Literary Hub » small towns

Is My Small Town the Center of the Universe?

Is My Small Town the Center of the Universe?

Robyn Ryle on the Consistent Delight of a Familiar Face

By Robyn Ryle | October 20, 2025

The Man in the Vestibule: Chronicle of a Double Homicide in the Rural South

The Man in the Vestibule: Chronicle of a Double Homicide in the Rural South

Joshua Sharpe on the Horror and Aftermath of the 1985 Georgia Church Murders

By Joshua Sharpe | August 6, 2025

A Place of Rugged, Simple Beauty: One Summer in Rural Newfoundland

A Place of Rugged, Simple Beauty: One Summer in Rural Newfoundland

Robert Finch Recalls the Challenging Yet Rewarding Days Spent on Canada’s Rugged Atlantic Coast

By Robert Finch | June 18, 2025

Books Have No Gender: On Being a Small Town Librarian While Raising a Trans Child

Books Have No Gender: On Being a Small Town Librarian While Raising a Trans Child

Abi Maxwell: “This town felt so conservative, its social norms so crushing. I needed someone who would help me swim against them.”

By Abi Maxwell | September 17, 2024

On the Aftermath of a Brutal Murder-Suicide in an Idyllic Small Town

On the Aftermath of a Brutal Murder-Suicide in an Idyllic Small Town

George Choundas Ponders How Life Continues In the Face of Senseless Tragedy

By George Choundas | July 19, 2024

Empowering Eerieness: How Gothic Romances Helped Alisa Alering Escape the Misery of a Small Town

Empowering Eerieness: How Gothic Romances Helped Alisa Alering Escape the Misery of a Small Town

The Author of “Smothermoss” on Victoria Holt, the Gothic Formula, and Loneliness in Life and Lit

By Alisa Alering | July 17, 2024

Best Reviewed
Books of the Week

We’re Not in Winesburg Anymore: On the Literature of the Small Town

By Carolyn Kuebler | May 16, 2024

Why the Elderly Make the Best Customers: On Bookselling in an Aging Town

By Samantha Ladwig | April 18, 2024

Chin-Sun Lee on Writing Landcape

By Chin-Sun Lee | November 10, 2023

Lupine Cryptids, Tornado Alleys, and Sulfuric Demons: Lillian Stone on Her Complicated Relationship With Her Ozark Roots

Lupine Cryptids, Tornado Alleys, and Sulfuric Demons: Lillian Stone on Her Complicated Relationship With Her Ozark Roots

“I felt like a werewolf—hiding from prying eyes, not wanting anyone to see me transform.”

By Lillian Stone | July 19, 2023

Ali Bryan on Finding Community, Authenticity, and Acceptance in a Small Town

Ali Bryan on Finding Community, Authenticity, and Acceptance in a Small Town

“Empathy, after all, comes from paying attention. It’s seeing someone exactly as they are and accepting them.”

By Ali Bryan | July 7, 2023

Casting “Place” as a Character: On the Essence of Rural America

Casting “Place” as a Character: On the Essence of Rural America

Beyond Hillbilly Elegy">Gigi Georges Recommends Nonfiction that Moves
Beyond Hillbilly Elegy

By Gigi Georges | May 27, 2021

In Praise of the Small Town Library

In Praise of the Small Town Library

In Rural Pennsylvania, Four Bookshelves Are a Passport to the Outside World

By Steven Kurutz | February 6, 2018

When Your Hometown is the Last Place to Accept Who You Are

When Your Hometown is the Last Place to Accept Who You Are

Kait Heacock on Returning to Yakima to Launch Her Book

By Kait Heacock | May 19, 2017

God, Guns, and Survival, Deep in the Heart of the Dust Bowl

God, Guns, and Survival, Deep in the Heart of the Dust Bowl

On Hardscrabble Life in the Oklahoma Panhandle

By Rae Meadows | August 22, 2016

"Darla"

Odie Lindsey

By Lit Hub Excerpts | July 27, 2016