Lit Hub Daily: September 22, 2025

TODAY: In 1586, the English poet, critic, courtier and soldier Sir Philip Sidney is fatally wounded at the Battle of Zutphen.

Vauhini Vara talks to John J. Lennon about the sensationalism of true crime and the reality of being human in prison. | Lit Hub In Conversation
“There is a modern tendency to refuse to read the author in a narrator, a tendency that exists for good reason.” How the kidnapping of Miguel de Cervantes shaped Don Quixote. | Lit Hub Criticism
Patricia A. Matthew explores class, leisure, and the historical context of Pride and Prejudice. | Lit Hub History
Margeaux Feldman considers life at the intersection of trauma and illness: “The desire to avoid nonconsensual touch can, in other words, make one sick.” | Lit Hub Memoir
David McNally offers a Marxist examination of the economics of New World slavery. | Lit Hub History
“It’s not MS, she said, / as we held our breath—” Read “Autoimmune Aubade,” a poem by Chet’la Sebree from the collection Blue Opening. | Lit Hub Poetry
On the many afterlives of Haiti’s misunderstood Henry Christophe, from Marlene L. Daut’s Cundill Prize-shortlisted The First and Last King of Haiti. | Lit Hub History
“Back in the plaza, at the heart of the protest that cold March day, a trio of drummers beat time at the center of the swell of people—three quick beats that marked a call.” Read from Grady Chambers’s new novel, Great Disasters. | Lit Hub Fiction

Jed Kudrick and Sean Dileonardi consider various translation renaissances, and the forces that determine geographical diversity in US publishing. | Public Books
“I don’t know if I know what plot is. I think you just have to get someone to the end of the book.” An interview with Sheila Heti. | The Believer
On why dictators are terrified of comedy: “Fear is one of the authoritarian’s topmost tools, and satire reminds us how brittle it is.” | Salon
Jane Austen fans donned bonnets and A-line dresses to celebrate her 250th birthday in Regency-era style. | The New York Times
Trump is suing Penguin Random House for $15 billion for publishing Lucky Loser: How Donald Trump Squandered His Father’s Fortune and Created the Illusion of Success. | Publishers Weekly
Academics are being urged to lock down their social profiles due to threats of political retaliation (or to just not post at all). | 404 Media

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