Bookchat

When a Book Cover Designer Writes a Book, Who Designs the Cover? As a book cover designer, I never imagined the tables being turned and finding myself in the position of an author awaiting cover designs. But after selling my first work of fiction, Head of Household, I did, and an urgent

When a Book Cover Designer Writes a Book, Who Designs the Cover?: As a book cover designer, I never imagined the tables being turned and finding myself in the position of an author awaiting cover designs. But after selling my first work of fiction, Head of Household, I did, and… #Design #Features

Eleanor Shearer on Migrants in Hiding and a Caribbean History of Canada Novelist Eleanor Shearer joins co-hosts V.V. Ganeshananthan and Whitney Terrell to discuss her new novel, Fireflies in Winter, which depicts the little-known history of how the Leeward Maroons of Jamaica—a free Black community descended from formerly enslaved Africans and indigenous

Eleanor Shearer on Migrants in Hiding and a Caribbean History of Canada: Novelist Eleanor Shearer joins co-hosts V.V. Ganeshananthan and Whitney Terrell to discuss her new novel, Fireflies in Winter, which depicts the little-known history of how the Leeward Maroons of… #CraftandCriticism #Features

Nothing Is Wrong and That’s Terrifying When I Grow Up I Aspire to Be Nothing Like My Father Click to enlarge Highland Click to enlarge The post Nothing Is Wrong and That’s Terrifying appeared first on Electric Literature.

Nothing Is Wrong and That’s Terrifying: When I Grow Up I Aspire to Be Nothing Like My Father Click to enlarge Highland Click to enlarge


The post Nothing Is Wrong and That’s Terrifying appeared first on Electric Literature.

What Romances by Disabled Authors Do Differently Romances by disabled romance incorporate important access of everyday life with disabilities in their stories, centering lived experiences and emphasizing boundaries and consent.

What Romances by Disabled Authors Do Differently: Romances by disabled romance incorporate important access of everyday life with disabilities in their stories, centering lived experiences and emphasizing boundaries and consent.

For Those Who Have Sacrificed in the Streets of Minneapolis “Your Lifetime is a Knife” –after Mary Oliver on Keats       Your lifetime is a knife. You could eat a plum, peel the darkly sour sun; or brandish it daily just because you can; or hide it each

For Those Who Have Sacrificed in the Streets of Minneapolis: “Your Lifetime is a Knife” –after Mary Oliver on Keats       Your lifetime is a knife. You could eat a plum, peel the darkly sour sun; or brandish it daily just because you can; or hide it each #Features #FictionandPoetry

An Exciting New Generation of Kid Detectives!: Graphic Novel Edition Point the Encyclopedia Brown kids in your life towards these new middle grade mystery graphic novels out in 2026!

An Exciting New Generation of Kid Detectives!: Graphic Novel Edition: Point the Encyclopedia Brown kids in your life towards these new middle grade mystery graphic novels out in 2026!

“You Just Do Language.” Lauren Groff on Craft, Reading, and Her New Collection For fiction authors of a certain stripe, a 2023 New York Times profile of the author Lauren Groff landed like an apple on the head. For others, it spilled like piping hot coffee across the laptop. Titled “How Lauren Groff,

“You Just Do Language.” Lauren Groff on Craft, Reading, and Her New Collection: For fiction authors of a certain stripe, a 2023 New York Times profile of the author Lauren Groff landed like an apple on the head. For others, it spilled like piping hot coffee… #CraftandAdvice #CraftandCriticism

All of America’s Colonial Evils at Once: The Early 19th-Century Subjugation of Florida Not everything in Wiley Thompson’s life was unpleasant. The site of his impending death, at least, was beautiful. He spent most of 1835 in the outback below a picturesque hillock, surrounded by pristine forest in what is today north-central Florida.

All of America’s Colonial Evils at Once: The Early 19th-Century Subjugation of Florida: Not everything in Wiley Thompson’s life was unpleasant. The site of his impending death, at least, was beautiful. He spent most of 1835 in the outback below a picturesque hillock, surrounded… #Features #History

In Praise of Problematic Women: A Reading List of “Bad” Mothers There’s nothing more villainous, no figure more reviled, than a bad mother. This is what we’ve been told time and again, in movies and TV shows from Mommie Dearest and Carrie to Mad Men and The Sopranos, where the mother

In Praise of Problematic Women: A Reading List of “Bad” Mothers: There’s nothing more villainous, no figure more reviled, than a bad mother. This is what we’ve been told time and again, in movies and TV shows from Mommie Dearest and Carrie to Mad Men and The Sopranos,… #CraftandCriticism #Features

On the Power and Safety That Comes With a Latex Fetish Latex requires dedication. It starts before it’s even touched your body—in taking precise measurements of your chest, waist and hips to order a latex garment. The measurements have to be precise to ensure comfort. Then you wait, sometimes three or

On the Power and Safety That Comes With a Latex Fetish: Latex requires dedication. It starts before it’s even touched your body—in taking precise measurements of your chest, waist and hips to order a latex garment. The measurements have to be precise to ensure comfort. Then you… #Features #Memoir

Beyond Closure: On the Importance of Naturalizing Grief When I first wrote In Lieu of Flowers in 2000, grief was still largely a private matter, something we carried silently within the confines of our homes and hearts. What strikes me most, reading these pages after a quarter century,

Beyond Closure: On the Importance of Naturalizing Grief: When I first wrote In Lieu of Flowers in 2000, grief was still largely a private matter, something we carried silently within the confines of our homes and hearts. What strikes me most, reading these pages after a quarter… #Features #Memoir

R.L. Maizes on Changing Drafts and Selves First Draft: A Dialogue of Writing is a weekly show featuring in-depth interviews with fiction, nonfiction, essay writers, and poets, highlighting the voices of writers as they discuss their work, their craft, and the literary arts. Hosted by Mitzi Rapkin,

R.L. Maizes on Changing Drafts and Selves: First Draft: A Dialogue of Writing is a weekly show featuring in-depth interviews with fiction, nonfiction, essay writers, and poets, highlighting the voices of writers as they discuss their work, their craft, and the… #CraftandAdvice #CraftandCriticism

Letter From Minnesota: The Sun Will Rise Again If you want a pair of shoes made, you don’t begin by studying the leather. You look first at the shoes the shoemaker is wearing. We measure character by example, not by words. That is how I learned to understand

Letter From Minnesota: The Sun Will Rise Again: If you want a pair of shoes made, you don’t begin by studying the leather. You look first at the shoes the shoemaker is wearing. We measure character by example, not by words. That is how I learned to understand #FullwidthSlider #Politics

Education as a Lifeline: Hope and Hardship in Gaza It was seven in the morning, and I was on my way to buy chicken—both hands buried in my pockets, trying to keep warm as the cold bit sharply. All I could see along the way were tents in quiet

Education as a Lifeline: Hope and Hardship in Gaza: It was seven in the morning, and I was on my way to buy chicken—both hands buried in my pockets, trying to keep warm as the cold bit sharply. All I could see along the way were tents in quiet #Features #NewsandCulture

Nine Memorable Depictions of AI in Fiction Humans have long been fascinated with consciousness. Before even coming close to fully understanding our own, we’ve devoted much of our imagination (and now resources) into creating it. This urge is indicative of our species’ ego and the need to

Nine Memorable Depictions of AI in Fiction: Humans have long been fascinated with consciousness. Before even coming close to fully understanding our own, we’ve devoted much of our imagination (and now resources) into creating it. This urge is indicative of our… #CraftandAdvice #CraftandCriticism

How Finding My Narrator Brought My Entire Book Together My first night in the apartment where I’d moved after my marriage ended, I listened to my upstairs neighbor, a horticulturalist, dragging huge potted plants from one corner of her room to another. To relax, I drew the water in

How Finding My Narrator Brought My Entire Book Together: My first night in the apartment where I’d moved after my marriage ended, I listened to my upstairs neighbor, a horticulturalist, dragging huge potted plants from one corner of her room to another. To relax,… #CraftandAdvice #CraftandCriticism

100+ Black-Owned Bookstores in the U.S. There are hundreds of Black-owned bookstores in the U.S. to explore! Check them out here, sorted by state.

100+ Black-Owned Bookstores in the U.S.: There are hundreds of Black-owned bookstores in the U.S. to explore! Check them out here, sorted by state.

How Accurate Should Historical Fiction Be? If you're a reader of historical fiction, or you want to write it yourself, read what the greats have to say about historical accuracy.

How Accurate Should Historical Fiction Be?: If you're a reader of historical fiction, or you want to write it yourself, read what the greats have to say about historical accuracy.

Dragon Gods, Pixietails, Magical Duels and More New YA Book Releases for February 11, 2026 Pop open your TBR. This week's new YA books feature everything from cosplay to dragon gods, Mars settlements, and more.

Dragon Gods, Pixietails, Magical Duels and More New YA Book Releases for February 11, 2026: Pop open your TBR. This week's new YA books feature everything from cosplay to dragon gods, Mars settlements, and more.

Best Romance Books of the Century So Far Here are the romance books that top our charts this century so far.

Best Romance Books of the Century So Far: Here are the romance books that top our charts this century so far.

Letter From Minnesota: The Border is Everywhere This isn’t new, we say to our Minnesota-born son, the one with dark, wavy brown hair, eyes like his abuelita’s. Deep brown, the color of the desert where his father and I were raised. We are making dinner in our

Letter From Minnesota: The Border is Everywhere: This isn’t new, we say to our Minnesota-born son, the one with dark, wavy brown hair, eyes like his abuelita’s. Deep brown, the color of the desert where his father and I were raised. We are making dinner in our #Features #Politics

Letter From Minnesota: How We Get Through the Darkest Nights I am white and I was born in Minnesota, and because of that, there is a lot I don’t know, a lot I can’t ever truly understand. But I am here, and I am terrified and furious. We all are.

Letter From Minnesota: How We Get Through the Darkest Nights: I am white and I was born in Minnesota, and because of that, there is a lot I don’t know, a lot I can’t ever truly understand. But I am here, and I am terrified and furious. We all are. #Features #Politics

Letter From Minnesota: Finding Community (and a Little Joy) in the Club You have your passport on you all the time now, so you take it out at the club to prove you’re of age. The bouncer stamps your hand and it’s a normal night, like any other normal night. You weren’t

Letter From Minnesota: Finding Community (and a Little Joy) in the Club: You have your passport on you all the time now, so you take it out at the club to prove you’re of age. The bouncer stamps your hand and it’s a normal night, like any other normal night. You weren’t #Features #Politics

The Origins of One of the Most Beloved Video Games of All Time I wonder if Shigeru Miyamoto had any inkling that his early doodles of a mustachioed guy in a cap and overalls would become one of the most recognizable characters in the world. At the time Donkey Kong was released, the

The Origins of One of the Most Beloved Video Games of All Time: I wonder if Shigeru Miyamoto had any inkling that his early doodles of a mustachioed guy in a cap and overalls would become one of the most recognizable characters in the world. At the time Donkey Kong was… #ArtandPhotography #Design

Love and Struggle Throughout the Ages: A Reading List of Queer Historical Fiction The challenge of queer historical fiction is ignoring the charge of anachronism. While sometimes leveled in bad faith by those who pretend queerness is an invention of the last century, even the best-intentioned readers come to stories about the past

Love and Struggle Throughout the Ages: A Reading List of Queer Historical Fiction: The challenge of queer historical fiction is ignoring the charge of anachronism. While sometimes leveled in bad faith by those who pretend queerness is an invention of the last century,… #CraftandCriticism #Features

A Saga in Miniature: On Halldór Laxness’s A Parish Chronicle Einginn fær mig ofan í jörð áður en ég er dauður. (No one puts me in the ground before I’m dead.) –Þorsteinn Erlingsson * In October 1969, Halldór Laxness was in Rome doing what came naturally to him whenever he

A Saga in Miniature: On Halldór Laxness’s A Parish Chronicle: Einginn fær mig ofan í jörð áður en ég er dauður. (No one puts me in the ground before I’m dead.) –Þorsteinn Erlingsson * In October 1969, Halldór Laxness was in Rome doing what came naturally to him… #CraftandCriticism #Features

Writing the Books We Want Write On a rainy winter evening in Somerville, a group of women authors were eating pizza and bowling candlepins at Sacco lanes when the topic of branding came up. That is, how a writer can feel pegged or slotted by her

Writing the Books We Want Write: On a rainy winter evening in Somerville, a group of women authors were eating pizza and bowling candlepins at Sacco lanes when the topic of branding came up. That is, how a writer can feel pegged or slotted by her #CraftandAdvice #CraftandCriticism

How Writing My Books Helped Me Understand My Chinese Parents I was one of those: a rebellious teenager with traditional Chinese parents. I chafed at my father’s strictness, at his expectations of absolute obedience, his insistence on perfect grades. I ran in the opposite direction, leaving home almost as soon

How Writing My Books Helped Me Understand My Chinese Parents: I was one of those: a rebellious teenager with traditional Chinese parents. I chafed at my father’s strictness, at his expectations of absolute obedience, his insistence on perfect grades. I ran in the… #CraftandAdvice #CraftandCriticism

Feminism and Palestinian Liberation Go Hand In Hand Palestinian women and queers in the homeland are often asked by concerned Westerners how we negotiate the challenges of living full, rewarding lives in a conservative society. Those of us in the Western diaspora are asked if we are not

Feminism and Palestinian Liberation Go Hand In Hand: Palestinian women and queers in the homeland are often asked by concerned Westerners how we negotiate the challenges of living full, rewarding lives in a conservative society. Those of us in the Western diaspora are asked if… #Excerpts #Features

Stronger Together: Why We Should Never Mourn Alone I’ve seen it countless times. In families, work places, even among circles of friends—when death comes knocking, there’s always someone who believes they must be “the strong one.” Someone who takes it upon themselves to hold everything together, to make

Stronger Together: Why We Should Never Mourn Alone: I’ve seen it countless times. In families, work places, even among circles of friends—when death comes knocking, there’s always someone who believes they must be “the strong one.” Someone who takes it upon themselves to hold… #Features #Memoir