Literature

Zoological Advice for Grieving Daughters Ramona Ausubel Share article Home Range by Ramona Ausubel “The Florida panther (Puma concolor coryi), which once ranged throughout the southeastern United States, is now restricted to a small breeding population in southwest Florida south of the Caloosahatchee River. First listed as endangered in 1967 under the original Endangered Species

Adam Ross’s new novel Playworld, a 500-page epic, chronicles a year or so in the life of 14-year-old Griffin Hurt, a reluctant child actor whose life changes when his parents’ friend Naomi falls in love with him. Griffin’s account of his coming of age, from wrestling meets to contentious family dinners to clandestine meetings with

“I’m worried that I’m not worried,” I said. The first time I uttered that sentence was in 2016. I was sitting underneath the blue awning of Wheatfields Restaurant & Bar in Saratoga Springs, New York, with the writer Claire Messud. I had just graduated with my MFA in fiction and was attending a summer writing

In 2016, nine years ago, I published a list of forthcoming books by women of color that had piqued my interest. As a novelist and occasional critic, I was interested in looking for such books to read and, perhaps, review. Given I’d had trouble finding as many as I’d hoped, I thought others might also

I Was a Waitress by Samantha Allan Greta had a powerful stare. Approaching her with a platter of eggs, I imagined that her steady eyes were going to raze me until I was nothing more than a pile of wood shavings. The force of my transformation would send up a fine sawdust that shimmered in

The Revolution Will Not Be Sober Textiles We are supposed to lie about the mansion on the hill. We are supposed to say that the man who lives there is Lyle Charleston, that his family has lived there since the 1850s, and that they made their fortune in textiles. But the man who lives there

I inherited my (sometimes closeted) fandom of period dramas from my mother who was always up for anything with overly formal square dance, a wig, and arranged marriages. From the original BBC adaptation of Pride and Prejudice to the day-time TV Poldark, I would openly roll my eyes as she swooned over young Colin Firth,

The day after the election, November 6, having spent the previous evening cooking and consuming a healthy meal of grass-fed beef and roasted green beans and quinoa as a form of self-care, I sat at the kitchen table eating every single piece of our leftover Halloween treats. KitKats whose wrappers were red as the electoral

When I was 23, my best friend from college invited me to a networking mixer at the headquarters of a top publishing house in New York City. I was in graduate school at The New School at the time, and already working on the manuscript of what would become my first book, Born to Be

The publishing industry can feel like an opaque, black box to aspiring authors, with countless gatekeepers—agents, editors, publicists, book buyers and more—shaping the process behind the scenes. Even established authors can find the sector confusing as they attempt to read the tea leaves behind changing advance sizes, varying levels of publicity support and shifting print

Everyone’s a Leaver in the End Molly Gott Share article Joanna by Molly Gott I always got along with my girlfriends’ families, and for that, I had Florence to thank. She set a real precedent for me. The first time I went down to Georgia with her granddaughter—my girlfriend—Maxine, I didn’t know what to expect.

Queer characters deserve happy endings. And after everything we’ve been through—hiding our identities, hating ourselves, loving in secret, and living through stigma and fear—queer people deserve everything. We deserve the meet-cute, the toe-curling sex, and the over-the-top destination wedding. If I had my way, we would all have our student loans forgiven and become instant

M.A.S.H. by Sarah Gerard When I was thirteen, I began flirting with a man who worked for my father. I also worked for my father, after school. His advertising agency was a mile from my bus stop. It was a mile further to my house, walking in the Florida heat or rain, elongated by the

Many New Year’s Resolutions are health-centric—a promise to eat healthier, exercise more, or finally quit smoking. But for writers, caring for your creativity is just as central to your wellbeing. To give you some extra motivation, we’ve rounded up books on writing that are filled with new ways of approaching the craft and practical advice

It seems the films that withstand the test of time best are those that use well-written books as their source material. From classics like The Godfather, Fight Club, and Jaws, to pop culture phenomenons like the Marvel Cinematic Universe and The Hunger Games series, it’s always thrilling to see these stories take on new lives

Never far from the pulse, a quick glance over Electric Lit’s most popular articles from this year will tell you a lot about what preoccupies our collective consciousness. Our most popular reading list features crime novels, suggesting a heightened level of intrigue when it comes to all things dubious. The most popular essay reconsiders “Barbie”,

Put your book smarts to use in this fun quiz, devised by the Electric Literature team. We’re challenging you to guess the book titles based on emojis! From classic novels to contemporary bestsellers, these emoji will give you a hint, but can you crack the code? If you’re stumped, don’t worry, scroll on to the

It’s been a crazy year. It feels like the world has turned upside down, right side up, and sideways…and as we compiled 2024’s most read issues from Recommended Reading, it became clear that you felt like that too. Of all 53 stories we published, these five have one thing in common—instability. They are stories about