J.R.R. Tolkien on Fairy Tales, Language, the Psychology of Fantasy, and Why There’s No Such Thing as Writing “For Children” — “Creative fantasy, because it is mainly trying to do something else (make something new), may open your hoard and let all the locked things fly away like
Are Writers Intrinsically Vulnerable to Alcohol and Drugs? — The history of art in general, and literature in particular, is full of alcoholics, opium addicts, cocaine users, and junkies of all sorts. And the process is always the same: the chemical muse kil…
Photographer Bitten by ‘Shark or Sea Lion’ During Surf Competition — The photographer described the attack as 'nightmare fuel'
On Group Portraiture and the Secret Histories of Art: Paul Elie and Julia Cooke in Conversation — A decade and change ago, Paul Elie taught a class that I found formative. Its focus was first books, and he talked about each assignment in revelatory terms, prodding us graduate stu
Win cool gadgets we can’t keep because The Verge has ethics — Did you know The Verge doesn’t keep the products companies send?
Lauren Acompora 7 Books About Deep Human-Animal Connections — From birth, we’re surrounded by animals. We cling to stuffed animal friends, wear clothing adorned with bunnies and bears, and listen to stories of anthropomorphized creatures. The first books we e…
Who Are You When You Lose Your Job? And Other Questions You Can Answer by Making Art — After I was laid off, I found myself haunted by the line “Had a dream I was Bartleby.” It had come to me very much like a dream, not thought so much as arrived. I wrote it down on the first pie
Hope Is the Thing with Feathers, and with Fangs: The Alchemy of Unrequited Love and the Story Behind Emily Dickinson’s Most Famous Poem — This essay is adapted from the nineteenth chapter of my book Figuring. In the first autumn of her thirties, Emily Dickinson wrote to her confi
“I Hope to Die Laughing.” On Tom Drury’s The End of Vandalism — Roughly a decade ago, shortly after I moved from Seattle to a nearby suburb, I slid into a bipolar mixed episode for a period of a month or so before it descended into straight depression. During m…
Yoon leads as Korda bid for major hat-trick falters — Ina Yoon leads the Women's PGA Championship by two shots after the first round as Nellie Korda's hopes of a third straight major falter.
Poet and Philosopher David Whyte on Anger, Forgiveness, and What Maturity Really Means — “To forgive is to assume a larger identity than the person who was first hurt.”
“Vulnerability as a Valid Way.” 7 New Poetry Collections to Read This June — I’m thrilled to be joining Rebecca Morgan Frank as co-poetry columnist—I’ll be here every other month with seven new poetry collections. “In a Dark Time” by Theodore Roethke is perhaps …
Lit Hub Daily: June 3, 2026 — What do you do when your book detailing Civil War-era censorship is censored by the US government? | Lit Hub Politics “Maybe it’s fair to call this mysticism, but it could also be called democracy.…
Leander Schaerlaeckens Recommends 5 Books to Better Understand the World Cup — Soccer derives its beauty from its simplicity. Twenty-players and a ball on a rectangle of grass; put the ball in the other team’s goal; don’t use your hands. What makes soccer popular, I believe, …
P.C. Verrone Recommends Essential Texts of Afro-Surrealism — I was introduced to the term “Afro-Surrealism” through an interview in which Phillip B. Williams called it his preferred way to describe his novel Ours. The phrase was coined by Amiri Baraka in 197…
Inside Myanmar, rebels are losing ground as military forces men into army — The BBC travels with rebels to frontline positions in Myanmar to see how the war is unfolding.
What Happens When You Show Your Parents Your Debut Novel? — I gave my book to my partner before I gave it to my parents, figuring it was better to conquer one gut-churning fear at a time. I refused to watch him read it, but I was aware when he reached the s…
What It’s Like to Be a Panda — “What is it that breathes fire into the equations and makes a universe for them to describe?” Stephen Hawking wondered, recognizing the quixotic nature of his quest for a theory of ever…
The Independent Press Top 40 Bestsellers: Fiction — Here are this week’s Independent Press Top 40 Bestsellers for fiction, based on sales in hundreds of independent bookstores nationwide, generously provided by the American Booksellers Association. …
On Waking Up As an American During the Fall of the Soviet Union — On the evening of August 18, 1991, my friend Terry and I were staying at the Pribaltiyskaya Intourist hotel, a huge Soviet hotel complex built in an ugly brutalist style on a windswept island close…
Lit Hub Daily: June 16, 2026 — Sophie Lewis examines the phenomenon of heterofatalism. | Lit Hub Politics If you want a job as an astronaut, you need to nail the interview. | Lit Hub Memoir Erin Maglaque contextualizes her own e…
LoyalBooks.com — Free Audio Books! Books Should be Free. Best Online Audiobook Downloads for Android, iPhone & mp3. Listen to Audible & Talking Books on Tape. eBooks in English, French, Spanish, Tamil, Portuguese, German & more.
The Side That Won the Civil War is Now Banning Books About Why the Civil War Was Fought — In the days before the Civil War, the South worked hard to censor any literature that cast slavery in a negative light. Officials in Charleston, S.C. went through mailbags for abolitionist n
The Cube is Jim Henson’s little-known proto-Black Mirror masterpiece — Spoiler: Kermit doesn’t make a cameo.
Lit Hub Daily: June 5, 2026 — You’ve heard of Mary Shelley, but what about her half-sister, Fanny Imlay? | Lit Hub Biography Steven W. Thrasher considers Zohran Mamdani’s new sheriff, Edwin Raymond, and the many manifestations …
What to read next if you loved I Love Boosters. — Last weekend, Boots Riley’s I Love Boosters hit theaters, blowing a breath of fresh air into the American cinema. Riley, the funkmaster filmmaker behind 2018’s Sorry to Bother You, is b…
Leonard Cohen on the Antidote to Anger and the Meaning of Resistance — One of the commonest and most corrosive human reflexes is to react to helplessness with anger. We do it in our personal lives and we do it in our political lives. We are living through a time of un…
What Should You Read Next? Here Are the Best Reviewed Books of the Week — Deb Olin Unferth’s Earth 7, Andrea Wulf’s The Traveler, and Dave Eggers’s Contrapposto all feature among the best reviewed books of the week. Brought to you by Book Marks, Lit Hub’s home for book r…
Why Pope Leo quoted Gandalf in his response to the rise of AI. — In a moving message this weekend, Pope Leo XIV spoke out against the rising tide of AI and urged his followers to recommit to a radical humanism. The message—delivered in the form of an encyclical …
Samsung Care+ loosens restrictions on Galaxy phone age to sign up, discounted enrollment — Samsung Care+ Theft and Loss is normally reserved for new devices, but the company announced it’s opening open enrollment for...
Melissa Albert Recommends Six Books Centered Around Art That Doesn’t Actually Exist — Years ago I worked as an editor at an art museum, where part of the job was proofreading stacks of gallery labels, divorced from the art they were describing. I developed an odd appetite for the
Switzerland vs. Algeria (Jul 2, 2026) Live Score - ESPN — Live coverage of the Switzerland vs. Algeria Fifa World Cup game on ESPN, including live score, highlights and updated stats.
The Mom Test should be required reading before any user-research conversation. https://www.momtestbook.com
Albert Camus on the Three Antidotes to the Absurdity of Life — “In a world whose absurdity appears to be so impenetrable, we simply must reach a greater degree of understanding among men, a greater sincerity.”
Read "Working in Public" — Nadia Asparouhova explains why OSS funding is hard. https://press.stripe.com/working-in-public
Japan denied a goal by millimeters, but remember 2022 vs. Spain? — Japan saw a goal against Tunisia ruled out by millimeters. But remember when their winning goal against Spain in 2022 was similarly close?
Lit Hub Daily: June 1, 2026 — “It felt as if Eileen had found a box of pencils they wrote with in the 1970s and asked if I would like to take a look at them.” CAConrad on Eileen Myles’ “Bird Watching.” | Lit Hub Criticism From …
Shakespeare and Reality Televison Really Aren’t That Different — When the first massively popular reality TV shows hit the air in the early 2000s, I remember thinking in my naïveté: Surely this is just a passing fad. I was entering my teens and, like so many clo…
Ravyn Lenae Reveals New Album Blue Island — Her third LP drops August 7 via Atlantic
Did You Know That Squids Have Queer Sex at 7,000 Feet Below Sea Level? — The following is from Poking the Squid: What We Can Learn from Animal Sex by Perrin Roosevelt Ireland. _______________________________ Excerpted from Poking the Squid: What We Can Lea…
Henry Nowak deserves legacy that goes beyond tragedy, says PM — Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer mets the family of Henry Nowak at 10 Downing Street.
Nick Cave on the Two Pillars of a Meaningful Life — “Cultivating a questioning mind, of which conversation is the chief instrument, enriches our relationship with the world.”
Moonlight and the Magic of the Unnecessary — Every night, for every human being that ever was and ever will be, the Moon rises to remind us how improbably lucky we are, each of its craters a monument of the odds we prevailed against to exist,…
Homepage - Public Books — Think in public.
God of War Laufey stars the wife of Kratos and a jelly cube — After playing as Kratos and Atreus, now we get to be Faye.
May’s Best Reviewed Fiction — Elizabeth Strout’s The Things We Never Say, Douglas Stuart’s John of John, and Ali Smith’s Glyph all feature among the best reviewed fiction titles of the month. Brought to you by Book Marks, Lit H…
On a Childhood Longing to Be Delicate — Mom said the folks who’d be at the family reunion were Randy’s people, so I’d probably never met them but that was no reason not to try to talk. It’s true I often stayed quiet. If I raised my voice…