Lit Hub Daily: November 19, 2025
THE BEST OF THE LITERARY INTERNET
TODAY: In 1850, Alfred Tennyson is named Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom after Samuel Rogers declined the offer, succeeding William Wordsworth.
- On day three of our What was Literary Twitter? bracket, some top seeds remain in the game, but the upsets haven’t stopped. Vote here to help your favorite literary internet moments keep climbing! | Lit Hub
- How do we know aliens do science? “Just because aliens arrive with snazzy blasters doesn’t mean they can explain how they work, or that they even care to know.” | Lit Hub Science
- Violet Kupersmith considers the stylistic and thematic innovation of Find Him!, Elaine Kraf’s experimental hidden gem. | Lit Hub Criticism
- “Pristine maps are unused maps and so, while they might be nicer to look at, they are sure to have had much less intriguing histories.” In praise of old maps. | Lit Hub Libraries
- Donald Sassoon discusses how the legacy of the French Revolution carried forward into the present. | Lit Hub History
- Simon Winchester considers the duality of wind: “Gales seem to be blowing where they ought not to, and are ceasing to blow where for centuries past they always have.” | Lit Hub Science
- “I hear him before I see him. / An underbelly of bright white light / a ghost in the shadows.” Read “Tremor,” a poem by Fatema Abdoolcarim from the collection Tremble. | Lit Hub Poetry
- “Obediently my mouth opened with eyes to a collection of hot colors. Out came something unpleasant to my tongue—it was hard, lined down and wouldn’t slide.” Read from Elaine Kraf’s novel, Find Him! | Lit Hub Fiction
- “For me, Kafka is the paradigmatic example of a writer we read, even devour, and return to with joy, yet still hunger to see interpreted by others.” Jonathan Lethem on Kafka (and his dog). | The Nation
- Sebastian Castillo makes the case for tackling long, dense, difficult books with a little help from your friends. | The New York Times Magazine
- “These days I have no passport, no documents. And even if I manage to get one, I cannot return to Egypt.” Ahmed Naji on exile and reinvention. | The Dial
- Mark Iosifescu considers the cult of Thomas Pynchon. | n+1
- Eliza Clark offers (hopefully) the last word on “where are the male novelists?” | Vogue UK
- Andi Zeisler considers Andrea Gibson’s life through their poetry, Reddit AMAs, and a new documentary. | Salon
Article continues after advertisement
