The Hub

News, Notes, Talk

Do you miss childhood summer reading challenges? The National Book Foundation has one for adults.

If you’re reading Lit Hub, it’s a fair guess that you have fond memories of school reading challenges over summer break, those individual and classroom-wide challenges to log your summer’s reading, show off, and maybe earn a prize in September. Read more >

By James Folta

What to read after watching I Saw the TV Glow.

I haven’t stopped thinking about I Saw the TV Glow, the new A24 film from writer/director Jane Schoenbrun, since seeing it over the weekend. It’s one of the best movies of the year (I scream-cried in the car on the Read more >

By Drew Broussard

A protest newspaper is gaining traction. But what's next for The New York War Crimes?

Since last October, the Writers Against the War on Gaza have been organizing culture workers for Palestine. You may know them from their much-circulated solidarity letter. Or their call for an academic boycott of Israel. In tandem with these actions, Read more >

By Brittany Allen

One great short story to read today: Juan Rulfo's "They Have Given Us The Land"

According to the powers that be (er, apparently according to Dan Wickett of the Emerging Writers Network), May is Short Story Month. To celebrate, for the second year in a row, the Literary Hub staff will be recommending a single short story, Read more >

By James Folta

Sally Wen Mao! Emma Copley Eisenberg! A critical history of swole-ness (yes)! 19 new books out today.

The last days of May are flitting away, with (one hopes) a glorious summer ahead. A new season is an excellent opportunity to reflect on all that has been, all that is, and what you hope the time to come Read more >

By Gabrielle Bellot

Publishers are already using way too much AI.

A new report on AI and creative industries just dropped, and as expected, it’s full of upsetting and depressing details. The dryly titled “State of Play: Exploring Generative AI‘s Transformative Effects on the Media & Entertainment Industry” was commissioned by Read more >

By James Folta

Hay Festival drops Baillie Gifford sponsorship over Israel & fossil fuel links.

Amid mounting pressure from campaigners and withdrawls by scheduled artists, the Hay Festival (one of the UK’s most prominent literary festivals) has dropped investment management firm Baillie Gifford as its principal sponsor over the latter’s ties to Israel and the fossil Read more >

By Dan Sheehan

One great short story to read today:
Ghassan Kanafani's "Letter from Gaza"

According to the powers that be (er, apparently according to Dan Wickett of the Emerging Writers Network), May is Short Story Month. To celebrate, for the second year in a row, the Literary Hub staff will be recommending a single short story, Read more >

By Dan Sheehan

The most stressful weddings found in fiction.

As crocuses bloom and pollen kicks up, we enter wedding season. Weddings, with their abundant rites, tend to call up a lot. There’s the psychological freight. The expenses. The freak-outs inevitable when two families collide. We say a wedding is Read more >

By Brittany Allen

Libraries rule, cops drool: Today's the birthday of both NYC’s libraries and police.

Today is a double anniversary in New York City. On May 23, 1845, the New York Police Department was founded, and 50 years later on May 23, 1895, the New York Public Library was established. Today, over a century and Read more >

By James Folta

One great short story to read today: Joyce Carol Oates's "Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?"

According to the powers that be (er, apparently according to Dan Wickett of the Emerging Writers Network), May is Short Story Month. To celebrate, for the second year in a row, the Literary Hub staff will be recommending a single short story, Read more >

By Emily Temple

Mircea Cărtărescu's Solenoid has won the 2024 Dublin Literary Award.

Today, Dublin City Council announced the winner of the prestigious 2024 Dublin Literary Award: Solenoid, by Mircea Cărtărescu, translated from the Romanian by Sean Cotter. The Dublin Literary Award comes with a hefty €100,000 purse, with Cărtărescu taking home €75,000, Read more >

By Emily Temple

One great short story to read today:
Kevin Barry's "Finistère"

According to the powers that be (er, apparently according to Dan Wickett of the Emerging Writers Network), May is Short Story Month. To celebrate, for the second year in a row, the Literary Hub staff will be recommending a single short story, Read more >

By Drew Broussard

The Grub Street Diets of your favorite fictional characters.

Fiction and fine dining are having a moment. In April, New York magazine put out a nostalgic ode to scene-y restaurants known for their literary patrons. And seemingly on the same tide, the novelist Gary Shteyngart wrote a much-circulated New Read more >

By Brittany Allen

See the cover for Sally Rooney's next novel.

This morning, FSG revealed the US cover for Sally Rooney’s forthcoming novel, Intermezzo, which be published on September 24. It brings back that trademark Rooney yellow (c. Conversations with Friends) updated with some mature gray and an old-school Big Book font, Read more >

By Emily Temple

Jenny Erpenbeck's Kairos has won the 2024 International Booker Prize.

Today, Jenny Erpenbeck became the first German writer to win the International Booker Prize for translated fiction for Kairos, her affecting novel about a love affair in the waning days of a divided Berlin. She shares the £50,000 prize equally Read more >

By Drew Broussard