The Legend of “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow”: “Rip van Winkle” begins with a description setting the scene between the Hudson River and the Catskill Mountains (“these fairy mountains,” which Irving so loved), then introduces us to the protagonist. Rip is a descendant… #Biography #CraftandCriticism

The War on Terror Through the Eyes of Queer Afghan Refugees: As I read Bobuq Sayed’s No God But Us in the waning days of the summer, I realized their debut novel paired well with Jose Esteban Muñoz’s final work, The Sense of Brown (2020). Together, the duo made a… #CraftandCriticism #Features

Harlan Coben Answers the Age-Old Question: “Where Do You Get Your Ideas?”: This first appeared in Lit Hub’s Craft of Writing newsletter—sign up here. Cultivating a writer’s mind frame means looking at the world a certain way—that is, as a source of material.… #CraftandAdvice #CraftandCriticism

What Should You Read Next? Here Are the Best Reviewed Books of the Week: Emma Cline’s Switzy, Francis Fukuyama’s In the Realm of the Last Man, and R.F. Kuang’s Taipei all feature among the best reviewed books of the week. Brought to you by Book Marks, Lit Hub’s home… #CraftandCriticism #Features

Tom Cole on Autofiction, Shame-Based Writing, and Being an Unreliable Narrator: If at all possible, it is best to do whatever Thora Siemsen says. So when she said “Can I send you a copy of this?” about Tom Cole’s forthcoming monologue Chimes published by The Song… #CraftandAdvice #CraftandCriticism

Just finished R. F. Kuang’s Taipei Story. For me, it was intimate, but the stakes too small to hold my interest. Please tell me your thoughts about it. Which book of hers should I have read instead? #booksky #RFKuang #CraftandCriticism

5 Book Reviews You Need to Read This Week: Our mixum-gatherum of magnificent reviews this week includes Emma Alpern on Emma Cline’s Switzy, T.M. Brown on Danny McBride’s Thrilling Tales of Modern Men, Sara Collins on Sebastian Barry’s The Newer World, Joy Williams on… #CraftandCriticism #Features

The Independent Press Top 40 Bestsellers: Fiction: Here are this week’s Independent Press Top 40 Bestsellers for fiction, based on sales in hundreds of independent bookstores nationwide, generously provided by the American Booksellers Association. Compiled, designed,… #CraftandCriticism #Features

The Independent Press Top 40 Bestsellers: Nonfiction: Here are this week’s Independent Press Top 40 Bestsellers for nonfiction, based on sales in hundreds of independent bookstores nationwide, generously provided by the American Booksellers Association. Compiled,… #CraftandCriticism #Features

My Partner Refuses to Read or Even TALK About Books? Should We Break Up?: Hello, hello, hello! Welcome back to another star-studded installment of everyone’s favorite alcohol-soaked advice column, Am I the Literary Asshole? It’s truly the gift that keeps on… #CraftandAdvice #CraftandCriticism

Nine Novels That Make an Art of Earnestness: Bennie Bosley, the protagonist of my new queer YA holiday romance, Pining for You, is living for Christmas magic and Grand Gesture Romance the way Tiny Tim once did for that goose—and I love that for her. But I did #CraftandAdvice #CraftandCriticism

Robert Moor on Rethinking Environmentalism, Tree by Tree: Nonfiction writer Robert Moor joins co-hosts Christian Barter and Jennifer Maritza McCauley to talk about his new book, In Trees, and the power of “tree thinking,” a concept developed by the evolutionary… #CraftandCriticism #Features

Learning From Shame: R.F. Kuang on Diaspora, Language and Writing Young Protagonists: R.F. Kuang is, in the best sense, a literary chameleon. Each one of her novels presents a different setting and dynamic, but her oeuvre is unified by careful thought, sharp… #CraftandAdvice #CraftandCriticism

What Weimar Berlin’s Most Famous Plays Revealed About Artistic Freedom: Is there a German word that means the opposite of “doppelgänger”—not the uncannily mysterious twin, but the secretly matched-up opponent who stands for everything one hates and also hates… #CraftandCriticism #Features

Read the Winners of American Short Fiction’s 2026 Insider Prize: Writing is a challenge, at every level. There are constant pressures acting upon a writer: juggling between responsibilities and work; prioritizing health; making and somehow slowing down time; even,… #BookNews #CraftandCriticism

The Literary Agent Who Lost the Narrative Thread: As a literary agent, I’ve spent years shaping the stories of other people’s grief. There was the Pulitzer-nominated journalist who’d lost her only child when he was seven. And the Black descendent of Thomas… #CraftandAdvice #CraftandCriticism

Adam Erlich Sachs on Heinrich von Kleist’s Michael Kohlhaas: The Windham-Campbell Prizes Podcast features a series of conversations with past and present Windham-Campbell Prize winners about their favorite books and plays. Hosted by Michael Kelleher. For the… #CraftandAdvice #CraftandCriticism

34 Books You Need to Read This Fall: The weather has become untrustworthy, for determining the seasons and otherwise. As I write this introduction, the leaves remain stubbornly green, and outside my window there is torrential rain. But at the farmer’s market… #CraftandCriticism #FullwidthSlider

Emma Cline, R.F. Kuang, Alice Hoffman, and more: 20 new books out today!: There’s a rule in September that every week must include one epically splashy book: this week, Emma Cline’s Switzy is here to fulfill that quota. It’s time for us all to get our hands on… #CraftandCriticism #LiteraryCriticism

Emily Wilson Talks Complicated Men, Celebrating Strangeness, and Why There is Always Another Way to Say It: One of the most celebrated classicists writing today, Emily Wilson achieved a rare kind of literary stardom in 2017, when her translation of Homer’s… #CraftandAdvice #CraftandCriticism