Anyone who works in a library, in particular an academic library, knows that knowledge is not neutral. The own-the-snowflakes cry of “facts don’t care about your feelings” is not merely rude: it is untrue. A library is not just a repository of knowledge: it is a repository of certain kinds of... Continue reading >> [ Source: Electric Literature | 2025-06-17 11:05:00 UTC ]
It is not easy to write a book or get published. I’ve been a literary agent for almost 20 years, and I’ve written six books myself, most of which are tucked away in a drawer. As an agent, I receive hundreds of query letters every month, all vying for a spot on my list and […] The post 10 Novels... Continue reading >> [ Source: Electric Literature | 2025-06-13 11:10:00 UTC ]
Anelise Chen’s hybrid memoir starts with an ingenious typo: Clam down, Chen’s mother texts her as she copes with her divorce, and poof!, the protagonist becomes a clam, determined to learn everything about her species and kin. Though its namesake is a sedentary bottom feeder, Clam Down... Continue reading >> [ Source: Electric Literature | 2025-06-05 11:00:00 UTC ]
The following story was chosen by Ottessa Moshfegh as the winner of the 2025 Stella Kupferberg Memorial Short Story Prize. The prize is awarded annually by Selected Shorts and a guest author judge. This story will be performed by an actor this spring. To hear more great short stories performed... Continue reading >> [ Source: Electric Literature | 2025-05-28 11:10:00 UTC ]
I was in high school when I first read Patty Hearst’s memoir, Every Secret Thing, in which she recounts the nightmare of being kidnapped by a group of urban guerrillas and coerced to join their cell. For a year and a half, Hearst committed a series of crimes with the Symbionese Liberation Army... Continue reading >> [ Source: Electric Literature | 2025-05-28 11:05:00 UTC ]
Who doesn’t love dark academia? The malevolent architecture and forced proximity cut with the youth and ambition that sets it all aflame? Ever since chancing upon a marked-up paperback of The Secret History in the late ’90s, I’ve been obsessed with dark academia and all the micro-genres... Continue reading >> [ Source: Electric Literature | 2025-05-27 11:05:00 UTC ]
In 1994, the graphic novel was formally introduced in India with the publication of Orijit Sen’s River of Stories. Initially, book stores refused to sell it as the graphic novel concept wasn’t recognized. However, with the onset of the internet, digital copies started circulating online and... Continue reading >> [ Source: Electric Literature | 2025-05-19 11:05:00 UTC ]
In her latest book, part memoir and part biography, Returning to My Father’s Kitchen, Monica Macansantos writes fifteen richly textured essays about her father’s legacy both in her writings and in the kitchen where she finds his continued presence as she recreates his recipes that he’s developed... Continue reading >> [ Source: Electric Literature | 2025-05-15 11:00:00 UTC ]
In her searing and revolutionary memoir First in the Family: A Story of Survival, Recovery, and the American Dream, writer and mental health advocate Jessica Hoppe discusses and inspects addiction and how ingrained the culture is within BIPOC communities, notably within the Latine community. In... Continue reading >> [ Source: Electric Literature | 2025-05-13 11:00:00 UTC ]
In The Lilac People, my debut novel about trans people in Weimar Berlin and Nazi Germany, I have a side character so small, they’re downright tertiary. Dora Richter has no speaking role, nor does she have any impact on the plot. And yet she’s included because she’s important, and she was real.... Continue reading >> [ Source: Electric Literature | 2025-05-09 11:10:00 UTC ]
The year that was has made its artistic judgments. Mostly. The world of film declared Anora as Best Picture. Music selected Beyonce’s Cowboy Carter as Album of the Year. Now, finally, on May 5th, book world gets its big moment. On Monday, at 3:00 p.m. EST, the award ceremony will be live... Continue reading >> [ Source: Electric Literature | 2025-04-28 11:05:00 UTC ]
The year that was has made its artistic judgments. Mostly. The world of film declared Anora as Best Picture. Music selected Beyonce’s Cowboy Carter as Album of the Year. Now, finally, on May 5th, book world gets its big moment. Pulitzer time is here! As most of us book-loving folks know, there... Continue reading >> [ Source: Electric Literature | 2025-04-28 11:05:00 UTC ]
Writers—even if working in fiction—are often concerned about what is happening in the larger world. Though it takes time to see a book through from manuscript to hitting the shelves, the ones featured here have a finger on the pulse of our contemporary moment and take time to explore the deeper... Continue reading >> [ Source: Electric Literature | 2025-04-21 11:05:00 UTC ]
Electric Literature is pleased to reveal the cover of Little Movements by Lauren Morrow, which will be published by Random House on September 9, 2025. You can pre-order your copy here. Thirty-something Layla Smart was raised by her mother to dream medium. But all Layla’s ever wanted was a career... Continue reading >> [ Source: Electric Literature | 2025-04-17 11:00:00 UTC ]
It wouldn’t be wrong to call Kate Folk’s debut novel Sky Daddy a marriage plot. The protagonist, Linda, has had numerous lovers, but she wants to settle down. She’s looking for a “fine gentleman” who’s sleek, strong, and ready to commit, and she already has her dream wedding planned: hurtling to... Continue reading >> [ Source: Electric Literature | 2025-04-08 11:00:00 UTC ]
In this land of opportunities, being an immigrant can often feel like playing a round of Twister. A certain contortion of mind, language, and will power seems written into the script; a lot of territory remains untouchable. Shubha Sunder’s debut novel Optional Practical Training is named after... Continue reading >> [ Source: Electric Literature | 2025-03-07 12:05:00 UTC ]
Emily St. James’s debut novel Woodworking chronicles the developing friendship between a 16-year-old trans girl and her recently-out-to-herself English teacher in Mitchell, South Dakota in the months leading up to the 2016 election. In a town like Mitchell, secrets are few and far between,... Continue reading >> [ Source: Electric Literature | 2025-03-06 12:00:00 UTC ]
Climate change is conspicuously absent from most realist, literary fiction set in the present day. Hurricanes, wildfires, floods, droughts and other natural disasters are part of our daily lives, yet they’re absent, save for brief mentions of a news clip for a college protest from much of our... Continue reading >> [ Source: Electric Literature | 2025-03-04 12:00:00 UTC ]
Electric Literature is pleased to reveal the cover of These Memories Do Not Belong to Us, the highly-anticipated debut novel by Yiming Ma, which will be published by Mariner Books in the US and McClelland & Stewart in Canada on August 12, 2025. You can pre-order here in US or here in Canada.... Continue reading >> [ Source: Electric Literature | 2025-03-04 12:00:00 UTC ]
On the dedication page of No Offense: A Memoir in Essays, Jackie Domenus writes, “To all the queer and trans folks who have bitten their tongues until they bled: this book is for you.” In this powerful and timely collection, Domenus defends and celebrates identity and love with an unflinching... Continue reading >> [ Source: Electric Literature | 2025-02-24 12:00:00 UTC ]