Lit Hub Weekly: February 2 - 6, 2026

• Read more from our Letters from Minnesota series by Kaia Preus, Laurie Hertzel,  Marcie R. Rendon, and others. | Lit Hub
• Toni Morrison considers Blackness in the literary canon and what Flannery O’Connor’s fiction reveals about race in America. | Lit Hub Criticism
• Sasha Han talks to Maggie O’Farrell, the author of Hamnet, about grief, Shakespeare, and adapting her novel to the screen. | Lit Hub In Conversation
• Maris Kreizman tracks down the publishing world in the Epstein Files: “I don’t recommend doing this; I truly believe it made me physically ill.” | Lit Hub Politics
• “There is no correct way through this. You follow the advice that circulates, until it no longer applies. The circumstance is supernatural—a force majeure.” Anthony Dinh Tran on losing home and rebuilding in the year after the Eaton Fire. | Los Angeles Review of Books
• Brian Raferty charts the rise of Hannibal Lecter-as-unlikely-antihero. | Longreads
• Why content produced by today’s “slopagandists” isn’t so different from good old fashioned yellow journalism. | The Verge
• Rebecca Mead considers the literature of “good mothers.” | The New Yorker
• Eve Fairbanks on South African apartheid and why no one benefits from the police state. | The Dial
• “The resonance of Said’s books in our particular moment shows that short-term calculus is not always the most relevant measure of their value.” Rebecca Ruth Gould on reading Edward Said in the context of the Gaza genocide. | Los Angeles Review of Books
• In Richard L. Hasen’s book, The Voting Wars, he made the case for nationalizing elections. Trump has changed his mind. | Slate
• Darya Tsymbalyuk on Russia’s war on Ukraine and the grammar of survival. | Public Books
• Monica Potts explores the gender politics of Trump’s war on higher ed and the student loan crisis. | The New Republic
• Krys Malcolm Belc on rebuilding a safe haven in Minnesota: The job is simple, and involves a lot of standing around: volunteers are there to observe and to alert, as a protective measure so our neighbors’ kids and their parents don’t get kidnapped before they get to have their own golden post-drop off hour.” | Vogue
• Eli Cugini tracks the ascent of fan fiction in publishing. | Defector
• Hiromitsu Koiso on translating Anne Carson and Teju Cole into Japanese. | Asymptote
• Harris Solomon talks to Edna Bonhomme, author of A History of the World in Six Plagues, about the history and future of health. | Public Books
• “Our lack of knowledge about Shakespeare as a man, and our distance from his world, make it easier for us to fill his spaces with our own imaginings.” On The Bard’s endless cycle of death and rebirth. | The Baffler

Also on Lit Hub:

The legacy of Lawrence Ferlinghetti and City Lights • The best book covers from January • Titles coming out in paperback this month • On designing Infinite Jest’s original cover • 10 new children’s books • In search of Proust’s legacy in Ireland • Seven new poetry collections • Literary film and television coming to streaming • New sci-fi and fantasy books • On leaving your hometown • Philip Roth, anti-Zionism, and American Judaism • A Shakespeare-inspired reading list • On always remaining a “writer in training” • Read “[Speckled Yellow],” a poem By Simon Armitage • Make an ancient ancestor of mac and cheese • Mira Ptacin on grappling with perimenopausal aphasia • Russia’s new official dictionary as an ideological document • Daniel Poppick recommends books about work • Check out Bianca Stone’s TBR • From Gaza to Minneapolis, we’re being told not to believe what we see • Combating American medical racism • The collaboration between Bertolt Brecht and Walter Benjamin • Read three poems by Robert Fanning •  Zohran Mamdani’s uncertain relationship with New York’s Black voters • Senior women share stories of finding sexual freedom • 5 book reviews you need to read this week • Five essential books for understanding Afghanistan •  Sarah Montague explores the”king voice” • The legacy of one of Ireland’s great poets • Seeking solace in Thoreau • Gendered aging and idealized beauty explored through photography • Nancy Reddy reads sideways • The best reviewed books of the week • The experiences of Black Vietnam veterans • Khameer Kidia explores the impact of debt