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News, Notes, Talk

UCLA’s new AI-designed literature course has the worst-looking textbook cover I’ve ever seen.

Image courtesy of UCLA’s website, but since AI-generated art can’t be copyrighted, maybe this acknowledgment doesn’t matter. UCLA announced the other day that “Comp Lit 2BW will be the first course in the UCLA College Division of Humanities to be Read more >

By James Folta

An annotated list of things Raymond Chandler hated recently sold for $2000 at auction.

What do hard-boiled eggs, actors, aspirin, and railroad travel all have in common? They all incurred the ire of Raymond Chandler. How do I know this? Because last Friday, Doyle Auctioneers & Appraisers sponsored a sale of “the largest trove Read more >

By Brittany Allen

Meet Brandon Kilbourne, winner of the 25th annual Cave Canem Prize.

Today, the Cave Canem Foundation announced the winner of the 2025 Cave Canem Prize: the poet and evolutionary biologist Brandon Kilbourne. Kilbourne will receive a cash prize of $10,000, and his manuscript will be published by Graywolf Press. Formed to Read more >

By Brittany Allen

Here are the 2024 recipients of the $40,000 Whiting Creative Nonfiction Grant.

Since its establishment in 1972, the Whiting Foundation has been dispensing awards, grants, and all manner of support for both individual writers and arts institutions. Today, the literary arts organization has two big things to celebrate: the announcement of its Read more >

By Brittany Allen

Paul McCartney! Hannah Arendt’s poetry! “Paradise Lost”! 15 new books out today.

As the middle of December approaches, and as the wheel of the year nears the end of its long turn, it’s difficult not to reflect on what this year has meant, and what the year to come will look like. Read more >

By Gabrielle Bellot

Don’t cross the Strand Workers Union picket line!

Image from The Strand Workers Union’s Instagram The Strand Workers Union went on strike over the weekend, walking out on Saturday over demands for better pay. The union, which represents around 100 unionized workers as part of UAW Local 2179, Read more >

By James Folta

The Philosopher Fish.">

The Philosopher Fish.">The Oddest Book Title of the Year Prize goes to The Philosopher Fish.

In the narrowest win in the award’s history, the 2024 Bookseller’s Diagram Prize for the Oddest Book Title of the Year goes to The Philosopher Fish: Sturgeon, Caviar, and the Geography of Desire, a study of the mysterious and endangered The Philosopher Fish.">Read more >

By James Folta

Why can't we be kind? (A Pollyanna's case for the nice review.)

Every so often here in the Bookverse, someone hitches up their britches and pronounces criticism “dead.” They lament a media ecosystem driven by publicists, and actual or perceived reader scarcity. They yearn for the good old days, when your Normans Read more >

By Brittany Allen

An emo note by a 14-year-old Franz Kafka is up for auction.

The earliest known writing by Franz Kafka is about to be available for bidding at the auction house Bonhams. Kafka, who would go on to write surreal and absurd books later in his life, signed a short note in the Read more >

By James Folta

Best American roster.">

Best American roster.">It's time to add horror and romance to the Best American roster.

I’m a sucker for The Best American series. For whatever reason (be it the generally strong curation, the often-fascinating opinions of guest editors, or a residual nationalism I should probably interrogate a bit more closely) I always look forward to Best American roster.">Read more >

By Drew Broussard

The Power Broker.">

The Power Broker.">A little treat for Caro-heads: Bryan Cranston reads from The Power Broker.

The 92nd Street Y held a conversation to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Caro’s landmark book The Power Broker, his masterwork on Robert Moses and how he remade New York City through an audacious program of public building. The live The Power Broker.">Read more >

By James Folta

Gay Talese! Gabrielle Korn! Poets respond to Taylor Swift 23 new books out today.

December, astonishingly, is here, the tail end of a year that has felt remarkable for many reasons, too many, indeed, to list. And the year to come is one defined by extraordinary uncertainties, both in the United States and beyond. Read more >

By Gabrielle Bellot

Kaveh Akbar! Anthony Veasna So! Irreverent travel! 24 books out in paperback this December.

December is finally here, the final month in a year in which time has sometimes felt more like a labyrinth than a line through calendar days, a year of sudden twists and turns. And the year to come will be Read more >

By Gabrielle Bellot

Spending Thanksgiving Eve at a bookstore is what the Founders intended.

There are a lot of lackluster traditions for the day before Thanksgiving: hitting your local bar at night, prepping yourself to face your cousin with the bad politics, going toe-to-toe with fellow procrastinators over that last bag of cranberries. I’d Read more >

By James Folta

Hundreds of authors have signed an open letter in support of Lisa Ko.

Maxine Hong Kingston, Alexander Chee, Alissa Nutting, David Henry Hwang, Eugene Lim, Rachel Khong, Susan Abulhawa, Susan Bernofsky, Laura van den Berg, R. O. Kwon, Bryan Washington, Danzy Senna, and Ha Jin are among the hundreds of authors who have signed Read more >

By Dan Sheehan

Authors Against Book Bans demand publishers prepare for 2025.

Authors Against Book Bans, a coalition of writers and creative workers who “stand united against the deeply unconstitutional movement to limit the freedom to read,” released an open letter yesterday demanding publishers prepare for the incoming Trump administration. The AABB Read more >

By James Folta

Here’s the 2024 shortlist for the Dos Passos prize.

The Dos Passos Prize for Literature, awarded by Longwood University in Virginia, has announced its shortlist of five impressive writers who are in the running for 2024’s prize. The award honors a prolific American writer who displays “characteristics of John Read more >

By James Folta

Fatale is the French noir novel you need to help you vent your frustrations right now.">

Fatale is the French noir novel you need to help you vent your frustrations right now.">Fatale is the French noir novel you need to help you vent your frustrations right now.

In the weeks since the election, I’ve felt increasingly frustrated by calls for politeness and decorum. There seems to be no end to the “why can’t we all just get along”s, the calls to be more tolerant and understanding, and Fatale is the French noir novel you need to help you vent your frustrations right now.">Read more >

By James Folta

Orhan Pamuk! Birth control in America! A history of beer! 11 new books out today.

It’s the week of Thanksgiving, that curious American tradition defined as much by turkeys and stuffing as that dread certain family members feel about seeing each other–all the more so in such an election year, and a strikingly polarizing one Read more >

By Gabrielle Bellot

Announcing the winner of the 2024 Restless Books Prize for New Immigrant Writing.

Literary Hub is pleased to announce the winner of the 2024 Restless Books Prize for New Immigrant Writing, an annual award given to a first-time, first-generation immigrant author that includes a $10,000 advance, a writing residency from Millay Arts, and Read more >

By Literary Hub