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Lit Hub Daily

May 13, 2026

TODAY: In 1915, Edith Wharton writes in her diary about witnessing World War I in France.

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“Primo Levi didn’t know why he deserved to survive: why him, rather than someone else?” On Primo Levi’s translation of Kafka after Auschwitz. | Lit Hub Criticism

Lucy Sante recommends books about memory by Frances A. Yates, Vladimir Nabokov, Donald Westlake, and more. | Lit Hub Reading Lists

Is bartering a better system? On the relationship between money and things. | Lit Hub Politics

Librarians and archivists didn’t steal the Declaration of Independence, but they definitely fought over it. | Lit Hub History

How to separate truth from illusion while writing the biography of modern astrology’s mother. | Lit Hub Craft

The lessons we need to learn about climate change from the Pacific Palisades fires. | Lit Hub Climate Change

Masud Husain explains why dopamine doesn’t do what you think it does. | Lit Hub Science

John Adams and Thomas Jefferson made unlikely friends (and also changed history). | Lit Hub History

“...Gilbert was not good with pain, and not at all ready to die, here, today, for no just reason he could think of...” Read from Dimitry Elias Léger’s new novel, Death of the Soccer God. | Lit Hub Fiction

A BOLD NEW HISTORY OF WOMEN’S HEALTH

This bold women’s history recovers ancient women’s stories of pregnancy and birth to offer a fresh lens on Roman history. Perfect for readers of feminist retellings like Penelope’s Bones.

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INTRODUCING THE HARPER-COLLINS
AMERICAN CLASSICS

Introducing the HarperCollins American Classics—AVAILABLE NOW. From timeless novels to groundbreaking nonfiction, these carefully chosen books reflect the diverse voices, struggles, and triumphs of the American spirit across generations.

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Russian photographer Alexandra Kuzyk has been sentenced to 18 months in a labor camp for publishing gay K-Pop fanfic. | The Cut

For screenwriters, training AI “is the new waiting tables.” | Wired

“How does he manage to do this? I think it’s simple: love.” Sheila Heti on Andrés Felipe Solano’s Gloria. | The Paris Review

Jill Lepore grapples with how to cover the Trump years while writing American history. | The New Yorker

Ayşegül Savaş remembers finding writing during a moment of aimlessness. | Granta

Mia Sato breaks down the clipping economy, the latest source of internet slop. | The Verge

ADD TO YOUR TONI MORRISON COLLECTION

Celebrate Toni Morrison’s legacy with stunning repackages of her novels, each featuring an illuminating new introduction by a celebrated contemporary writer.