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Craft and Criticism
Literary Criticism
Craft and Advice
In Conversation
On Translation
Fiction and Poetry
Short Story
From the Novel
Poem
News and Culture
History
Science
Politics
Biography
Memoir
Food
Technology
Bookstores and Libraries
Film and TV
Travel
Music
Art and Photography
The Hub
Style
Design
Sports
Lit Hub Radio
The Lit Hub Podcast
Awakeners
Fiction/Non/Fiction
The Critic and Her Publics
Windham-Campbell Prizes Podcast
Memoir Nation
Beyond the Page
First Draft: A Dialogue on Writing
Thresholds
The Cosmic Library
Culture Schlock
Reading Lists
The Best of the Decade
Book Marks
Best Reviewed Books
CrimeReads
True Crime
The Daily Thrill
Log In
persistence
Waves and Wipeouts: On Learning How to Surf As an Adult
David Litt Considers the Value of Fear and Persistence in the Pursuit of a New Skill
By
David Litt
| June 25, 2025
On the Long, Lonely Apprenticeship of the Writing Life
Kayla Min Andrews Remembers Her Mother, Author Katherine Min
By
Kayla Min Andrews
| January 10, 2024
On the Joy of Literary Acceptance (and the Freedom of Rejection)
Amy Grace Loyd Takes Stock of All the Yes’s and No’s
By
Amy Grace Loyd
| June 14, 2023
“It’s Not All Over...” On Persisting in Writing and in Life
Mark Ernest Pothier in Conversation With His Younger Self
By
Mark Ernest Pothier
| May 3, 2023
Repeat After Me: “I Am Not the Great American Novelist.”
Michael Bourne on What It Really Means to Accept Failure
By
Michael Bourne
| July 8, 2022
How I (Barely) Survived the Abject Failure of My Much Hyped Debut Novel
David Hollander Tells a Cautionary Tale for Us All
By
David Hollander
| March 10, 2021
Best Reviewed
Books of the Week
When a Very Small Press Wins a Pulitzer
By
Paul Harding
| January 24, 2019
Andrew Sean Greer: All the Novels I Almost Wrote
By
Andrew Sean Greer
| April 16, 2018
The Longest Winter: Or Why It Took Me 15 Years to Finish My Novel
By
Max Winter
| April 5, 2017
On Persistence: The Lessons of a Middle-Aged Debut Novelist
Daniel Lowe Finds Lessons in a Community College Classroom
By
Daniel Lowe
| March 10, 2017
Jami Attenberg on Literary Break Ups, Credit Card Debt and Epic Book Tours
In Which the Author of
All Grown Up
is Indeed, Asked If She Is All Grown Up
By
Dylan Foley
| March 7, 2017
How I Learned to Stop Worrying About the Market and Just Write
From Editor to Ghostwriter, the Ten Year Tale of a First Novel
By
Peternelle van Arsdale
| March 2, 2017
Failure and Patience: Lessons from the Garden for Writers
Yoojin Grace Wuertz on the Long Road to Her First Novel
By
Yoojin Grace Wuertz
| February 28, 2017
How Patrick Ryan Made it to Outer Space
And the Fifteen Unpublished Novels He Wrote Along the Way
By
Sophia Efthimiatou
| July 12, 2016
7 Novels That Explore Motherhood's Complexities
November 4, 2025
by
Donna Freitas
To Break Up with Friends, or to Murder Them: 5 Novels Featuring Fatal Friendship Failings
November 4, 2025
by
Jenna Satterthwaite
The Trauma Behind the "Good Old Days": Christina Henry on the Dark Trap of Nostalgia in Fiction
November 4, 2025
by
Christina Henry
The Best Reviewed Books of the Week
"Not much happens In fact there is much in the text that is not made…"