Literary Hub Makes its Debut

Literary Hub made its official debut on April 8. Positioned as a daily source for literary content, the website’s initial showcase includes a lead profile on author Lydia Davis, a feature titled “How to Draw a Novel” by Martín Solares, a list of suggestions for surviving the Association of Writers & Writing Programs conference, and excerpts from titles by James Wood, James Hannaham, and Saul Bellow.

“In the immediate hours after launch I’m thrilled, tired, excited, hopeful, and looking forward to amplifying the voices of booksellers across the country,” Editor-in-Chief Jonny Diamond, founding editor of The L Magazine and Brooklyn Magazine, said on Wednesday.

For the site’s launch, Diamond penned a special welcome letter from the editor titled “In Praise of Bookstores,” in which he shared his personal connection with bricks-and-mortar bookshops and urged readers to find their own.

“Bookstores have always been central to my life, and remain so: for the pleasures they afford, the opportunities they provide. Bookstores, at least for my young family, are both escape and livelihood,” Diamond wrote. “I do not think of bookstores as an endangered species. I think the opposite is true. But I will say this: if we don’t buy books at our bricks-and-mortar bookstores, if we fail to use our libraries, we risk losing them.”

Diamond also made note of Literary Hub’s “recommendation engine,” which he called “wonderfully human: an opinionated, passionate, tireless community of booksellers, each one ready to fall in love at the turn of a page, and happy to tell you all about it.”

A joint project of Grove/Atlantic founder Morgan Entrekin and Electric Literature founder Andy Hunter, Literary Hub aims to collect the best literary content from around the web, as well as to produce original work through the help of its many partners.

Visit the site at lithub.com, where you can also sign up for the LitHub Daily newsletter.