The Hub

News, Notes, Talk

The Lit Hub Staff’s Favorite Villains: Dwyer Murphy on Patricia Highsmith's Tom Ripley.

For our Villains Bracket week, Lit Hub staffers wrote a bit about their favorite villain from our initial group of 64. Here’s Dwyer on Tom Ripley, from The Talented Mr. Ripley, Ripley Under Ground, Ripley’s Game, and more. I think we Read more >

By Dwyer Murphy

A Small Press Book We Love:
Pipe Dreams on Pico by Brent L. Smith

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 James Folta

The Lit Hub Staff’s Favorite Villains: James Folta on John le Carré's Karla.

For our Villains Bracket week, a few Lit Hub staffers wrote a bit about their favorite villain from our initial group of 64. Here’s James on Karla, who first appears in John le Carré’s Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy.  In hindsight, Karla Read more >

By James Folta

Here are the finalists for the 2025 Aspen Words Literary Prize.

Today, Aspen Words announced its five finalists for the 2025 Aspen Words Literary Prize, which awards $35,000 each year to “a work of fiction that illuminates a vital contemporary issue and demonstrates the transformative power of literature on thought and Read more >

By Literary Hub

The Lit Hub Staff’s Favorite Villians: Brittany Allen on Matilda's Agatha Trunchbull.

For our Villains Bracket week, a few Lit Hub staffers wrote about their favorite villain from our initial group of 64. Here’s Brittany on Miss Trunchbull from Matilda. Roald Dahl never met an authority figure he could like. If his canon Read more >

By Brittany Allen

A Small Press Book We Love:
The Days of Abandonment by Elena Ferrante

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 Firetog

For its tenth birthday(!), A Little Life is getting a makeover.

Ten years ago this month, Hanya Yanagihara threw a wrench in the literary world with the publication of her Dickensian doorstop, A Little Life. Featuring four queer men growing up and together in New York high society—and also, many grim Read more >

By Brittany Allen

The Lit Hub Staff’s Favorite Villians: Jessie Gaynor on Moby-Dick’s Captain Ahab.

For our Villains Bracket week, a few Lit Hub staffers wrote about their favorite villain from our initial group of 64. Jessie wrote about the bad boss from Moby-Dick, Captain Ahab. A thought exercise: Which tech company founder would most plausibly Read more >

By Jessie Gaynor

A Small Press Book We Love:
That We May Live: Speculative Chinese Fiction

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

Karen Russell! Torrey Peters! Joan Didion! 25 new books out today.

March marches on, and though the month has just begun, it already, perhaps unsurprisingly, feels like many months of compressed time, if not more, days darkly alchemized into eons by so much political chaos. Still, there are always bright spots, Read more >

By Gabrielle Bellot

A Columbia professor's message to his fellow Jewish faculty members.

[As news broke last Friday of the Trump administration’s plan to revoke $400 million dollars of research funding to Columbia University, filmmaker and Columbia professor James Schamus posted the following to a faculty list serve there. It has been lightly Read more >

By James Schamus

The Lit Hub Staff’s Favorite Villains: Emily Temple on Bulgakov's Woland

For our Villains Bracket week, a few Lit Hub staffers wrote a little bit on their favorite villain from our initial group of 64. Here’s Emily on Woland from Mikhail Bulgakov’s The Master and Margarita. Despite the fact that you (monsters) Read more >

By Emily Temple

The Lit Hub Staff’s Favorite Villains: Drew Broussard on Randall Flagg

For our Villains Bracket week, a few Lit Hub staffers wrote a little bit on their favorite villain from our initial group of 64. Here’s Drew on Randall Flagg from Stephen King’s work. “The man in black fled across the Read more >

By Drew Broussard

A Small Press Book We Love:
Wings in Time by Callie Garnett

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 Jessie Gaynor

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