Haruki Murakami Has a New Novel Coming Out—And for the First Time, It Features a Female Main Character.
Haruki Murakami’s next full‑length novel, *The Tale of KAHO*, arrives in Japan on July 3, published by Shinchosha. The book follows a 26‑year‑old picture‑book author navigating a surreal world and marks Murakami’s first novel with a lone female lead. It expands four short stories originally printed in *Shinchō* magazine, the latest appearing in March. While an English translation date remains unannounced, Murakami will also issue an 80‑page personal essay, *Abandoning a Cat*, for U.S. readers this summer.
Maria Reva’s Endling Has Won the 2026 Aspen Words Literary Prize.
Maria Reva’s debut novel Endling has been awarded the 2026 Aspen Words Literary Prize, which includes a $35,000 cash award. The prize honors fiction that illuminates vital contemporary issues, and the jury praised Endling for its blend of ecological concerns,...
One Great Poem to Read Today: Marie Howe’s “You Think This Happened Only Once and Long Ago”
Literary Hub is celebrating the 30th National Poetry Month by featuring a free‑access poem each workday, starting with Marie Howe’s “You Think This Happened Only Once and Long Ago.” The piece, highlighted by associate editor Julia Hass, explores mortality, joy,...
Lit Hub Daily: April 24, 2026
Lit Hub Daily’s April 24, 2026 edition aggregates a diverse set of literary pieces, ranging from essays on women’s fiction as a divorce‑survival tool to critiques of diet culture and AI’s role in education. The roundup spotlights best‑reviewed titles such as Sophie Mackintosh’s...
One Great Poem to Read Today: Carson Jordan’s “Permiso”
Literary Hub is marking the 30th National Poetry Month by recommending a different poem each workday in April. For today’s pick, the site highlights Carson Jordan’s “Permiso,” a free‑to‑read piece that treats everyday objects as objects of worship. The poem...
Lit Hub Daily: April 22, 2026
Lit Hub’s Daily roundup for April 22, 2026 spotlights a diverse slate of literary commentary, from a reminder that Kate Chopin’s *The Awakening* debuted in 1892 to essays on Stephen King’s early draft, writer productivity, and Shakespeare’s punctuation. The collection weaves criticism, craft advice,...
Here’s the Shortlist for the 2026 Carol Shields Prize for Fiction.
The Carol Shields Prize for Fiction unveiled its 2026 shortlist, featuring five titles by women and non‑binary authors published in Canada and the United States. The jury, chaired by Carmen Maria Machado, includes Ivan Coyote, Cherie Dimaline, Chitra Divakaruni and Deesha Philyaw....
One Great Poem to Read Today: Allen Ginsberg’s “A Supermarket in California”
Literary Hub’s daily‑poem series for National Poetry Month recommends Allen Ginsberg’s “A Supermarket in California.” The piece imagines Walt Whitman wandering a modern supermarket, blending high‑brow philosophy with everyday grocery imagery. The article highlights the poem’s catchy lines and its...
Lit Hub Daily: April 21, 2026
Lit Hub Daily released its April 21, 2026 roundup, featuring more than 15 pieces that span literary criticism, author interviews, book recommendations, and cultural essays. Highlights range from a tribute to naturalist John Muir’s birth to analyses of the best literary...
Prone To Be Productive: In Praise of Writing in Bed
Megan O’Grady’s essay champions writing from bed as a productive, creative practice, citing personal experience and historic writers like Wharton and Twain. She describes how the comfort of a bed reduces distractions, supports chronic‑illness sufferers, and can spark deeper insight...
Jayne Anne Phillips on Chronicling Her West Virginia Upbringing and Writer’s Journey
Jayne Anne Phillips, celebrated author of the war‑novel trilogy and the acclaimed collection Black Tickets, has published her first memoir‑in‑essays, Small Town Girls. The book recounts her West Virginia childhood, family dynamics, and the cultural shifts of the 1950s‑70s, while...
One Great Poem to Read Today: Robert Hayden’s “Those Winter Sundays”
Literary Hub marks the 30th anniversary of National Poetry Month by featuring a daily poem series, beginning with Robert Hayden’s “Those Winter Sundays.” The piece, a quietly tender elegy to the poet’s foster‑father, examines unspoken parental love and late‑life regret....
![One Great Poem to Read Today: Alejandra Pizarnik’s “[All Night I Hear the Noise of Water Sobbing.]”](/cdn-cgi/image/width=1200,quality=75,format=auto,fit=cover/https://s26162.pcdn.co/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/AdobeStock_317283639.jpeg)
One Great Poem to Read Today: Alejandra Pizarnik’s “[All Night I Hear the Noise of Water Sobbing.]”
Literary Hub is marking the 30th National Poetry Month by posting a free poem each workday in April. Today’s feature is Alejandra Pizarnik’s “All night I hear the noise of water sobbing,” translated by Patricio Ferrari and Forrest Gander and available on the...
Polly Barton on Ryūnosuke Akutagawa’s Hell of Solitude
Polly Barton’s essay introduces Ryūnosuke Akutagawa’s new anthology Hell of Solitude, a curated mix of poems, obscure short pieces and experimental “un‑storylike” works translated by Ryan Choi. Barton notes Akutagawa’s towering status in Japan—father of the modern short story, creator of...
A Linguistic and Philosophical Tapestry: Suchitra Ramachandran on Jeyamohan’s The Abyss
Suchitra Ramachandran’s introduction frames Jeyamohan’s new novel *The Abyss* as a stark, multilingual exploration of humanism amid extreme marginalisation. The work follows his epic projects—*Vishnupuram*, *Venmurasu* (26 volumes, >25,000 pages), and recent Dalit reinterpretation *Kaviyam*—by placing beggars in a hyper‑realistic...
Andrew Martin (with Mary Gaitskill)
The New York State Writers Institute launched the new season of its podcast, The Writers Institute, on April 15, 2026. The opening episode features author Andrew Martin discussing his novel Down Time and Mary Gaitskill reading from her novel The...
Of Nature, Art and Grace: On Norman Maclean’s A River Runs Through It
Norman Maclean’s *A River Runs Through It* turns fifty, marking half a century of literary acclaim. The University of Chicago Press took a chance on the Montana‑set manuscript after major New York houses rejected it for its “trees.” The novella’s...
This Week’s News in Venn Diagrams.
The weekly Venn‑diagram roundup spotlights three intersecting stories: author Helen Dewitt turned down the Windham‑Campbell Prize, FSG closed its MCD imprint as publishing consolidates, and the Artemis II crew broke the record for distance from Earth, underscoring commercial space momentum. It also...
Here’s What’s Been Making Us Happy This Week.
Lit Hub’s weekly roundup celebrates a series of cultural moments that blend literature, humor, and activism. Drew Broussard attended Sam Rebelein’s live reading, highlighting a growing trend of authors using performance to refine drafts. The return of the British game...
One Great Poem to Read Today: Mark Doty’s “Visitation”
Literary Hub is celebrating the 30th National Poetry Month by recommending Mark Doty’s poem “Visitation” as a daily read. The piece highlights the poem’s famous closing lines, which have become a viral image macro on social media. The article shares...
Lit Hub Daily: April 10, 2026
Lit Hub’s April 10 daily roundup curates a diverse set of literary news, from a retrospective on how the pulp magazine Amazing Stories forged the language of American science fiction to a profile of Daphne Du Meowier’s celebrated book‑shop pets. The edition also...
Molly Crabapple on History as a Necromantic Art
Molly Crabapple’s new nonfiction work, *Here Where We Live Is Our Country*, chronicles the Jewish Bund—a secular, socialist party that fought for dignity in the Russian Pale of Settlement. The seven‑year research project blends archival deep‑dives with vivid, sensory storytelling, which she describes as “necromantic art.” In...
How Amazing Stories Served as the Blueprint for American Science Fiction
Amazing Stories debuted in April 1926, founded by Hugo Gernsback, and coined the term “science fiction.” The pulp magazine set a template of cover art, editorial ratios of science to story, and a platform that launched writers such as Ray Bradbury,...
Here Are the Winners of the 2026 Windham-Campbell Prizes.
The Windham‑Campbell Prizes announced their eight 2026 winners, granting each an unrestricted $175,000 award. Recipients span fiction, nonfiction, drama and poetry, with two honorees per category. Winners include Gwendoline Riley and Adam Ehrlich Sachs in fiction, Lucy Sante and Kei Miller...
One Great Poem to Read Today: Michael Ondaatje’s “To a Sad Daughter”
Literary Hub marks the 30th National Poetry Month by publishing a daily poem series. For April 1 it recommends Michael Ondaatje’s “To a Sad Daughter,” a piece that juxtaposes hockey metaphors with a parent’s reflections on teenage growth. The article shares...
Lit Hub Daily: April 9, 2026
Lit Hub Daily’s April 9, 2026 edition delivers a curated mix of literary content, ranging from a revisit of Basil Bunting’s poem on bio‑acoustic loss to Emma Straub’s nostalgic interview about her 1990 New Kids on the Block fanny pack, and the...
Read Two Poems by Leigh Lucas, “Art Monster” And “These Days”
Leigh Lucas, a San Francisco‑based poet, has unveiled two new poems—“Art Monster” and “These Days”—as part of her forthcoming collection Splashed Things, slated for spring 2026. The collection was chosen for the A. Poulin Jr. Prize by Boa Editions, an independent literary press....
An Open Letter to the Jewish Book Council From a Concerned Group of Jewish Writers
A coalition of Jewish writers has published an open letter accusing the Jewish Book Council (JBC) of privileging Zionist and Israeli narratives while marginalizing non‑ and anti‑Zionist voices. The writers detail specific grievances, including a post‑Oct 7 anti‑semitism reporting tool that...
One Great Poem to Read Today: Elizander Espenschied’s “If Only We Had Medicine Like That Today”
Literary Hub marks the 30th National Poetry Month by recommending a daily free poem throughout April, starting with Elizander Espenschied’s “If Only We Had Medicine Like That Today.” The piece appears on the experimental online magazine HAD, known for genre‑blurring...
Sonya Walger on Writing a Multifaceted Novel of Marriage and Adultery
Sonya Walger, known for her acting career, discusses her second novel *Wifehouse*, which uses adultery as a lens to dissect marriage and competing narratives. She argues that a third‑party character exposes hidden tensions, allowing each spouse to confront their own...
The Responsibility of the Critic: On Art, Honesty, and Introspection
The author uses a personal museum visit to examine a critic’s essay that faulted her novel for not naming the Gaza genocide. She argues the essayist’s critique reflects more of the reviewer’s own desires than the book’s content, highlighting a...
This Week in Literary History: Maurice Sendak’s Where the Wild Things Are Is Published
On April 9 1963 Maurice Sendak released *Where the Wild Things Are*, after a decade‑plus career illustrating for FAO Schwarz and publishing two earlier children’s books. The picture book quickly captured the public imagination, earning the 1964 Caldecott Medal and cementing Sendak’s reputation as...
“That’s What I Did”
Lara Pawson’s short piece “That’s What I Did” appears in the spring 2026 issue of NOON, a boutique literary magazine. The memoir‑like vignette recounts a harsh Somerset childhood under the watch of “The Major,” focusing on riding feral horses without...
Dylan Landis on How Writing Her Rainey Royal Series Saved Her Life
Dylan Landis reveals that writing her Rainey Royal series became a lifeline during a 2011 personal crisis that included breast cancer, family emergencies, and a strained marriage. By channeling daily anguish into the rebellious teen protagonist, she established a disciplined...
One Great Poem to Read Today: Lucie Brock-Broido’s “Am Moor”
Literary Hub has launched a daily poem series for National Poetry Month, recommending Lucie Brock‑Broido’s “Am Moor” as today’s pick. The poem serves as an homage to Austrian expressionist Georg Trakl, blending baroque language with stark imagery to evoke ecstatic...
André Alexis Has Won the 2025 Story Prize.
Canadian author André Alexis has been awarded the 2025 Story Prize for his short‑story collection *Other Worlds*, published by FSG Originals. The collection was selected from a shortlist that also included Lydia Millet’s *Atavists* and Ayşegül Savaş’s *Long Distance* by...
Diagnosing Murder: How Addiction Became a Central Motif in Crime Fiction
In the early 1990s, a wave of crime novels intertwined the War on Drugs with serial‑killer narratives, portraying murderers as medically "sick" rather than purely evil. Authors such as Patricia Cornwell, Walter Mosley, and James Ellroy used this motif to...
Lit Hub Daily: March 31, 2026
Lit Hub’s March 31 daily roundup bundles thirteen literary items ranging from author interviews and translation insights to new‑book announcements and cultural essays. Highlights include Colm Tóibín discussing his latest collection, a deep dive into the history of the pickle as...
A Brief and Essential History of the Most Important Food Ever Invented: The Pickle
Pickling began in Mesopotamia around 2400 BCE as a salt‑brine method to preserve cucumbers, quickly spreading to ancient Egypt, Greece, and Rome. Over centuries, trade routes such as the Silk and Spice Roads carried pickling techniques and spices worldwide, embedding the...
Colm Tóibín on Crafting a Collection of Irish Homecoming
Irish author Colm Tóibín discusses his new short‑story collection, The News from Dublin, a ten‑year‑spanning set of unrelated tales linked by his personal experience of home and exile. He explains the organic ordering of stories, the recurring theme of quiet...
19th-Century Blues: When Science Killed God and Made Some Englishmen Sad
Richard Holmes’s *The Boundless Deep* argues that mid‑19th‑century scientific breakthroughs shattered Victorian optimism and the Whig belief in linear progress. Lord Kelvin’s heat‑death theory and Darwin’s evolution introduced cosmic entropy and challenged divine creation, fostering a pervasive cultural pessimism. The...
Langston Hughes: Novelist, Poet, Activist and… Translator?
A new Princeton University Press volume, Troubled Lands, finally gathers Langston Hughes’s translations of Mexican and Cuban short fiction he completed in 1934‑35. The anthology, edited by Ricardo Wilson II, showcases stories by Rafael Felipe Muñoz, Nellie Campobello, and others,...
Yann Martel on Playing with Form to Tell a Story
Yann Martel explains how he deliberately reshapes narrative form to serve each story’s purpose, using unconventional structures across his works. He details five examples: a historical‑fact framework in "The Facts Behind the Helsinki Roccamatios," a two‑column emotional layout in "Self,"...
Hitting the Road? Here Are Three Recommendations About Trips that Get Out of Hand.
Satyajit Ray’s newly restored *Days and Nights in the Forest* has returned to theaters, earning praise for its witty dialogue and incisive class commentary. The film follows four privileged Calcutta youths on a weekend road trip that exposes their entitlement...
Lit Hub Daily: March 23, 2026
The Lit Hub Daily roundup opens with a historic note: Virginia and Leonard Woolf bought a hand‑press in 1917, launching the influential Hogarth Press a month later. The newsletter then spotlights a diverse slate of literary content, from translation conversations...
This Week in Literary History: Hugo Grotius Escapes Prison in a Book Chest
Hugo Grotius, the 17th‑century Dutch jurist and prodigy, escaped life imprisonment at Loevestein Castle by hiding in a chest of books his wife regularly sent. The daring escape took place on March 22, 1621 after guards grew lax in inspecting...
Andrea Mara on Building Suspense
Andrea Mara explains the suspense technique behind her new thriller *It Should Have Been You*, which opens with a climactic scene before rewinding to reveal the events leading up to it. She argues that this “future‑prologue” grabs readers instantly, especially...
Rachel Eliza Griffiths on Finding the Poetry in Grief
Rachel Eliza Griffiths, acclaimed poet and novelist, debuted her memoir *The Flower Bearers* on the Memoir Nation podcast. The book intertwines two traumatic events—the death of poet Kamilah Aisha Moon and the stabbing of husband Salman Rushdie—to examine layered grief....
Paperback Vs. Hardcover: Which Is Better For Readers (and For Writers)?
The article compares paperback and hardcover formats, noting readers favor paperbacks for price and portability. It argues hardcovers convey publisher commitment, attract more serious reviews, and offer higher royalty rates. Recent industry shifts—mass‑market paperback retirement, Barnes & Noble’s push for...
Here’s the Shortlist for the 2026 Dylan Thomas Prize.
The Swansea University Dylan Thomas Prize, a £20,000 award for writers 39 or younger, has released its 2026 shortlist. Six works—four novels and two poetry collections—by authors from the UK and the US were selected. The judging panel, chaired by...