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News, Notes, Talk

Here's the longlist for the 2022 Baillie Gifford Prize for Nonfiction.

Today, the judges for the Baillie Gifford Prize for Nonfiction announced their 2022 longlist: 12 books that represent the best in nonfiction writing published in the UK in the last year. “It was a fiendishly difficult, but also highly enjoyable Read more >

By Literary Hub

Hemingway made fun of Fitzgerald's boxing abilities in a newly-uncovered short story.

How far have you gone to roast a friend? How about writing a passive-aggressive story that portrays them as a scrappy boxer who thinks they’re stronger than they are and gets beaten up for it? Welcome to literary payback, Hemingway-style: Read more >

By Corinne Segal

The secret to Taylor Swift's writing process is... cool pens.

We here at Literary Hub dot com are huge Taylor Swift fans. We are awaiting her new album with bated breath. We are listening to all the old stuff (Taylor’s version) in anticipation. We will find literally any excuse to write Read more >

By Katie Yee

Do you have $1900 to spend on this gigantic, unreadable book?

You do? Well, good for you, I guess. The “book” in question is a 21,450-page single volume edition of the long-running manga One Piece by Japanese manga artist Eiichiro Oda, smushed together so as to make it impossible to read. As Read more >

By Dan Sheehan

Recommended reading for Banned Books Week.

If you’re on the literary Internet, you probably know that it’s Banned Books Week. You’ve probably also seen so many school and local library book challenges that you’ve lost count. According to PEN America’s latest report, there have been more Read more >

By Katie Yee

The Secret History's tragic flaw is that the group is simply not fun enough.

I recently reread Donna Tartt’s Dark Academia classic The Secret History—published 30 years ago this month—for the first time since I was a young identity-less Classics student myself. On the whole, I found the book as enjoyable as I remember Read more >

By Jessie Gaynor

How Jean-Paul Sartre managed to spend his military service working on his novel.

On September 20th, 1939, Jean-Paul Sartre was conscripted into the French Army. Because of his exotropia, which he said caused him balance issues, and his partial blindness, he didn’t go to the front. Instead, they made him a meteorologist. It Read more >

By Emily Temple

15 new books emitting a siren call to you today.

It’s a doozy! This week brings us new books by Yiyun Li, Elizabeth Strout, Andrew Sean Greer, Chelsea Martin, and more. * Yiyun Li, The Book of Goose (FSG) “The most propulsively entertaining of Li’s novels, The Book of Goose is Read more >

By Katie Yee

PEN America documented more than 2,500 book bans during the last school year.

PEN America has released a new report on book bans in schools during the 2021-22 school year showing a marked increase in efforts to limit what students are reading—and a troubling, coordinated campaign of groups pushing those efforts. From July Read more >

By Corinne Segal

When in Need, What to Read: Introducing our new advice column for book lovers.

Dear Reader, Every so often, life has a funny way of putting the right book into our hands at the right time. You’ll read a passage, and you’ll feel like it was written for you, specifically. You’ll look around the Read more >

By Dorothea

Woody Allen is retiring from
filmmaking . . . to work on his novel.

Sure, Woody Allen may be a celebrity octogenarian with millions of dollars and a decimated reputation, but he’s also just like you: keeping up with pandemic trends by quitting his job to follow his real passion! On Sunday, Woody Allen, Read more >

By Emily Temple

It's official: Book-banning attempts aimed at libraries are way up this year.

The American Library Association has released its preliminary data on attempts to censor books or limit library resources, and the numbers are bad. From Jan. 1 to Aug. 31, there were 681 “attempts to ban or restrict library resources,” targeting Read more >

By Corinne Segal

Here's the longlist for the 2022 National Book Award in Fiction.

Today, the National Book Foundation announced the 10 books on the longlist for the 2022 National Book Award for Fiction. The judges for this year’s award are Ben Fountain (Chair), Brandon Hobson, Pam Houston, Dana Johnson, and Michelle Malonzo. The Read more >

By Emily Temple

Here's the longlist for the 2022 National Book Award for Nonfiction.

Today, the National Book Foundation announced the 10 books on the longlist for the 2022 National Book Award for Nonfiction, including memoirs, science writing, biographies, and histories, as well as three books that tackle the pandemic. The judges for this Read more >

By Emily Temple

Here's the shortlist for the 2022 BBC National Short Story Award.

The BBC National Short Story Award with Cambridge University shortlist was announced today on BBC Radio 4’s Front Row. The prize, which seeks to herald a “new vanguard of British writing,” comes with a £15,000 purse; the other shortlisted writers Read more >

By Emily Temple

After 16 months of negotiation, the Verso Books Union has ratified its contract.

Good news for workers’ rights! The US arm of Verso Books has ratified its union contract 16 months after they began negotiations, making it the first publisher to have a contract with NewsGuild, “the largest union of journalists, media workers Read more >

By Jessie Gaynor

Is the pandemic twist the new 9/11 twist?

The Literature of 9/11 is undoubtedly a rich subject that has been explored at length by people with much more extensive education than I have. But there’s a segment of novels that take place in the months leading up to Read more >

By Jessie Gaynor

LeVar Burton says people who ban books are "dirtbags."

In case you needed a strong reminder that banning books is wrong—or extra motivation to read the books that have recently been targeted—LeVar Burton is here for you. During a recent appearance at Rose City Comic Com in Portland, Oregon, Read more >

By Corinne Segal

Roald Dahl's writing routine involved a shed, a sleeping bag, and cigarettes.

In 1982, Frank Delaney of the BBC visited Roald Dahl at home for a long conversation that meandered from children’s literature to 18th-century furniture and making orange marmalade. During that visit, Dahl gave Delaney a glimpse at his writing routine, Read more >

By Corinne Segal

Here's the longlist for the 2022 National Book Award in Poetry.

Today, the National Book Foundation announced the 10 books on the longlist for the 2022 National Book Award for Poetry, including volumes by a MacArthur Fellow, a Pulitzer Prize winner, and three Whiting Award winners. The judges for this year’s Read more >

By Emily Temple