The Hub

News, Notes, Talk

What is this summer's big mystery book?

The Internet is abuzz over a forthcoming nonfiction book, a 544-page memoir (including 40 full-color photographs) slated to be published by Flatiron on July 9th. Why? Because The Internet thinks it was probably written by Taylor Swift. It all started Read more >

By Emily Temple

Chinese man builds bookstore on a mountaintop. Yes, he’s a poet.

A 57-year-old “self-styled poet” (aren’t they all?) has spent $116,000 of his own money to build a bookstore in a mountaintop village. Oh, and it’s shaped like the number 7 and contains 7,000 books. No, this is not a parable. Read more >

By Jonny Diamond

Meet the owners of the newest bookstore in Brooklyn.

Forty years ago, my not-yet-gentrified neighborhood in Brooklyn had one bookstore, Mostly Books. When the owner retired, it became a video store (RIP Cousins). Then it was derelict, then it was councilman’s office, and now it’s (obviously) a real estate Read more >

By Emily Firetog

Have a look back at every Pulitzer Prize for Nonfiction winner of the 21st Century.

This afternoon, at around 3PM (EST), from Columbia University in New York City, the winner of this year’s Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction will be announced. As well as a check for a cool $15,000 dollars (which feels a little Read more >

By Literary Hub

Announcing the 2023-2024 Steinbeck Fellows.

Literary Hub is pleased to announce the 2023-2024 Steinbeck Fellows: A.J. Bermudez, Francisco González, Alexia Nader, Itto Outini, Amanda Rizkalla and Xueyou Wang. The Steinbeck Fellows Program is financed by the Martha Heasley Cox Center for Steinbeck Studies at San Read more >

By Literary Hub

One great short story to read today: Viet Thanh Nguyen's "Black-Eyed Women."

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

Scholastic recognizes 100 years of teen writing.

What do Amanda Gorman, Truman Capote, John Updike, and Joyce Carol Oates have in common? Each won a Scholastic Art & Writing Award as a teen. The Scholastic Art & Writing Awards began in 1923 and continue to support young Read more >

By Janet Manley

Have a look back at every Pulitzer Prize for Fiction winner of the 21st Century.

On Monday, at around 3PM (EST), from Columbia University in New York City, the winner of this year’s Pulitzer Prize for Fiction will be announced. As well as a check for a cool $15,000 dollars (which feels a little low, Read more >

By Literary Hub

One great short story to read today:
Stuart Dybek's "Paper Lantern."

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 Dan Sheehan

Fatimah Asghar takes the inaugural Carol Shields Prize for Fiction.

The “richest literary prize in the world for women and non-binary writers,” The Carol Shields Prize for Fiction, announced its first winner over night at an event at Parnassus Books. Please have a glass in hand … Fatimah Asghar, author Read more >

By Janet Manley

Happy coronation week! Here's an unforgivable children's book about King Charles.

When we were but children in a distant former colony, we had a set of cardboard coronation crowns upholstered poorly in imitation velvet so we could play kings and queens. The Queen was on our money, and her portrait hung Read more >

By Janet Manley

Illinois passes bill to stop book-bannings.

Guess who made it out of committee? On Wednesday, the Illinois state legislature passed House Bill 2789, which would ensure libraries or schools that remove books from their shelves do so with the knowledge they shall ~shelve~ the state grant Read more >

By Janet Manley

This Alaska bookstore in Sarah Palin’s hometown isn’t backing down about its drag story time.

Respect and support to Wasilla, Alaska’s Black Birch Books, who’re getting a lot of online flack for announcing a drag story time in June. But despite a slew of negative, and sometimes threatening, comments and reviews, Black Birch owner Taylor Read more >

By Jonny Diamond

One great short story to read today:
Diane Cook's "The Way the End of Days Should Be."

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

Here's the cover for Katherine Min's posthumous novel The Fetishist.

Lit Hub is pleased to share the cover from Katherine Min’s novel, The Fetishist, which will be published by Putnam in January 2024. Min’s debut novel Secondhand World was a runner-up for the PEN-Bingham Award in 2007. Writer Cathy Park Hong met Min in 2009 Read more >

By Literary Hub

One great short story to read today: Edward P. Jones's "Bad Neighbors."

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