Campy Horror Flick Queen, but Anne Hathaway is giving it a shot in the upcoming film adaptation of Roald Dahl’s 1983 children’s novel, The Witches. The original tale was about a young Read more >
Marilynne Robinson’s Jack, Nick Hornby’s Just Like You, Matt Haig’s The Midnight Library, and Mariah Carey’s The Meaning of Mariah Carey all feature among the Best Reviewed Books of the Week. Brought to you by Book Marks, Lit Hub’s “Rotten Tomatoes Read more >
Derek Mahon, one of Ireland’s greatest contemporary poets, has died at the age at the age of 78. A host of Irish writers, including the country’s president Michael D. Higgins, have today been paying tribute to Mahon, with perhaps the Read more >
Today, Merriam-Webster observed that word searches for “schadenfreude” had spiked 30,500% after President Donald Trump announced his positive COVID-19 diagnosis—and the word was included in several news stories and headlines about the diagnosis and the global reaction. Merriam-Webster defines the Read more >
I signed the letter condemning the online abuse of JK Rowling along with a number of other writers. I did it because I am sick of trolls and because most women in public life have been the subject of threats Read more >
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