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News, Notes, Talk

Deesha Philyaw has signed a 7-figure book deal.

Deesha Philyaw—the National Book Award finalist whose critically-acclaimed debut, The Secret Lives of Church Ladies, had trouble finding a publisher—has just inked a seven-figure, two-book deal. The Secret Lives of Church Ladies, a collection of nine stories, was turned down Read more >

By Dan Sheehan

Belle & Sebastian frontman Stuart Murdoch is publishing a novel.

Well, it was inevitable: Stuart Murdoch is having his John Darnielle moment: the Scottish purveyor of your favorite “old sad bastard” music will publish his debut novel, Nobody’s Empire, with HarperVia (US) and Faber (UK) in September 2024. Here’s a brief Read more >

By Emily Temple

Here’s the longlist for the 2023 National Book Award for Poetry.

Today, the National Book Foundation announced the longlist for the 2023 National Book Award for Poetry. The ten titles on the longlist were selected from a pool of 295 books submitted for consideration by their publishers; this year’s judges for Read more >

By Literary Hub

Exclusive: See the cover for Susan Rich's latest collection, Blue Atlas.

Literary Hub is pleased to reveal the cover for Susan Rich’s sixth poetry collection, Blue Atlas, which will be published by Red Hen Press in April. Here’s a bit more about the book from the publisher: Blue Atlas is a Read more >

By Literary Hub

Here’s the longlist for the 2023 National Book Award for Translated Literature.

Today, the National Book Foundation announced the longlist for the 2023 National Book Award for Translated Literature. The ten titles were originally published in seven different languages—Arabic, Dutch, French, German, Korean, Portuguese, and Spanish—and were selected from a pool of Read more >

By Literary Hub

Karen Russell's new novel, a fantastical Dust Bowl epic, sounds amazing.

Corral the performing gators, rouse the lemon grove vampires, and release the wolf girls, because Karen Russell—the Pulitzer Prize finalist, MacArthur fellow, and multi award-winning Floridian fantasist—has written a new novel (her first since 2011’s Swamplandia!) and it sounds, well, incredible: Karen Read more >

By Dan Sheehan

Here’s the longlist for the 2023 National Book Award for Young People’s Literature.

Today, the National Book Foundation announced the longlist for the 2023 National Book Award for Young People’s Literature. The ten titles were all written by newcomers to the National Book Awards, and were selected from a pool of 348 books Read more >

By Literary Hub

The National Book Awards has politely fired Drew Barrymore as this year's host.

As you may have noticed if you spent any time on the internet this week, Drew Barrymore is a scab facing backlash for returning to work on The Drew Barrymore Show, despite the ongoing WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes. Because The Drew Read more >

By Emily Temple

Here are the winners of the 2023 Whiting Literary Magazine Prizes.

Today, the Whiting Foundation announced the winners of its sixth annual Literary Magazine Prizes, honoring “seven print and digital magazines that are among the most distinctive and lively publications at the forefront of American culture.” This cycle, each winner will Read more >

By Literary Hub

28 new books out today!

September is slowly turning its pages, and, if you’d like do the same, you’re in for luck. Today, you’ll find a veritable cornucopia of exciting new books to consider, including new fiction from famed writers, attention-grabbing debuts, a brilliant range Read more >

By Gabrielle Bellot

Here's the shortlist for the 2023 British Academy Book Prize for Global Cultural Understanding.

Today, the British Academy announced the shortlist for the 2023 British Academy Book Prize for Global Cultural Understanding, an international book prize, now in its 11th year, that “celebrates ground-breaking research-based works of non-fiction that have made an outstanding contribution Read more >

By Literary Hub

What do cats and poets have in common?

Need some mild linguistic fun at your next party? Consider the advice of 1920s entertainment expert Lettie C. Van Derveer, author of such books as Christmas Doings (1920) and Hallowe’en Happenings (1921), Any Day Entertainments (1922) and Holidays and In-Between Times (1923), Read more >

By Emily Temple

Exclusive: See the cover for Juliet Escoria's new book, You Are the Snake.

Literary Hub is pleased to reveal the cover for Juliet Escoria’s latest book, You Are the Snake, a short story collection that Soft Skull Press will publish in June. Here’s a bit more about the book from the publisher: From Read more >

By Literary Hub

Exclusive annoucement: Here's the shortlist for 2023 American Library in Paris Book Award

Lit Hub is pleased to announce the shortlist for the 2023 American Library in Paris Book Award. The American Library in Paris was established in 1920 with a core collection of books and periodicals donated by American libraries to United Read more >

By Literary Hub

20,000 Dublin Marathon finishers will receive this W. B. Yeats medal, complete with fake quote.

Poor old W. B. Yeats; if they’re not burying the bones of club-footed frenchmen in his grave or making fun of his penchant for monkey gland viagra, they’re attributing fake inspirational quotes to him. Every so often, particularly if you’re Read more >

By Dan Sheehan

Exclusive: See the cover for Ananda Lima's CRAFT: Stories I Wrote for the Devil.

Literary Hub is pleased to reveal the cover for Ananda Lima’s CRAFT: Stories I Wrote for the Devil, “an intoxicating and surreal fiction debut,” which will be published by Tor Books in June. Here’s a bit more about the book Read more >

By Literary Hub

Here's the shortlist for the 2023 BBC National Short Story Award.

Today, the shortlist for the 2023 BBC National Short Story Award with Cambridge University was announced on BBC Radio 4’s Front Row. The BBC National Short Story Award, now in its eighteenth year, grants £15,000 to the winning author; each Read more >

By Literary Hub

Look inside the gorgeous English cottage where John Le Carré wrote Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy.

If you have $3.7 million, you might be in the running to purchase Tregiffian Cottage, the Cornwall home of legendary novelist John Le Carré, who died in 2020. If not, you’ll have to settle for looking at the pictures—and if Read more >

By Emily Temple

US Poet Laureate Ada Limon is publishing a new anthology of 50 poems by contemporary poets.

Lit Hub is pleased to announce a new books, published in association with the Library of Congress and edited by the twenty-fourth Poet Laureate of the United States, a collection of poems reflecting on “our relationship to the natural world Read more >

By Literary Hub

You can now look up the definitions of "nepo baby" and "shower orange" on dictionary.com.

Attention word nerds: today, Dictionary.com announced its latest update, which includes 566 new entries, 348 new definitions for pre-existing entries, and 2,256 revised definitions. New additions include terms you likely know (nepo baby, decision fatigue, box braids) and a few Read more >

By Emily Temple