Happy Hanukkah and a merry early Christmas! Hope you’re getting some time to rest, be with friends, and reflect on the year. I’m starting to wrap gifts and meal plan for my visit home—I like to try one new recipe Read more >
This week, we prepared for year’s end with some golden oldies and nurturing fare. Some of us, like resident home chef James Folta, made miso soup to keep the rain away. All of us stayed inside, bringing the best of Read more >
I’m a devotee of two film series at my local Brooklyn indie theater: Ridiculous <> Sublime, a series highlighting “the most bombastic and confounding movies imaginable,” and Hubba Hubba, a series by my friend Mark Pagán that takes “a long Read more >
Publishing people used to corner the market on yuletide bacchanals. You hear stories. Decadence was expected. HR, AWOL. In last year’s Cut, Emily Gould interviewed partygoers from previous epochs and turned up all sorts of outrageous anecdotes. Back in the Read more >
It’s been the opposite of what you might call a banner year for legacy media. Public faith in our papers of record continues to erode. The monoculture’s in shambles, and you can’t swing an inbox open without hitting a dozen Read more >
New York City’s three public library systems released their list of most checked out books from the year, topped by Percival Everett’s James and followed by The God of the Woods by Liz Moore and Onyx Storm by Rebecca Yarros. The top ten Read more >
Amazon announced a few new Kindle features last week, including “recaps” to help you catch up on what happened previously in a book series and something called “Ask this Book,” which supposedly allows you to “stay immersed in your books” Read more >
Pirate of the Caribbean Johnny Depp, who drifted out to sea after allegations of abuse, recently announced he’s producing an English language film based on Mikhail Bulgakov’s The Master and Margarita. Depp made the announcement at a film festival in Read more >
Happy Friday! We’ve been so deep in end of the year lists over here that it’s hard for me to type “Friday” and not to immediately start thinking of things like “2025’s Top Fridays” or “Here are the days before Read more >
This was a week of discovery, over at Lit Hub. We explored strange new worlds and re-contextualized the familiar. And as usual, we relished the puns and the bits. James Folta has been enjoying a new Jon Bois video essay. Read more >
George Plimpton, impresario founder of The Paris Review, has a literary legacy that keeps on giving. Now, fans of the man can peep into his old townhouse. Otherwise known as the OG offices of America’s OG literary magazine. The storied Read more >
Around this time of year, I start seeing this 2021 Tweet make the rounds: “Most Americans on minimum wage earn less than a Dickensian allegory for destitution”—it’s compelling! And it certainly feels right to someone like me, who thinks it’s Read more >
As Reuters reported yesterday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio has enforced new font restrictions in the state department, because Trump and his hogmen continue to keep their eye on what matters to Americans. Under the last administration, the State Department Read more >
This week, the internet got a fun little treat when Mad Men, a pinnacle of early prestige TV, landed on HBOMax after a long absence from streaming services. Unfortunately, the new, much-hyped 4K restoration hit our home screens with flaws. Read more >
Over the weekend, the Writers Guild of America (WGA) issued a statement condemning the pending merger between two massive media titans: Netflix and Warner Bros. Discovery. But laymen may be wondering, why are the writers so upset? We all hate Read more >
With the caveat that “best” is a relative—and relatively silly—metric, it’s been a pretty great year for people talking about books. And if you’re the kind of reader who’d rather get your book club fix at a distance, ideally while Read more >
Literary Hub is pleased to announce the winner of the Restless Books 2025 Kellman Prize for Immigrant Literature, an annual award given to a first-time, first-generation immigrant author that includes a $10,000 advance, a writing residency from Millay Arts, and Read more >
Today, the Whiting Foundation announced the ten winners of the 2025 Whiting Nonfiction Grant for Works-in-Progress. Each winner will receive $40,000 to support the completion of their nonfiction project, and will also receive “strategic publicity guidance” from Press Shop PR. Read more >
Cozy winter season is upon us, and the publishing world is finally letting us catch up to their endless output. It’s time to peruse the “Best of” lists (like ours, here) and discover all the great books we’ve missed. And Read more >
Two Palestinians are gathering donations to create a public library in Gaza, after Israel’s war and genocide destroyed nearly all existing libraries, schools, and universities. The two men, Omar Hamad and Ibrahim, are avid readers who have spent years trying Read more >
