Literature
Books, writing, reviews, poetry, and storytelling.
Watching The Librarians With Librarians During Banned Books Week
On Tuesday, Oct. 6, in the middle of Banned Books Week, three intrepid high school seniors—Laird Bowser, Alec Thomsen, and Devin Protti—spearheaded a sold-out benefit screening of the 2025 documentary
“Hello Daughter”
Lori hadn’t heard from Freddie in a week or so. She wasn’t even sure if she had her daughter’s current address. They don’t talk that much, but she says hi every week, and Freddie sends I’m still not d
Look at Me by Dustin Hoffman review – an era-defining actor says his piece
At 89, the star of the Graduate and Ran Man demonstrates both brilliance and a startling lack of self-awareness The choice of title for an actor’s autobiography can be revealing. Sylvester Stallone we
Tom Gauld on prompts for a cartoon about artificial intelligence and writing – cartoon
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The efficiency trap: why optimising everything can backfire, badly
From roundabouts to the stock market, relentless streamlining could be making the world more dangerous We have all been there: packed shoulder to shoulder on the train while the person beside us cough
‘No tech, no texts, just childhood’: author Liz Pichon on the secrets behind her multi-million selling Tom Gates series
As her long-running children’s book series turns 15, Liz Pichon talks about overcoming dyslexia to become a bestselling author If you ever find yourself in an airport newsagent, it might be worth peer
Lit Hub Weekly: November 2 – 6, 2026
How J.R.R. Tolkien’s Catholicism impacted his writing: “Tolkien, it is fair to say, saw God everywhere…above all, in his art.” | Lit Hub Biography Ed Simon explores the symbol of Guy Fawkes and V for
Narrative threads: How to write a Booker-shortlisted novel, by Marlon James, Douglas Stuart, Elizabeth Strout and more
A trip to the Scottish islands, a psychological experiment, a chance encounter in a drugstore… the finalists for this year’s Booker prize reveal their inspirations Who knows where a novel really comes
The Queens Public Library system is being held for ransom.
In a bizarre turn of events, on Wednesday November 4th, New York City’s Queens Public Library (QPL) system, which operates 66 branches, experienced an attack on its online networks by a hacker. The en
Take the n+1 bookmatch quiz and know thyself.
Our friends at n+1 are back with their annual pre-yuletide gift. Bookmatch, the highly bespoke literary quiz, pairs readers with a custom-made syllabus based on their answers to a dozen or so quirky q
Russell Brand books withdrawn by UK publishers after his conviction for rape and sexual assault
Pan Macmillan and Hodder & Stoughton have both confirmed that work by the comedian and writer will be pulled, and other publishers’ books are no longer available Two major British publishers have conf
The best recent poetry – review roundup
The Universe is an Animal by Jessica Mookherjee; Sleep Gate by Sylvia Legris; The Other Love by Henri Cole; Stay Winter by Nidhi Zak/Aria Eipe The Universe Is an Animal by Jessica Mookherjee (Nine Arc
Lit Hub Daily: November 6, 2026
Katherine Kelaidis on Sergey Davydov and why stories of ordinary life are essential in times of political upheaval: “Hatred and division, the business of political conflict, are not the organizing pri
Nikita Gill: ‘I read Flowers in the Attic too young. Someone should have stopped me’
The Indian-Irish poet on the Mahabharata retelling that inspired her to write, Arundhati Roy’s courage, and the poetry of Lucille Clifton My earliest reading memory My father was a sailor and my mothe
Science Friction: An Argument for More Sex in Sci-Fi
This first appeared in Lit Hub’s Craft of Writing newsletter—sign up here. For centuries, sailors enduring months-long voyages would gaze out at sea mammals sunning themselves and think the thought as
Who Gets to Write About Ordinary Life?
We keep asking Sergey Davydov for a news report, but what he really wants to tell us is a love story. It would be to our advantage if we do it his way. His sophomore foray outside of theatre, Мидвест
How Neuroscience Can Give Paralyzed People The Chance to Speak Again
A young adult man with closely cropped dark brown hair sits in a wheelchair in a dimly lit room, facing a computer screen on which a simple phrase is typed out: “How are you today?” Underneath the qu
”Arabic Music,” a Poem by Mahmoud Darwish
“If only men were stones.” If only I were a stone… Whenever the eyes wander, Do these clouds, one by one, Put me to flight? When a sparrow scratches at the horizon Do I search for an idol? At each