Literary Hub » Lit Hub Daily: February 6, 2026

THE BEST OF THE LITERARY INTERNET

TODAY: In 1995, James Merrill dies.

LETTERS FROM MINNESOTA: Laurie Hertzel on finding solidarity amidst the tear gas • Kaia Preus on why there isn’t time for mom guilt. | Lit Hub Politics
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
Gioia Woods reflects on the legacy of Lawrence Ferlinghetti and City Lights. | Lit Hub Bookstores
Ahndraya Parlato explores gendered aging and idealized beauty through photography and letters. | Lit Hub Art
Nancy Reddy researches beyond the archives by reading sideways. | Lit Hub Craft
Cristina Rivera Garza’s Autobiography of Cotton, Yi-Ling Liu’s The Wall Dancers, and Sarah Bruni’s Mass Mothering all feature among the best reviewed books of the week. | Book Marks
“Nothing compared to Vietnam when showcasing Black bravery, strength, and even political expression in the war zones of Southeast Asia.” Wil Haygood remembers the experiences of Black Vietnam veterans. | Lit Hub History
Khameer Kidia explores the impact of debt as a burden of money (and health). | Lit Hub Health
“The sound of hooves beating on the sandy ground comes first. Then the breathing, strained and short-winded. Panting. A snort.” Read from Cristina Rivera Garza’s novel Autobiography of Cotton, translated by Christina MacSweeney. | Lit Hub Fiction
“Morrison makes no bones about making jest of incest, lynching, murder, even infanticide in many of her works.” On the humor of Toni Morrison. | New York Review of Books
Clyde W. Barrow on reading C. Wright Mills in the age of Trump. | Jacobin
Hiromitsu Koiso on translating Anne Carson and Teju Cole into Japanese. | Asymptote
“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
Antonio Melechi explores the boundary between wakefulness and sleep. | The MIT Press Reader
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