Lit Hub Weekly: February 24 - 28, 2025

• “I’d always figured that my preference for the past and the future is one of the reasons I’m drawn to writing fiction.” What breaking seven ribs taught Jane Pek about writing. | Lit Hub Craft
• How much can—or should—we know about our literary idols? Anna Funder on George Orwell and real life doublethink. | Lit Hub Memoir
• “The nation’s founding document is nothing if not an attempt to convince the world of a dubious conspiracy theory.” Andrew Lawler traces an American history of conspiracy. | Lit Hub History
• Wendy Chen considers what translating Li Qingzhao taught her about her own work: “There was a seductive magic to the process of translation; it felt like a communion that transcended time and space.” | Lit Hub On Translation
• Lessons from Edward Gorey, in honor of his 100th birthday. | The New Yorker
• “Like most narratives of violence, rape stories tend to clot in the fissure between the aberrant and the banal.” Jamie Hood on Gisèle Pelicot, Virginie Despentes, and post-#MeToo narratives. | Bookforum
• Gene Scheer on adapting Moby-Dick as an opera. | The Paris Review
• Joseph Cox on finding a slop publisher selling an AI rip-off of his book. | 404 Media
• “Perhaps when a neurotypical reads Convenience Store Woman, they are experiencing what an autistic person feels like reading fiction most of the time—and that’s not a bad thing.” Clare Richards on the significance of disabled writers and translators presenting their community on their own terms. | Words Without Borders
• “A dirty, rotten war is unfolding before my eyes. The world is starting to get used to it. I cannot get used to it.” Hari Kunzru interviews László Krasznahorkai. | The Yale Review
• Missouri Williams considers Djuna Barnes’s often overlooked stories: “…Barnes’s short stories are strange, mechanical offerings that exhibit characters and events that feel as determined as clockwork.” | The Nation
• Audrey Wollen revisits Janet Frame’s novel, The Edge of the Alphabet. | The New Yorker
• Nico Millman talks to members of the Pinko Collective about the revised and updated edition of their book, After Accountability: A Critical Genealogy of a Concept. | Full Stop
• Dan Kois explores the afterlives of A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius. | Slate
• “Dworkin, at her most successful, attempts a feminism of greater cogency and commitment than much of what has been on offer today.” Moira Donegan on Andrea Dworkin’s newly reissued Right-Wing Women. | New York Review of Books
• Gilbert Ahnee and Ariel Saramandi on fiction, journalism, and the Mauritian novel. | Asymptote
• “In this fixed economy of spoils, there is little point to an institution whose goal is ‘equalizing.’” Jennifer C. Berkshire looks at Trump’s war on public education. | The Baffler
• Michael Lewis on his favorite literary one-hit wonders. | The New Yorker
• New poetry from Alberto Ríos, Donika Kelly, and David Baker, inspired by the latest scientific research. | Orion

Also on Lit Hub:

Fiona Warnick talks to Sheila Heti about AI and writing for children • Elaine Equi on blankness • Emma Copley Eisenberg talks to Paul Lisicky about Joni Mitchell • The changing of the seasons through a mastodon’s eyes • The history and evolution of the color pink • The benefits of writing classic lit fan fiction • New books by Paul Lisicky, Omar El Akkad, and more • Dan Sheehan talks to Omar El-Akkad about genocide and Gaza • A recipe for pistachio kulfi, inspired by Asha Thanki’s A Thousand Times Before • Ed Simon reflects on Wonder Boys after 30 years • Ada Calhoun argues in praise of the book blurb • Andrea Barrett writing fresh historical fiction • Brad Johnson on the destruction and rebirth of East Bay Booksellers • How California made Ronald Reagan • Video games, violence and the allure of the vigilante hero • 10 Washington D.C books that aren’t about politicians • On daily life with a defective heart • Jane Tara on going blind in her 40s • Recovering and preserving Mexico’s trans history • Why so many book workers don’t make a living wage • On finding your story in that of your ancestors • Memoirs that show the many sides of Cuba • 5 book reviews you need to read this week • Novels that showcase the literary culture of the Middle East • Karen Thompson Walker on the real (and unreal) in fiction • This week on The Lit Hub Podcast • Ten nonfiction books to check out in March • February’s best reviewed books • Our favorite February book covers • The literary film and TV streaming in March • The most anticipated audiobooks for March