In an example of what the next four years might look like—blue states preemptively protecting the rights and freedoms of their citizens against the authoritarian creep of federal policy—New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy signed into law the “Freedom to Read” Read more >
Joseph Earl Thomas won this year’s Center for Fiction First Novel Prize for his book God Bless You, Otis Spunkmeyer. Congratulations! The novel has made it onto several best-of-2024 lists, and has been praised as “a powerful examination of every Read more >
The national treasure Nikki Giovanni died yesterday from complications connected to lung cancer. She was 81. A decorated writer of poems, nonfiction, and children’s books, Giovanni was also a star of the Black Arts Movement. She was a devoted activist, Read more >
Image courtesy of UCLA’s website, but since AI-generated art can’t be copyrighted, maybe this acknowledgment doesn’t matter. UCLA announced the other day that “Comp Lit 2BW will be the first course in the UCLA College Division of Humanities to be Read more >
What do hard-boiled eggs, actors, aspirin, and railroad travel all have in common? They all incurred the ire of Raymond Chandler. How do I know this? Because last Friday, Doyle Auctioneers & Appraisers sponsored a sale of “the largest trove Read more >
Today, the Cave Canem Foundation announced the winner of the 2025 Cave Canem Prize: the poet and evolutionary biologist Brandon Kilbourne. Kilbourne will receive a cash prize of $10,000, and his manuscript will be published by Graywolf Press. Formed to Read more >
Since its establishment in 1972, the Whiting Foundation has been dispensing awards, grants, and all manner of support for both individual writers and arts institutions. Today, the literary arts organization has two big things to celebrate: the announcement of its Read more >
As the middle of December approaches, and as the wheel of the year nears the end of its long turn, it’s difficult not to reflect on what this year has meant, and what the year to come will look like. Read more >
Image from The Strand Workers Union’s Instagram The Strand Workers Union went on strike over the weekend, walking out on Saturday over demands for better pay. The union, which represents around 100 unionized workers as part of UAW Local 2179, Read more >
In the narrowest win in the award’s history, the 2024 Bookseller’s Diagram Prize for the Oddest Book Title of the Year goes to The Philosopher Fish: Sturgeon, Caviar, and the Geography of Desire, a study of the mysterious and endangered Read more >
Every so often here in the Bookverse, someone hitches up their britches and pronounces criticism “dead.” They lament a media ecosystem driven by publicists, and actual or perceived reader scarcity. They yearn for the good old days, when your Normans Read more >
The earliest known writing by Franz Kafka is about to be available for bidding at the auction house Bonhams. Kafka, who would go on to write surreal and absurd books later in his life, signed a short note in the Read more >
I’m a sucker for The Best American series. For whatever reason (be it the generally strong curation, the often-fascinating opinions of guest editors, or a residual nationalism I should probably interrogate a bit more closely) I always look forward to Read more >
The 92nd Street Y held a conversation to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Caro’s landmark book The Power Broker, his masterwork on Robert Moses and how he remade New York City through an audacious program of public building. The live Read more >
December, astonishingly, is here, the tail end of a year that has felt remarkable for many reasons, too many, indeed, to list. And the year to come is one defined by extraordinary uncertainties, both in the United States and beyond. Read more >
December is finally here, the final month in a year in which time has sometimes felt more like a labyrinth than a line through calendar days, a year of sudden twists and turns. And the year to come will be Read more >
There are a lot of lackluster traditions for the day before Thanksgiving: hitting your local bar at night, prepping yourself to face your cousin with the bad politics, going toe-to-toe with fellow procrastinators over that last bag of cranberries. I’d Read more >
Maxine Hong Kingston, Alexander Chee, Alissa Nutting, David Henry Hwang, Eugene Lim, Rachel Khong, Susan Abulhawa, Susan Bernofsky, Laura van den Berg, R. O. Kwon, Bryan Washington, Danzy Senna, and Ha Jin are among the hundreds of authors who have signed Read more >
Authors Against Book Bans, a coalition of writers and creative workers who “stand united against the deeply unconstitutional movement to limit the freedom to read,” released an open letter yesterday demanding publishers prepare for the incoming Trump administration. The AABB Read more >
The Dos Passos Prize for Literature, awarded by Longwood University in Virginia, has announced its shortlist of five impressive writers who are in the running for 2024’s prize. The award honors a prolific American writer who displays “characteristics of John Read more >
