Lit Hub Weekly: February 9 - 13, 2026

• Read more from our Letters from Minnesota series by Josina Manu Maltzman, Đenise Hạnh Huỳnh, Dara Moskowitz Grumdahl, and more. | Lit Hub Politics
• Keza Macdonald chronicles how Super Mario Bros. became one of the most beloved video games of all time. | Lit Hub Art
• Why do fascists fetishize the classics? Ed Simon has some thoughts. | Lit Hub Criticism
• “An addict doesn’t not love you, at least in my mother’s case, but an addict robs from you your peace of mind, and they can’t see it.” Kevin McEnroe on his mom, Tatum O’Neal. | Lit Hub Memoir
• “Goddam it’s cold. But I was raised here. I know that winter is just a season. I know that moving fast and sloppy in these conditions will put you on your ass quick.” Danez Smith on the ruthless moment in Minnesota. | Jewish Currents
• Heather McCalden ruminates on the struggle to articulate the feeling of an old world fading away. | Dirt
• Ashley Parker considers the murder of The Washington Post. | The Atlantic
• The mass market paperback is dead. Long live the mass market paperback. | The New York Times
• Devin Thomas O’Shea considers the past—and necessary future—of proletarian literature. | Jacobin
• Emily Zarevich on Dorothy Parker, the professor. | JSTOR Daily
• On the search for the saviors who will save Wikipedia from AI. | The Dial
• “The books section of a newspaper plays an altogether different role. It does not cater to aficionados; it seeks new recruits.” Becca Rothfeld on the death of Book World. | The New Yorker
• Is the cis literary world okay? (No, probably). | Public Books
• “The whole-cloth erasure and erosion of Black communities will not be undone quickly or perhaps ever.” Naomi Jackson on the disappearance of the Black mecca of her youth. | Curbed
• On the desperate, poetic horrors of Denis Johnson. | The New Republic
• Christine Jacobson chronicles the literary history carried by women’s invisible labor. | The Public Domain Review
• “It became increasingly clear that in the media, the controversy was being perceived through an ideological lens rather than a literary one.” Neriman Kuyucu Norman explores the line between plagiarism and intertextuality. | Asymptote
• How Dante and Milton subverted Hell in their visions of the underworld. | Aeon
• Paul McAdory considers our (misguided) obsession with historical accuracy in film adaptations. | The New York Times Magazine

Also on Lit Hub:

Reflecting on Audre Lorde’s Zami • This week in literary history • Sophie Newman talks to Naomi Washer, author of Marginalia • How gerrymandering helps Republicans • A eulogy for Book World • Jane Ciabattari talks to Cristina Rivera Garza • Karen Russell revisits Joy Williams’s The Changeling • Memory, identity and self-imposed exile in Istanbul • Writing a romance novel that decenters the abled gaze • The connection between feminism and Palestinian liberation • Why we should never mourn alone • Eleanor Shearer recommends queer historical fiction • How writing historical fiction helped Janie Chang understand her family • The legacy of Halldór Laxness • Writing what excites you, regardless of genre • The secret to deposing a mad king • The Independent Press Top 40 bestsellers for fiction and nonfiction • Am I the literary asshole? • On fiction and endometriosis • 5 book reviews you need to read this week • Who designs the cover when a cover designer writes a book? • The mesmerizing immediacy of Elizabeth Wurtzel’s work • Martin Aitken’s TBR • Writing between the past and present • Two poems by Ed Bok Lee for those who have died in the streets of Minneapolis • Pick up a romance novel about fake dating • The Blind Date With a Book phenomenon • The science behind desire • When your dad buys Foucault’s old car • On translating Holocaust literature in a time of rising fascism • The joys of (quiet) communal writing • The best reviewed books of the week • Learning from playing Sun Ra in college