Jeff Jarvis on Mark Twain, America’s First Celebrity Author and Publisher

By Jeff JarvisAugust 21, 2026

In the history of the invention of the typesetting machine and the consequent birth of mass media, Mark Twain is the Zelig of our tale, returning frequently as a typesetter in his brother’s ratty newspaper; as a tramp printer witnessing

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Literature & Essays

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The Independent Press Top 40 Bestsellers: Fiction

Here are this week’s Independent Press Top 40 Bestsellers for fiction, based on sales in hundreds of independent bookstores nationwide, generously provided by the American Booksellers Association. Compiled, designed, and distributed by The Independent Publishers Caucus. * 1. The Calamity

Literary HubAug 20, 2026

Literary Hub

Ways of Connecting: On Writing That Marries the Psychological, the Personal and the Political

Damon Galgut is the most generous-spirited, profoundly gifted and oddly approachable human. I am indebted in ways I can’t count for the critique, the encouragement, the consideration, the commiseration and the line edits (yes, he won the Booker Prize and

Faraaz Mahomed and Damon GalgutAug 21, 2026

The Conversation

Australian poetry classics: Francis Webb, the 20th century’s ‘most unjustly neglected poet’, is our best kept literary secret

Francis Webb was the first Australian poet to openly discuss mental health crises and the stigmatisation of mental patients.

Toby Davidson, Senior Lecturer in Literary Studies, Macquarie UniversityAug 20, 2026

Public Books

Literature in the Time of Suicide

“In both these Spanish-language novels, thinking about suicide is not only to grapple with someone else’s decision to die, but also inevitably with one’s own decision to go on living.” The post Literature in the Time of Suicide appeared first on Public Books.

Megan CumminsAug 19, 2026

The Paris Review

If You Build It, Will They Come? On the Sperm Racing World Cup

Onto Sperm Racing’s elegantly vulgar premise, the company has grafted a lame higher purpose intended to justify and temper the joyful stupidity of the enterprise.

Paul McAdoryAug 21, 2026

The Conversation

Jason Arday and the new politics of plagiarism

The resignation and death of the Cambridge professor is the latest chapter in a centuries-old struggle over originality and intellectual ownership – one intensified by the rise of generative AI.

Roger J. Kreuz, Associate Dean and Feinstone Interdisciplinary Research Professor, University of MemphisAug 21, 2026