Literature

Deep into my writing spiral in the fall of 2021, just when I was about to give up on turning my reporting at the Los Angeles Times into a book-length opus on sea level rise, Lizzie Johnson, now a reporter at the Washington Post, published a stunning, heartfelt account of one of the nation’s deadliest

September 29, 2023, 5:00am The wheel of the year continues, as ever, to turn, and that means that it’s now October, a month that can signal chills on the thermometer or those that run down your spine when something spooky rears its head. Fittingly, then, you’ll find some apt books newly released in paperback below

The following is from Eliza Clark’s Penance. A native of Newcastle, Clark lives in London, where she previously attended Chelsea College of Art. She works in social media marketing and has worked for women’s creative writing magazine Mslexia. In 2018, she received a grant from New Writing North’s “Young Writers’ Talent Fund.” Her short horror

TODAY: In 1928, Elie Wiesel is born.    “I’m only myself in front of my typewriter.” How Joan Didion became Joan Didion. | Lit Hub Biography “I can’t watch the news anymore without thinking, ‘Is there an Austen angle to this story? How do these billionaire-hungry orcas relate to Jane Austen?’” Diving into the world of Jane

TODAY: In 1810, English novelist Elizabeth Gaskell is born.   The art of adaptation in Iowa City: Hannah Bonner introduces the (second annual) Refocus Film Festival. | Lit Hub Film “Desire is always silly, and self-serious, and enormous, and and and and and and.” Isle McElroy on the art of the sex scene. | Lit

By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University) ‘The Watch-Towers’ is one of the finest of J. G. Ballard’s early stories. Published in 1962, the story concerns a town whose skyline is dominated by the tall observation-towers which provide the story with its title. Ballard’s story follows Renthall, a man who is trying to figure out just

September 29, 2023, 10:00am Starting this weekend, to coincide with Banned Books Week, The New Republic and their partners will be kicking off a month-long Banned Books Tour—sending a bookmobile around the country to share books, celebrate reading, and fight book banning. If you want to help, and you’ll be at the Brooklyn Book Festival

September 28, 2023, 10:00am Literary Hub is pleased to reveal the cover for Morgan Talty’s debut novel, Fire Exit, which will be published by Tin House in June. Here’s a bit about the book from the publisher: From the porch of his home, Charles Lamosway has watched the life he might have had unfold across the

By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University) When the word ‘homophobia’ was first invented, it didn’t mean what it means now. Instead, it had a different meaning. To discover the origins of the term ‘homophobia’, we have to delve into the etymology of the world, examine a small amount of Latin and less Greek, and discover

September 28, 2023, 10:03am This year’s Nobel Prize in Literature will be awarded next week, on October 5th. If you’re wondering who will win the prize, well, no one knows. No one ever really knows (though last year, some people guessed), considering that the nominations and deliberations are shrouded in secrecy, and also Swedish. But

September 27, 2023, 7:00pm Today, the shortlist for the 2023 Cundill History Prize which “celebrates books that create ‘dialogues between dilemmas of yesterday and today’”, was announced at an event at Scandinavia House, organized by McGill University. The winner will take home $75,000, the largest monetary award given for a book of non-fiction published in

By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University) ‘The Missing Mail’ is a story from Malgudi Days, the short-story collection by the Indian writer R. K. Narayan (1906-2001). ‘The Missing Mail’ is about a postman who is friendly with a particular family on his postal round. The story follows the attempts of the man of the family

If anyone has ever told you Dune is a “tough read,” it would be interesting to see if that same person was able to read an eight‑hundred‑page Stephen King or Harry Potter novel. Although there are dozens and dozens of characters, and various layers of politics, religion, philosophy, and science fiction projections, if you’re able

By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University) ‘Before the Birth of One of Her Children’ is a poem by Anne Bradstreet (c. 1612-72), who was the first poet, male or female, from America to have a book of poems published: The Tenth Muse Lately Sprung up in America appeared in 1650. As well as penning a

September 26, 2023, 12:39pm Gordan Greenberg and Steve Rosen’s new play Dracula: a Comedy of Terrors, now open at New World Stages, is production is replete with playful contradictions. Despite the presence of the word “terrors” in the title, there’s nothing too grisly to worry about. After all, the fanged teeth featured in the logo

TODAY: In 1888, T.S. Eliot is born.    “I’m only myself in front of my typewriter.” How Joan Didion became Joan Didion. | Lit Hub Biography A totally scientific and accurate flowchart for which hyped-up fall book(s) you should read. | Lit Hub “If you don’t feel the full horror of that moment with your whole

By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University) ‘The Immortal Bard’ is a short story by the science-fiction author and prolific non-fiction writer, Isaac Asimov (1920-92). The story’s title wittily plays on the phrase used to describe William Shakespeare, who lives on and is thus ‘immortal’ thanks to his work. In the story, Shakespeare himself is rendered

TODAY: In 1952, bell hooks is born. (Image courtesy of Denison)     “Over the last hundred years, diabetes should have lost much of its bite.” Stuart Bradwel breaks down the insulin crisis of the 21st century and the tragic consequences of unethical profiteering. | Lit Hub Health Ken Follett on finding inspiration in Ian Fleming,