Product that tells our story
We’re ten days into the 30th National Poetry Month—perhaps you’ve seen our poem-of-the-day feature—and it’s gotten me into a lyrical mood. In that vein, I picked up and became instantly enraptured by John Berger’s And Our Faces, My Heart, Brief as Photos, an unclassifiable amalgam of essay, memoir, and devotional that’s been catching my breath on […]
It’s April on the east coast, and we’re starting to get glimpses of beauty amid the chilled damp. Everyone knows Eliot’s description of April as the cruelest month: “Memory and desire, stirring/Dull roots with spring rain.” I feel you, brother. But the phrase that always pops into my mind is Shakespeare’s, from The Tempest: “spongy […]
Inspired by something Drew said on The Lit Hub podcast, I’ve been rethinking how I’m organizing the books I want to read, and trying to cull a little by being a little more honest about what I’m actually going to read. A nice plan, but in practice, I’m just moving books into increasingly precarious piles […]
It’s the AWP Conference and Bookfair this week, and most of the Lit Hub staff has been in Baltimore. With the editors out of town, those of us not at AWP have been taking good care of the place, and being sure to clean up after ourselves, eat all our vegetables, and not have any […]
People are really down on January, but I have to say, it’s not as bad as everyone says. There’s a good week and a half where people pretend they still don’t know what email is, you get to stunt around town in the new sweater your mom got you, and it’s the season for starting […]
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 every year for the holidays. This year I think it’s going to be the quesadilla […]
One week before Halloween folks, so it’s getting to be crunch time for sorting out your costume. I tend to default to wearing a ye-olden-tymes powdered wig and my old rocker vest and going as “Old School Punk,” but I’ve got a couple more ambitious ideas brewing. What are the trendy costumes going to be […]
September 5, 2025, 1:19pm As a guy who is simply not built for summer (sweaty, burns easily, refuses to wear shorts), the turning of the calendar to September adds a little lead to my tread, with visions of cider and sweaters dancing in my head. There’s nothing better than strolling in a light jacket, sipping […]
August 8, 2025, 2:09pm A cool August week here in New York, and I’ve been obsessing over tomatoes. Peak tomato season is the best, an ecstatic experience, and in my humble opinion a redeeming moment for summer, which is otherwise too hot and sweaty to really be enjoyable. Plus science just found out that tomatoes […]
July 3, 2025, 12:16pm Happy July 4th eve! Even if you’re not feeling so rah-rah on the American experiment these days, there’s still a lot to celebrate tomorrow. In addition to the adoption of the Declaration of Independence, the fourth is also when New York State abolished slavery in 1827 and when the first edition […]
