Literature

The tagline (or, in some cases, subtitle) of David Lynch’s 2006 film Inland Empire reads simply: “A woman in trouble.” Of course, if you’ve seen that movie, it’s about a lot more than that, but it works. I’d use something similar for Alice Knott (Riverhead Books), the new novel from dark wizard Blake Butler, although

Don’t Ask Me What I Did With the Bodies Electric Lit relies on contributions from our readers to help make literature more exciting, relevant, and inclusive. Please support our work by becoming a member today, or making a one-time donation here. . The Squirrel We argue over the squirrel flat on his belly, clinging with

Electric Lit relies on contributions from our readers to help make literature more exciting, relevant, and inclusive. Please support our work by becoming a member today, or making a one-time donation here. . One Sunday in the spring of 1969, James Forman walked into the sanctuary of Riverside Church in the Morningside Heights neighborhood of

Electric Lit relies on contributions from our readers to help make literature more exciting, relevant, and inclusive. Please support our work by becoming a member today, or making a one-time donation here. . As Crown Publishing predicted, readers eagerly anticipated Michelle Obama’s Becoming. Autobiography and memoir are best-selling categories because virtually everyone enjoys learning about

Electric Lit relies on contributions from our readers to help make literature more exciting, relevant, and inclusive. Please support our work by becoming a member today, or making a one-time donation here. . Remakes, reboots, and sequels, oh my! There have been six Transformers films and somehow Hollywood still wants more. It’s not just the

Electric Lit relies on contributions from our readers to help make literature more exciting, relevant, and inclusive. Please support our work by becoming a member today, or making a one-time donation here. . In  our series “Can Writing Be Taught?” we partner with Catapult to ask their course instructors all our burning questions about the

Electric Lit relies on contributions from our readers to help make literature more exciting, relevant, and inclusive. Please support our work by becoming a member today, or making a one-time donation here. . In Rodham, Curtis Sittenfeld tells a story about someone we think we know: Hillary Rodham. Of course we all know about Hillary

Series editor’s note: In Ashia Ajani’s poem “Running,” the Black body finds itself outdoors, not as a means of escape, rather as a place of exodus, where it can stay moving, embracing a small freedom. But wherever the Black body is placed, it seems to always be in danger, its flesh ripe for taking. With

A Sri Lankan village’s sole film critic tells the story of Gamini: “My generation might be the last to remember the Sri Lankan movie maniacs like him. So, I must tell you his story.” My sister reported that the oldest movie maniac in our village has indeed become insane. Because she knows the cinematic kinship

Electric Lit relies on contributions from our readers to help make literature more exciting, relevant, and inclusive. Please support our work by becoming a member today, or making a one-time donation here. . Did the recent Netflix adaptation of the Baby-Sitters Club series leave you feeling nostalgic? Us too. Not just for landline phones or

Tolerating Friends on a Holiday in Cannes Mavis Gallant Share article Electric Lit relies on contributions from our readers to help make literature more exciting, relevant, and inclusive. Please support our work by becoming a member today, or making a one-time donation here. . “Travelers Must Be Content” By Mavis Gallant Dreams of chaos were

The Neustadt International Prize for Literature, one of the most prestigious global literary awards, has entered its 50-year anniversary at the University of Oklahoma. Often referred to as “the American Nobel,” the biennial award endowed by the Neustadt family and orchestrated by OU’s literary magazine, World Literature Today, will be offering opportunities for readers everywhere

Electric Lit relies on contributions from our readers to help make literature more exciting, relevant, and inclusive. Please support our work by becoming a member today, or making a one-time donation here. . Morgan Jerkins’s debut collection of essays, This Will Be My Undoing, shot directly to the NYT bestseller list, gaining wide acclaim for

Electric Lit relies on contributions from our readers to help make literature more exciting, relevant, and inclusive. Please support our work by becoming a member today, or making a one-time donation here. . Student travelers take themselves out of one story and place themselves in another, one in which they have little control. With expectations

Electric Lit relies on contributions from our readers to help make literature more exciting, relevant, and inclusive. Please support our work by becoming a member today, or making a one-time donation here. . Raven Leilani’s debut novel, Luster confronts what it means to be hungry and desperate as a Black artist. The novel is about

Richard van Leeuwen is a senior lecturer in Islamic studies at the University of Amsterdam. This year, he won the 2020 Sheikh Zayed Book Award in the Arabic Culture in Other Languages category for his book The Thousand and One Nights and Twentieth-Century Fiction: Intertextual Readings, which reveals how the collection of Arab tales supplied

The Light that Shoots Out of My Sister’s Eyeball Electric Lit relies on contributions from our readers to help make literature more exciting, relevant, and inclusive. Please support our work by becoming a member today, or making a one-time donation here. . Beam A beam shoots out of my little sister’s right eye and won’t

Electric Lit relies on contributions from our readers to help make literature more exciting, relevant, and inclusive. Please support our work by becoming a member today, or making a one-time donation here. . Adapted from remarks given at the Toni Morrison Festival in February 2020.  About three years ago, Toni Morrison wrote a short and,