SkyFree Chronicles

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

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

“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

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

In the summer of 2021, as the Covid-19 pandemic was finally slowing down, my teenage son and I took a trip to Italy. Travel restrictions had been lifted only a few days before, and Rome was almost entirely empty of

Whoa there, weary traveler! Sit awhile and hear my news. Tell me, have you heard of the Emperors of Narsil? The Mandoran Invasion of Brethony? No? What of The Skalbard Coast? Cranholt on the Mersana River? Pharazel Maheris’s “Lives of

The Irish novelist known for nailing Millennial relationship psychosis and speaking up about Palestine told The Guardian this morning that she can no longer sell her novels in the United Kingdom. This news follows Rooney’s much-publicized support for Palestine Action,

How newspapers helped democratize knowledge (because reading isn’t just for the rich). | Lit Hub Politics Is it or isn’t it? James Folta considers how generative AI is poisoning the literary well for everyone. | Lit Hub Technology Oksana Lutsyshyna

Among the gifts bestowed by my long relationship with a wild deer, chronicled in Penelope: A Love Story, (Crown) being published October 13, was an opening of the spirit, a freedom from human/animal boundaries. This seems to be recognized by

Since the start of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, nonfiction and autofiction have become, alongside poetry, the leading genres of contemporary Ukrainian literature. There are several reasons for this. Firstly, autobiographical approaches and autofiction help emphasize the immediacy of events,

Bringing the New York School to middle school: Why Frank O’Hara is the perfect way to introduce poetry to tweens. | Lit Hub Criticism Adam Johnson talks to Amitav Ghosh about The Wayfinder, the many ways to tell a single

I have covered many wars in the past but nothing—absolutely nothing—prepared me for the brutality, cruelty, and the sheer savagery of Israel’s war in Gaza. I wasn’t alone. Veteran colleagues at Al Jazeera—battle-hardened reporters who had walked the ruins of

Smolensk, Russia, February 1837 and February 1860 Belatedly, John’s last words reached Adelaide. He had been dead for a fortnight, buried for ten days. She was not at his deathbed, having been banished from their marriage bed for decades; nor

Yiyun Li, Bonnie Garmus, M. John Harrison, Will Maclean, and so many more apt and intelligent writers are releasing novels today. Adam Grant, Lauren Michele Jackson, and Wendy S. Walters all number among the plentiful nonfiction authors also releasing new

Transmigrating into a Novel, the Villain's Entire Family Dotes on Me

Samantha’s all grown up, and American Girl books are entering a new era. | Lit Hub Criticism How British media legitimized J.K. Rowling’s transphobia: “We are rendered hostile abstractions in a contradictory narrative: Trans people are not real, only our

Falling for the Governor's Bad Boy Son: A Romance Novel Trope