Lit Hub Daily: September 16, 2026

THE BEST OF THE LITERARY INTERNET

TODAY: In 1880, Alfred Noyes is born.

• Who actually benefits in an MFA workshop? Devon Halliday explores why these spaces might need “a greater clarity of purpose.” | Lit Hub Craft
• The truth is out there! What UFO fanaticism reveals about American conspiracies. | Lit Hub Politics
• “White supremacy welcomed his rage, and that made it irresistible.” How white supremacist literature spreads in prisons. | Lit Hub Criticism
• Having a body is both horrific and amazing! Lydia Mathis recommends books about the body by Justin Torres, Jesmyn Ward, Sarah Gailey, and more. | Lit Hub Reading Lists
• Abdelrahman ElGendy on the Egyptian prision poem that gave his memoir structure. | Lit Hub Memoir
• Vikram Chandra revisits his book, Geek Sublime: The Beauty of Code, The Code of Beauty, and considers human coding in the age of AI in conversation with Tobias Carroll. | Lit Hub In Conversation
• David Gessner remembers Robert Redford, movie star and conservationist, a year after his death. | Lit Hub Biography
• On the power of saying “no” as a woman: “The fact is, however, that for many of us, saying ‘yes’ is the easy part.” | Lit Hub Politics
• “The dentist’s quote for the surgery was between two and four thousand dollars.” Read from Sarah Anderson’s debut novel, Fallow. | Lit Hub Fiction
• “A child can look intensely engaged while being given very little time to think.” Natalia Kucirkova considers the empty chaos of children’s media. | Aeon
• Gabe Bullard explores the cost of our hunger for frictionless food. | LongreadsEmma Claire Foley remembers late writer and historian Carol Ginzburg. | The Baffler
• When was the last time you checked in on Wattpad? If the answer’s “not in this decade,” you might want to catch up. | The Walrus
• D.D. Guttenplan on why a new documentary about Edward Said offers a “superb introduction.” | The Nation
• Emily St. John Mandel tells Katie Drummond about being bad at elevator pitches, counter lives, and Exit Party. | Wired

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