The Hub

News, Notes, Talk

Never get stranded without a novel again with this map of 6,000 bookstores.

I’m happy to report that the internet has been redeemed for another day. I recently came across this very impressive and carefully curated map of bookstores on www.iheartbookstores.com, a simple and very useful site: a searchable, scrollable, and sortable map Read more >

By James Folta

A new literary start-up wants reading to be sexier.

Though the big houses keep a-mergin’, the publishing wheel keeps on turnin’. In this case, that wheel is a romance media company. Romancelandia, meet 831 stories. Erica Cerulo and Claire Mazur are the minds behind the new company, whose title Read more >

By Brittany Allen

Danez Smith! Audre Lorde! Kwame Dawes! 27 new books out today.

It’s another Tuesday in August, and I come bearing tidings of new things to come. Below, you’ll find no less than twenty-seven now books to consider in fiction, poetry, and nonfiction, with a remarkable range of material. There’s new poetry Read more >

By Gabrielle Bellot

Can the literary festival survive without corporate sponsorship?

It’s been a rough year for the literary festival. Sparked by a campaign from Fossil Free Books (FFB), nine festivals that previously relied on support from the Baillie Gifford Foundation dropped or lost that company’s sponsorship after the firm failed Read more >

By Brittany Allen

Good media news! The Onion is back in print.

Beloved comedy publication The Onion has started back up with a paper-and-ink print edition for the first time in over ten years. As announced on the comedy institution’s website and in a story in The New York Times, The Onion Read more >

By James Folta

The coolest bookstore bars in America.

The bookstore bar aspires to combine two beloved things: wine and stacks. Though people have been pairing vittles and pages as long as either have existed, the retail trend has taken off in recent years. As Melissa Kravitz Hoeffner reported Read more >

By Brittany Allen

A Florida college shamefully tossed hundreds of LGBTQ+ books in a dumpster.

Photo by Steven Walker One of the few places where you don’t want to see a huge stack of books is in a dumpster, but this is exactly what Floridians found yesterday on the campus of New College of Florida Read more >

By James Folta

Over 100 journalists have asked Antony Blinken to stop sending arms to Israel.

Earlier this morning, more than 100 journalists from twenty news outlets and seven press freedom groups sent an open letter to United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken, urging the U.S. “to immediately cease sending weapons to Israel amid the Read more >

By Dan Sheehan

Here are the finalists for the 2024 Dayton Literary Peace Prizes.

The Dayton Literary Peace Prize, which “honors writers whose work demonstrates the power of the written word to foster peace,” has today announced its 2024 book award finalists. The winners in each category will receive a $10,000 cash prize, and Read more >

By Literary Hub

The first lines of 10 classic novels, updated for the hottest days of summer.

A Christmas Carol MARLEY WAS SWEATY, LIKE SO SWEATY, to begin with. The Secret History The snow in the mountains was melting and Bunny had been dead for several weeks before we came to understand the gravity of our situation. Read more >

By James Folta

Here are the 2024/25 National Book Foundation Teacher Fellows.

Today, the National Book Foundation announced the 2024/25 recipients of the National Teacher Fellowship, a program, only in its second year, “that supports and celebrates 6th-12th grade teachers using innovative methods to make reading for pleasure a part of their Read more >

By Literary Hub

Oh, Barry! President Obama has released his annual summer reading list.

Is Barack Obama the best-read President to ever hold the title of commander-in-chief? Signs point to probably. A week before his party formally convenes in Chicago to elect nominees—and conspicuously, five weeks before the proper end-of-summer—the people’s overachiever has published Read more >

By Brittany Allen

What to read next based on your favorite movie of the year (so far).

My king, Richard Brody, has released his semi-annual favorite films of the year list. Which means it’s as good a time as any for this reporter to do the same. Listing favorite movies inclined me to think in wine pairing Read more >

By Brittany Allen

Sofia Samatar! Robert Louis Stevenson! Reevaluating Nat Turner! 24 new books out today!

It’s another Tuesday, and I bring tidings of new books to consider! As we weather the start of a month of some extreme weather in America—wildfires on one coast, a hurricane and tropical storm on another—it may just be the Read more >

By Gabrielle Bellot

Here are the winners of the 2024 Hugo Awards.

The winners of the 2024 Hugo Awards—one of science fiction and fantasy’s most prestigious awards, decided by the popular vote of WorldCon members—were presented this weekend at the 82nd WorldCon in Glasgow, Scotland. A hearty congratulations to all of the Read more >

By Drew Broussard

Iowa and Utah are banning books state-wide.

It’s a bad time to be a spicy book in a school library in America, or at least in Republican-controlled states. Last week, government officials in Utah and Iowa, having learned no lessons from Tipper Gore’s crusade against explicit language Read more >

By Drew Broussard