On David Graeber’s Ideas About the Structural Stupidity of Bureaucracy: “I like to think I’m actually a smart person,” the late American anarchist and anthropologist David Graeber told me one evening in a restaurant near his office at the London School of Economics. “Most… #Biography #Features

On the Early Days of Mikhail Gorbachev’s Rise to Power: General Secretary Konstantin Chernenko dies at Moscow’s Central Clinical Hospital on March 10, 1985. The first person to be informed of his death is academician Yevgeny Chazov, the chief physician of the Central… #Biography #Features

More Than James Brown’s Drummer: Clyde Stubblefield, An Unsung Pioneer of R&B: In the 1960s, R&B music was still designed to make you move. Hum any tune by one of the era’s many geniuses and stars and you’ll immediately think of its groove: “Green Onions,” with its… #Biography #Features

Writing While Becoming Two: How Motherhood Influenced My Debut Novel: For the four years I spent writing and editing my debut novel, I was preoccupied with one question: what would it mean to share a mind? To feel another’s hunger as your own, to carry their… #CraftandAdvice #CraftandCriticism

The Weird History of Anne Rice’s Vampires in Comic Books

Emma Darwin on Writing About Her Family and Finding Inspiration in Artist Pieter Bruegel the Elder: The brute reality of a professional writer’s life is a Venn diagram of intersecting circles: i) what you’re capable of writing, ii) what you can sell, and iii)… #CraftandAdvice #CraftandCriticism

The Striking Similarities Between Aphorisms and Poetry: Aphorisms and poems have a lot in common. Both are brief, both use vivid imagery, and both have a twist, some quick textual or psychological flip, a sudden sting in the tail that gives readers a jolt. Ezra… #CraftandAdvice #CraftandCriticism

The White Hot: Dear Noelle, (I am tempted to say dear Noe or dear Nolita), I am not going to send this. It’s an exercise, it should probably say Dear April at the top because it’s for me. I’ve written it a thousand #DailyFiction #Excerpts

The White Hot: Dear Noelle, (I am tempted to say dear Noe or dear Nolita), I am not going to send this. It’s an exercise, it should probably say Dear April at the top because it’s for me. I’ve written it a thousand #DailyFiction #Excerpts

Five novels to read if you’re fascinated by the Black bourgeoisie.: In a recent piece for Cultured, novelist Rob Franklin observed “a surge” in recent depictions of the Black bourgeoisie. This milieu, defined by a lifting as we climb ethos and certain cultural… #BookstoresandLibraries #Novels

Finding the Truth In the Imaginary: On “Accurately” Writing About Time Travel: When I began writing Lightbreakers, I hoped it would be much easier to write than my previous novel, The Ensemble, about a classical string quartet. I grew up playing cello but am not… #CraftandAdvice #CraftandCriticism

Birding on the Beach: Why Fall and Winter Are Great Times to Bird Watch: Late August days were once bittersweet for me. Growing up on the Jersey Shore, where my family were members of a rickety old beach club, I still remember the feel of the cooler air in the evenings as I pulled #Features #Nature

Jodi-Ann Burey on Speechwriting, Authenticity, and Adapting Her TED Talk into a Book: I first met Jodi-Ann Burey at a book launch in Seattle a couple of years ago. A mutual friend introduced the two of us and mentioned that Jodi-Ann was working on a book based on… #CraftandAdvice #CraftandCriticism

Margaret Atwood, Bryan Washington, Salman Rushdie, and more: 25 new books out today!: It’s the first Tuesday of a new fall month, meaning the sheer number of books coming out is reaching a fever pitch. It’s harder than ever to choose which titles to highlight… #CraftandCriticism #LiteraryCriticism

BIPOC Books for Nonfiction November: This Nonfiction November, pick up one of these nonfiction books by BIPOC authors, including a memoir in essays, a dive into herbalism, and a look at the queerness of nature.

Malaya’s Anti-Colonial Struggle Is a Story of Love and Doubt: I’ve been following Sharmini Aphrodite’s work since 2016. Her fiction is redolent with a devotion to the role that faith, ritual, and desire play in how we move through the world. Sharmini’s debut collection, The Unrepentant, explores…

7 Super Books for Comics Lovers: From supervillain temps to reluctant heroes to immigrant comics creators, here are some of the best books for comics lovers.

Get Ready for These Thrillifying Adaptations Coming Out in November: From Wicked: For Good to Hamnet to All Her Fault, here are the book-to-screen adaptations out in November 2025 worth watching.

Gobble Up November’s New Mystery, Thriller, & True Crime Books!: In this week's new releases: wild true crime story (centered on orgasms!), a foodie cozy mystery returns, as do our favorite Regency-era sleuths.

10 of the Best New Children’s Books for November: Share these fantastic new children's book releases for November with the picture book or middle grade reader in your life.

In Praise of Librarians in Dangerous Times: Librarians are on the front lines of history and current events, when news and change arrive at a furious clip that only quickens every day. And without libraries, my work would simply not exist. I was a child who read #BookNews #BookstoresandLibraries

Bookish Gifts for Audiobook Lovers: These mugs, stickers, shirts, headphone covers, and more are the perfect gifts for the audiobook listener in your life.

Read These Books for Nonfiction November and the Read Harder Challenge: Happy Nonfiction November! Here are six nonfiction book recommendations that also complete 2025 Read Harder Challenge tasks.

7 of the Best New Romance Books Out in November 2025: From historical to paranormal to holiday romances, here are the most exciting new romance books out in November 2025.

It’s Witchy, It’s Queer, It’s Laugh-Out-Loud Hilarious: This witchy fantasy is queer, diverse, and features a fascinating magic system, and it's a delight from start to finish

The Epiphany in the Ordinary: A Conversation With Teju Cole: For Teju Cole, prose, poetry, and photography tug against and bleed into one another. At the tenth anniversary of Amherst College’s LitFest, on March 1, 2025, Cole spoke with The Common’s Editor in… #CraftandAdvice #CraftandCriticism

10 Great New Children’s Books Out in November That Explore the Skies: I don’t love the cold and damp that November brings to my corner of the world, but I do enjoy the magic of longer nights. A crisp, clear evening is perfect for stargazing—and then for heading inside… #CraftandCriticism #Features

How Israel’s “Forgotten” 1956 Occupation of Gaza Echoes In Its Actions Today: As the Trump administration continues to fete the supposed success of the Gaza ceasefire, the Israeli occupation of Gaza is ongoing. And while the scale of the last two years’ violence is… #Features #History

Antimemes and Nanobot Beauty Scams: November’s Best Sci-Fi and Fantasy Books: November’s new releases span from epic space opera—starring immortal Pilots and bloodthirsty Sovereigns—to intimate speculative tales posing big questions about changing our facial features… #CraftandCriticism #Features

Ancient Algorithms, Hauntings, and Sweet Repetitions: This November in Poetry: In the month’s poetry round-up, repetition reigns as poets push at its boundaries through acts of translation and transformation. Katrine Øgaard Jensen throws a translation party full of… #CraftandCriticism #Features

“Sixty Days,” a poem by Layla Faraj: Author’s note: Before Trump’s current term as president, citizens from sixteen countries were offered Temporary Protective Status, or TPS. As of September 2025, only eight remain: TPS has now been revoked for citizens of Afghanistan,… #Features #FictionandPoetry

E. Jean Carroll on Writing on Trial: Memoir Nation: Weekly Inspiration for Writers is an extension of the Memoir Nation community hosted by Brooke Warner and Grant Faulkner, two friends and colleagues who bring a community-minded sensibility to the writing… #CraftandAdvice #CraftandCriticism

Helm: Helm doesn’t know when Helm was born. Or brewed. Conjured or conceived. First formed above the highest mountain. First blown into the valley. Long before humankind – that brief, busy interlude. Time happens all at once for Helm, more or #DailyFiction #Excerpts

Jonathan Parks-Ramage on Inventing the Future: First Draft: A Dialogue of Writing is a weekly show featuring in-depth interviews with fiction, nonfiction, essay writers, and poets, highlighting the voices of writers as they discuss their work, their craft,… #Features #FirstDraftADialogueonWriting

The Biggest Book News of the Week: Some of the best books of the year have been announced, a Gothic fiction starter pack, libraries are scrambling for books, and more.

The Book News We Covered This Week: Publishers Weekly and Esquire announce their best books of the year, the silencing of book censorship discussions, and more.

All the Queer Books I Read in October: Here are all the queer books I read in October, arranged on a scale from most to least horror.

Lit Hub Weekly: October 27 – 31, 2025: “Del Toro loves monsters—misunderstood, sympathetic monsters—and Shelley’s Creature is the primogenitor of this tradition.” Olivia Rutigliano praises Guillermo Del Toro’s new adaptation of Frankenstein. | Lit Hub Film Ron Rosenbaum breaks down… #LitHubDaily

Lyndal Roper’s Summer of Fire and Blood has won the 2025 Cundill History Prize.: Summer of Fire and Blood: The German Peasants’ War by Lyndal Roper, an excellent new history of one of the largest popular uprisings before the French Revolution, won this year’s Cundill History… #BookNews #History

Here’s what’s making us happy this week.: First off—apologies, readers. I failed to report our nice things last Friday, so we have a combo week. Gratitude is abundant this Hallow’s Eve. So what’s been making us happy? In a word? Soups.  Oliver Scialdone made a killer butternut #FilmandTV #Food

Libraries are Scrambling for Books: A comprehensive overview of what's happening with libraries as a major books distributor shutters, an accessible book fair, and more.

The Banning of Banned Books Week: Book Censorship News, October 31, 2025: Banned Books Week is being quietly banned in public libraries across the US. This is a political choice in an era where libraries continue to claim being "not political."

A Haunting Collection of Twisty, Turny Micro Stories: This collection of 52 short and micro stories is a haunting indictment of misogyny in popular culture and society.

Fun Spins on the Classic Creatures You Think You Know: These stories put an exciting new spin on the creatures we all think we know, from vampires and zombies to sirens.

Mini Horror Stories for Literary People: “Haunted House” Mary aimed a flashlight at each Emily Henry novel at the Block Island B&B but Great Big Beautiful Life had . . . vanished. “Mutilation” When a friend returned Jamal’s Crying in H Mart, pages were coffee-stained and thoughts other than his own…

Ha Jin Returns to the Tiananmen Square Massacre in His New Novel: Ha Jin was six years old when his father, a career officer in the People’s Liberation Army, was labeled “politically suspect” by the Chinese Communist Party and sent away for re-education. Jin was forced to leave the boarding school…

The Best New Books of November, According to Indie Booksellers: What better way to get book recommendations than from independent booksellers? Here are ten of their favorites of November 2025.

“Carrie” Helped Me Process the Sexual Shame of My Religious Upbringing: The movie begins in a high school locker room, camera panning over girls in various states of undress. They towel their hair and fiddle with lockers, skin slick down their backs, breasts bouncing. I almost turn it off. This…

Reading While Neurodivergent: A Librarian’s Guide to Loving Books on Your Own Terms: The model we call “good reading” is neurotypical reading. It assumes a brain that can sustain focus in long, quiet stretches.

Shiver With Anticcccc-ipation: Rocky Horror at 50: Rocky Horror is turning 50, and we're celebrating with a list of must-read books for fans of the cult classic.