The Hub

News, Notes, Talk

UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak loves a horsey "bonkbuster."

TIL … that the Rutshire chronicles is not euphemism for government incompetence but a blockbuster romance series by UK author Jilly Cooper OBE, and long a favorite of UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak. Writes Politico: U.K. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak Read more >

By Janet Manley

One great short story to read today: Percival Everett's “The Appropriation of Cultures.”

According to the powers that be (er, apparently according to Dan Wickett of the Emerging Writers Network), May is Short Story Month. To celebrate, the Literary Hub staff will be recommending a single short story, free to read online, every (work) day Read more >

By Jonny Diamond

A Florida school is now trying to "restrict" Amanda Gorman's poetry.

People simply must pick a lane: poetry is either impenetrable and outdated, or it’s a dangerous gateway drug to reverse racism. Florida, you cannot have it both ways! Politico reports today that an elementary school in the Miami-Dade area (renowned Read more >

By Janet Manley

Here's the cover for Marie-Helene Bertino's new novel, Beautyland.

Literary Hub is very pleased to reveal the cover for Marie-Helene Bertino’s new novel Beautyland, which will be published by Farrar Straus & Giroux in January 2024. Here’s more about the book from the publisher: At the moment when Voyager Read more >

By Literary Hub

One great short story to read today: Robert Coover's "The Babysitter."

According to the powers that be (er, apparently according to Dan Wickett of the Emerging Writers Network), May is Short Story Month. To celebrate, the Literary Hub staff will be recommending a single short story, free to read online, every (work) day Read more >

By Emily Temple

Haruki Murakami wins Spain's Princess of Asturias Award for literature.

Japan’s son and now the toast of an Infanta of Spain: Haruki Murakami has won the Princess of Asturias Award for literature, an award given by the Spanish royal foundation to significant works from anywhere in the world. The panel Read more >

By Janet Manley

Knopf will publish Gabriel García Márquez's final novel.

Alfred A. Knopf will publish Until August, the final (as far as we know) novel written by Nobel Prize–winning writer Gabriel García Márquez before his death in 2014, next year. After years of rumors that there was an “an entire Read more >

By Dan Sheehan

Haymarket Books is launching a fellowship for writers impacted by the criminal legal system.

Today, Haymarket Books announced a new fellowship aimed at supporting and uplifting writers impacted by the criminal legal system. The Writing Freedom Fellowship will grant 20 writers in poetry, fiction, and creative nonfiction  “a significant unrestricted award based upon their Read more >

By Literary Hub

Just a few hateful parents are responsible for most of the book challenges in America.

We all know that things are bad when it comes to widespread, targeted book-banning in America. It’s a free speech crisis unlike any we’ve seen in a generation, and follows in this country’s grand tradition of moral panic-as-national pastime. But Read more >

By Jonny Diamond

One great short story to read today: Kristin Valdez Quade's "The Five Wounds."

According to the powers that be (er, apparently according to Dan Wickett of the Emerging Writers Network), May is Short Story Month. To celebrate, the Literary Hub staff will be recommending a single short story, free to read online, every (work) day Read more >

By Emily Temple

25 new books out today!

It’s another Tuesday, and this means that the shelves are packed, once again, with exciting new offerings. Below, you’ll find brand-new fiction and intriguing translations of lesser-known novels; new collections of poetry; and a wide range of memoirs and conversation-starting Read more >

By Gabrielle Bellot

Good news: there are more bookstores in the US this year than last.

Today in good news, the American Booksellers Association announced that membership is at its highest level in 20 years. Per reporting by Hillel Italie at the Associated Press: The ABA added 173 members last year, and now has 2,185 bookstore Read more >

By Jonny Diamond

See the cover for Alissa Hattman's Sift

Literary Hub is pleased to reveal the cover for Alissa Hattman’s Sift, which will be published by The 3rd Thing in September. Here’s a bit about the book from the publisher: Two women set out through the haze of social Read more >

By Literary Hub

One great short story to read today: Charles Yu's "Standard Loneliness Package."

According to the powers that be (er, apparently according to Dan Wickett of the Emerging Writers Network), May is Short Story Month. To celebrate, the Literary Hub staff will be recommending a single short story, free to read online, every (work) day Read more >

By Emily Temple

Only in Florida: couple steals rare books, vintage comics, AND endangered tortoises.

It’s no wonder that book theft is on the rise in Florida, seeing as how Governor Ron DeSantis seems hellbent on making reading as hard as possible. So is anyone surprised a Florida couple (composed of a Florida Man and Read more >

By Jonny Diamond

One great short story to read today: Steven Millhauser's "Miracle Polish."

According to the powers that be (er, apparently according to Dan Wickett of the Emerging Writers Network), May is Short Story Month. To celebrate, the Literary Hub staff will be recommending a single short story, free to read online, every (work) day Read more >

By Emily Temple

Hong Kong neck-and-neck with Florida in bookbanning competition.

Citing the danger of “unhealthy ideas” Florida Governor Ron DeSantis Hong Kong Chief Executive John Lee is defending the clandestine removal of library books about the 1989 Tiananmen Square uprising, which saw upwards of a thousand deaths (estimates vary). All Read more >

By Jonny Diamond

We finally have a trailer for Killers of the Flower Moon.

Yes, after months, nay, years, of this single frame of Leo DiCaprio looking pensive at an old-timey dinner table being the sole visual representation of perhaps the most anticipated film of this still-young decade, Leo and Marty have finally released Read more >

By Dan Sheehan

Neil Gaiman put his pencil down to support the WGA strike.

Solidarity to members of the Writers Guild of America (WGA) East and West! ✊ The strike, which is now two weeks along, is perhaps the last stand against artists being replaced by AI bots, and one that will benefit labor Read more >

By Janet Manley

One great short story to read today:
ZZ Packer's "Brownies."

According to the powers that be (er, apparently according to Dan Wickett of the Emerging Writers Network), May is Short Story Month. To celebrate, the Literary Hub staff will be recommending a single short story, free to read online, every (work) day Read more >

By Emily Temple