Literature

By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University) What has a woman named Iris got to do with the famous track of that name by the Goo Goo Dolls? And does the name, in fact, have anything to do with the song, besides providing it with its title? ‘Iris’ has become the signature song by the American

June 28, 2023, 10:49am You might be a person of letters, but has an internationally renowned body deemed you the “ambassador of gibberish?” If not, you have something to work toward. The honorific was delivered to children’s author Michael Rosen from poet Raymond Antrobus, who was on the judging panel of the 2023 PEN Pinter

Another month of books, another month of book covers. June was full of winks, nods, and interesting framings—here are my favorites, but as ever, feel free to add on to my list in the comments below: Magogodi oaMphela Makhene, Innards (Norton, June 6) It’s the look on the girl’s face, it’s the bluntness of the

By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University) Who were Castor and Pollux and what are the details of the story involving these two figures from Greek mythology? These two Greek heroes, who are now perhaps most familiar to people because they became immortalised in the constellation Gemini in the night sky, are the subject of a

June 27, 2023, 11:10am Aubrey Graham has released a book of poetry with Kenza Samir, which in straight prose translates roughly to: Drake’s poetry chapbook is outttttttt! Kenza Samir is a songwriter who has been credited on several Drake albums. You can order Titles Ruin Everything: A stream of consciousness by Aubrey Graham and Kenza

June 27, 2023, 5:10am It’s the 27th, which means that June, joltingly, is nearing its end. But with a new week comes a new slew of exciting fiction, nonfiction, and poetry (and, just as excitingly, books that bend the borders of genre). Below, you’ll find a wide selection of books out today (and one out

By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University) Repetition in poetry can take many forms. A particular clause or phrase might be repeated in the same line, or in successive lines; the same line might conclude more than one stanza of a longer poem; or a whole stanza might be repeated, such as when the first stanza

June 26, 2023, 11:24am A new “oldest book in the world” has been discovered! And it’s about tax records pertaining to beer and olive oil. Researchers at Special Collections at Graz University Library recently… …came across an Egyptian papyrus from the 3rd century BC [that] shows evidence of sewing, indicating that it must have been

Let us consider the brighter and sillier side of Henry David Thoreau on the subject of work. Sometimes, when work is at its worst—its most exacting, alienating, rushed—we need grim humor to be honest with those around us, to break through all of the toxic positivity, prim professionalism, and the artificiality of a human animal

By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University) Don McLean’s ‘American Pie’ is one of the most famous songs in the annals of rock music. McLean’s most popular song – when asked that the song meant, he famously said ‘it means I don’t have to work if I don’t want to’ – the song has attracted numerous

This first appeared in Lit Hub’s Craft of Writing newsletter—sign up here. If you’ve ever tried to walk somewhere with a toddler, you’ll have a sense of what reading the first draft of my novel was like: Despite the promise of a destination, you are forced to stop to examine every stoop, every tree, every rock, every

By now, we’re adept at defending our interest in television’s antiheroes. As viewers and critics, we’ve been rehearsing versions of this defense since The Sopranos. Even if a series follows a depraved protagonist, or multiple depraved protagonists, it can still be concerned with the moral considerations weighed by its audience. Perhaps that series can even

By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University) ‘The Doctor’s Word’ is a story from Malgudi Days, the short-story collection by the Indian writer R. K. Narayan (1906-2001). This short tale tells of a doctor, Ramu, who goes to attend to his sick friend, Gopal. As Jhumpa Lahiri points out in her informative introduction to the Penguin

TODAY: In 1900, the Hanlin Library, the greatest library in the world (that you’ve never heard of), burns down. At long last, summer has arrived! Celebrate with 50 of the greatest summery novels of all time (according to us). | Lit Hub Reading Lists Sometimes all you need to get writing again is… Taylor Swift. | Lit Hub Music “Self-hating, dishonest,

By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University) Metre (or meter) is a key building-block of poetry. Often used synonymously with the term ‘rhythm’, the metre of a poem is the pattern of the poem’s rhythm: the ground-plan, if you will, which determines the overall pattern of the poem’s rhythmic structure. The term ‘metre’ is from the

TODAY: In 1901, Turkish author Ahmet Hamdi Tanpınar is born.    Gentle wisdom for a postwar era: Lisa Rowe Fraustino considers the context of The Velveteen Rabbit as it turns 100. | Lit Hub History Noah Ciubotaru wonders if our praise for TV’s antiheroes has been misplaced (and recommends shows that actually engage with morality).

By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University) ‘The Devoted Friend’ is one of the fairy tales for children written by the Irish author Oscar Wilde (1854-1900). It was published in the 1888 collection The Happy Prince and Other Tales. ‘The Devoted Friend’ is about a Miller named Hugh, who professes to be devoted to his friend

June 23, 2023, 8:31am The winners of its ninth annual Firecracker Awards were announced by the The Community of Literary Magazines & Presses in a virtual ceremony on June 22nd, and some of the year’s most talked-about titles were on the list. Each winner receives a prize of between $1,000 and $2,000. Roll on to