Literature
Books, writing, reviews, poetry, and storytelling.
Killing the Pope review – the truth behind the attempted murder of John Paul II
Was the failed assassination of the Polish pope a Soviet plot or simply the work of a deranged hitman? On the afternoon of Wednesday 13 May 1981, St Peter’s Square in Rome was packed with more than 10
Karen Olsson on Writing About the Endangered Species of South Texas
Austin-based novelist Karen Olsson’s background as a journalist (as writer-at-large for Texas Monthly and an editor of the late Texas Observer) has enriched her fiction since the beginning of her care
Annie Proulx, Dustin Hoffman, Rachel Maddow, and more: 20 new books out today!
It’s a month of nonfiction galore: many of our most beloved, prolific, and/or erudite celebrities and talking heads have come out of the woodwork, leaving us with one more composition of history and b
This Impossible Life
On the outskirts of the 3rd Mainland Bridge, the old lady dropped Alohan off. For the weeks following, he wandered around, vagabonding the peripheral roads stemming out of the bridge, astounded by his
Lessons in Harmony by Jonathan Coe review – what can music tell us about national identity?
The unlikely friendship between French and English composers Maurice Ravel and Ralph Vaughan Williams has inspired a tender and generous novel In 1907, composer Ralph Vaughan Williams confided to the
M. John Harrison’s The End of Everything has won the 2026 Booker Prize.
Today, at a ceremony in London, M. John Harrison was awarded the 2026 Booker Prize for his novel, The End of Everything. “It’s a book that turns you upside down, raises a wry smile—and surprisingly, g
M John Harrison becomes first science fiction author to win the Booker prize
The 81-year-old’s postapocalyptic novel The End of Everything takes home the £50,000 award Guardian fiction editor Justine Jordan on M John Harrison’s win: A visionary writer gets the recognition he d
Apocalyptic sci-fi novel 'The End of Everything' wins this year's Booker Prize
M. John Harrison's slim novel is the first Booker Prize winner that's "emerged from the bona fide [sci-fi] world," according to the Booker Prize Foundation's chief executive.
You can now buy the ashes of Truman Capote’s dog.
The late Truman Capote left behind a prodigious amount of novel drafts, New Journalism, and frenemies when he died in 1984. He also, you might not be surprised to learn, left behind a lot of tchotckes
Lit Hub Daily: November 9, 2026
What’s the best literary TV adaptation of all time? Vote in the first round of our bracket to help your favorite shows make it to the top! | Lit Hub If you’re a writer, being a fangirl online might pa
What is the Best Literary TV Adaptation of All Time?
Who says TV rots your brain? These days, it delivers its fair share of great storytelling, whether original or adapted. But this is Literary Hub, after all, and so as the weather gets cooler, we’ll be
How Online Fandom Made Me a Writer
Growing up, I always preferred fictional worlds to the real one. As an only child who struggled with social anxiety and was very much not athletically inclined, I spent most of my childhood buried in
This Week in Literary History: America’s First Lending Library Gets its First Ten Members
This first appeared in Lit Hub’s Literary History newsletter—sign up here. In 1731, Benjamin Franklin had an idea. At that time, in colonial America, books were rare, and prohibitively expensive for m
Writing Iran’s January Massacre in a Non-Mother Tongue
To our readers: These notes were written, in conversation with one another, in the immediate aftermath of the January 2026 massacre in Iran and the concurrent internet blackout. For months, we did not
Olivia Laing on Chronicling the World of 1970s Italian Cinema
Step into the world of The Silver Book with Olivia Laing, award-winning author of The Lonely City, Everybody, and Funny Weather, as they discuss their spellbinding new novel of art, queer love, and il
What It Means To Be a Basque Writer
“There is no such thing as an ugly language. Today I hear every language as if it were the only one, and when I hear of one that is dying, it overwhelms me as though it were the death of
Two Women by Jacqueline Rose review – a memorial to Gillian Rose
The connections between the author’s sister and the German Jewish philosopher Edith Stein are vividly imagined in alternating chapters of a fictional biography In a long and distinguished career as a
17 Books About Native American Culture to Read This November
University presses have played an important, if complex, role in the history of Native studies and more than 80 members of the Association of University Presses (AUPresses) currently publish in this f