An honest explanation of where the 'literary fiction' label came from, what it actually signals to readers, and why critics argue about it.

No MFA? No problem. A practical path to writing your first novel through self-directed reading, a daily writing habit, and a feedback circle you build yourself.

Fewer words, harder work: why the short story's compression, merciless endings, and lack of slack make it the most demanding form in fiction.

Why some books demand a second read and others don't: craft you missed the first time, the reader you became since, and the comfort of familiar pages.

Became the Bullied Girl in Novel Tamed by the Campus King

Yiyun Li’s Music Against the Night, Shawn Gude’s American Socialist, Bonnie Garmus’s Peck & Peck, and Lieke Marsman’s On Another Planet They Can Save Me all feature among the best reviewed books of the week. Brought to you by Book Marks, Lit Hub’s

Writers aur readers ke liye Muse.ai ke baare mein 6 aam sawalat ke jawabat — AI ko writing assistant ki tarah istemal karne ka tariqa.

I’ll let you figure out which, but one of these jokes had to be updated right before publishing. The news simply refuses to stop, folks. Hopefully this weekend will be restful for you—personally, I’ll be taking inspiration from these Polish

Sabrina Popo wasn’t like other grandmas. She was my grandma. She lived on her own and juggled a heavy social rotation of dim sum, senior ballroom dancing, and mahjong with her girl friends. I’d have to be penciled in to

This deeply personal project—Rebels with a Cause—is a photographic book that captures the 1960s, a formative period of American history when groups of rebels initiated a series of changes and started a revolution unlike any other. The book is our

The Venetian Ghetto plays a uniquely important role in the history of segregation. By the time it was founded, on 29 March 1516, Jews had already been forced to live in distinct areas elsewhere in Europe; but what made the

What’s something you think national conversations get wrong about rural attitudes or rural people? This is the somewhat dreadful question the publicist for my book asked. She lives in Brooklyn and struggles with what to make of me, what to

When I first learned about Duanfang—my infamous, assassinated ancestor—I thought his story was a myth my family liked to tell—our version of the Grimm fairytales. It seemed improbable that my great-great-great grandfather was a prominent Manchu politician, had founded a

This first appeared in Lit Hub’s Craft of Writing newsletter—sign up here. There’s a great artist called Bobby Fingers whose YouTube channel documents him making insanely detailed sculptures of celebrities, taking the viewer on a journey through his creative process as he

We probably already have the definitive film about an artist for this decade, in Ira Sachs’s Peter Hujar’s Day. The idiosyncratic biopic makes the right choices, giving us in a sliver of time the dailiness of a working life with

The tenth anniversary edition of Peter Brown’s middle grade novel The Wild Robot is available now from Little Brown Book for Young Readers, so we asked him a few questions about reading aloud, feedback from young readers, and reasons to be

If you read this column at, you have caught me referencing the incredible literary podcast Between the Covers. It’s a delight to have its host, the inimitable David Naimon, as a guest to celebrate the reissue of Ursula K. Le

“Kids five and up get in free the first Sunday of the month,” Matt said. We were at Barcade in downtown New Haven, across from Elm City Games, for a date night in late February. Matt was my neighbor in

Anyone who reads the news or has logged onto social media is aware of the cult of personality around North Korea’s Kim dynasty. From afar, it’s almost cartoonish, with the bronze statues and the funny haircuts and the penchant for

There are epiphanies. Posts of stern nonfictions. There arise in us strong love affairs with feedback. The id a remarkable botulism. And what about shuttered domestic spirits. A proclivity for baskets of stone- colored kittens. Rooms ticking with taxidermy. That

Bogs are big right now. Fashion designers are dipping couture in peat; memes on Instagram offer help choosing your bog witch name. Internationally bestselling authors are (figuratively) mining wetlands for inspiration. The bog and its cousins the swamp and marsh

Last weekend I had a little stagefright before I was set to appear on a panel about authorship and AI for an event called Whose Truth? Writers and Readers Forum presented by the Authors Guild. I had a feeling I’d

For years Phillip Tennent lived at the edge of the sea, where artefacts were washed up every day. Scavengers, professional and otherwise, came and went. Turnover was higher than you’d expect given the relaxed lifestyle, the constant good weather, the