Lit Hub Weekly: June 29 – July 3, 2026

TODAY: In 1804, Nathaniel Hawthorne is born on the 4th of July. 

• Get ready for part two! These are the 258 books we’re most anticipating in the second half of 2026. | Lit Hub Reading Lists
• Did you know that Ancient Roman romance novels went hard? | Lit Hub History
• Why readers still fall in love with Mr. Darcy, even after 200 years. | Lit Hub Criticism
• Why one of the best American backpacking books was written by a Japanese Buddhist Beat poet. | Lit Hub Craft

• Everyone’s pretty excited: ​In defense of sports clichés. | The Paris Review

• “It seems obvious to me that it’s not appealing to have to apply 40 different things every night. Why would that be good?” Caroline Reilly and Megan Nolan discuss ​the aesthetic legacy of Patrick Bateman. | Dirt

• Diana Bellonby considers ​the queerness of Vernon Lee’s ghost stories.​ | Los Angeles Review of Books

• “This is a world of girls and boys. Its fundamental charm lies in its playground quality, in its capacity to speak not to our practical adult hopes but to our simple wish to belong.” ​Lillian Fishman on Love Island.​ | The New Yorker

• “I’m more of a writer who draws than an artist who writes.” John Kelly interviews​legendary cartoonist Kim Deitch. | The Comics Journal

• Inside William Kentridge’s studio, “a safe space for stupidity.” | Hyperallergic

• Marco Bresciani remembers Carlo Ginzburg, anti-fascist pioneer of microhistory. | Jacobin

• “Most of a description goes unsaid rather than said; most everything is tossed into the pile of the unvarying, the uninteresting, the unremarkable.” Alfred Jung Lee considers ​the powers and limits of description. | The Believer

• Damion Searls considers ​translation through the multiple languages of Norway. | Granta

• Samer Abu Hawwash and Huda J. Fakhreddine discuss​ Palestinian poetry in a time of genocide. | Asymptote

• Five years after Anthony Broadwater was cleared of sexually assaulting Alice Sebold, ​Joaquin Sapien returns to the story. | ProPublica

• “Censuring works without having encountered them firsthand, misrepresenting facts, and taking elements wildly out of context became the strategy of the cultural warriors.”​ How culture wars feed into art censorship. | The Baffler

Also on Lit Hub:

Natalie Adler and Sarah Schulman talk about​ AIDS history • What Marjane Satrapi means​ to Naz Riahi • How bookmobiles​ sparked relationships with reading • American literary history ​from the Lit Hub archives • What happens when powerful people threaten activists • Writing a historical novel (even when you aren’t trying to) • The literary film and TV ​you need to stream in July • Let Maggie Gyllenhaal ​adapt The Bell Jar • Why Soledad Acosta de Samper’s Dolores is a unicorn to translators​ • Ed Simon explores​ Noah Webster’s dictionary • Can American presidents ​declare war? • The 13 best book covers ​from June • If you appreciate fiction’s “wayward girls,” ​try one of these books • The Frederick Douglass speech we should revisit​ this July 4th • 10 great children’s books ​out in July • Am I the asshole for refusing an invitation to submit work? • This week’s Independent Press Top 40 Bestsellers for​fiction ​and nonfiction • John Updike and small town literary gossip • Nonfiction titles to read​ in July • These poets have ​incredible new work out this month • 5 book reviews you need to read this week • July’s best new sci-fi and fantasy books • Namwali Serpell and Saeed Jones discuss​ Toni Morrison, “master of shade ”