Matterist Books

Audiobooks are great for the morning commute, even if it's just down the hall to the kitchen. 🎧

Worried about the demise of reading? Come to France, where we’re up to our eyes in print | Alexander Hurst From hefty literary magazines to thriving book sales, the French publishing industry refuses to let printed matter die, says Paris-based writer Alexander Hurst

Print publishing is thriving in France, and in Paris booksellers just flipped amazon the bird. So there.
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre... #publishing

Scholastic Library Publishing Award is accepting nominations, deadline March 15 The Scholastic Library Publishing Award deadline is extended until March 15th!

Nominate your librarian!
www.ala.org/news/2026/03... #libraries

Nice digs.

School hours have barely changed since the 1800s. This doesn’t suit teenagers’ sleep While 9 till 3 seems normal, this is not necessarily what’s best for high school students as they grow.

School hours have barely changed since the 1800s. This doesn’t suit teenagers’ sleep theconversation.com/school-hours...

3 Debut Novelists on Writing the Unconscious and Unconventional - Electric Literature Jan Saenz, Lisa Lee, and Albertine Clarke on fiction’s refractions and reminiscences

3 Debut Novelists on Writing the Unconscious and Unconventional electricliterature.com/3-debut-nove...

Dominion: A Novel A Novel

Matterist pick: Dominion by Addie E. Citchens is a gripping Black Southern family drama about fear, patriarchy, and choosing to be free. Don’t miss this one.

HC: bookshop.org/a/1095/97803...
AB: www.awin1.com/cread.php?aw... #affiliatelink

Addie Citchens Reads “The City Is a Graveyard” The author reads her story from the March 16, 2026, issue of the magazine.

So good…
www.newyorker.com/podcast/the-...

Here are the finalists for the 2026 PEN/Faulkner award for fiction. Today, the PEN/Faulkner Foundation announced the five finalists for the 2026 PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction. The judging panel, which this year was comprised of Samantha Hunt, Tania James, and De’S…

Here are the finalists for the 2026 PEN/Faulkner award for fiction. lithub.com/here-are-the...

Good morning!

Redefining Success Virginia Pye examines the differences between big and small publishers and talks to five authors who have worked with both.

Redefining Success writerschronicle.awpwriter.org/TWC/TWC/2026...

António Lobo Antunes’s exhilarating novels forced Portugal to confront its darkest moments With an exacting modernist style and the courage to address fascism and colonialism head on, Lobo Antunes’s writing is a deluge of unforgiving truths in lush prose

António Lobo Antunes’s exhilarating novels forced Portugal to confront its darkest moments www.theguardian.com/books/2026/m...

Hope your Sunday is peaceful wherever you are, full of books and baked things.

Pro tip: If you’re writing a memoir, use your own memories not your friend’s. Just saying.

‘Nevertheless, she persisted…’: 16 Books to Read This Women’s History Month I offer this list of books as a lifebuoy to all with honor and respect to the voices that bolster my courage, persistence, and even, optimism.

‘Nevertheless, she persisted…’: 16 Books to Read This Women’s History Month pen.org/womens-histo...

'Dopamine Kids' explains why children crave screens and helps them enjoy life instead A mom and science writer offers an operating manual for parents grappling with kids' screen use and cravings for sweets.

'Dopamine Kids' explains why children crave screens and helps them enjoy life instead www.npr.org/2026/03/06/n...

What Should You Read Next? Here Are the Best Reviewed Books of the Week Saba Sams’s Gunk, Vigdis Hjorth’s Repetition, and Terry Tempest Williams’s The Glorians all number among the best reviewed books of the week. Brought to you by Book Marks, Lit Hub…

What Should You Read Next? Here Are the Best Reviewed Books of the Week lithub.com/what-should-...

True!

Diorama: A Novel A Novel

This one’s got teeth. Dark memories, murder, and taxidermy.

Diaorama by Carol Bensimon is a Matterist pick:

HC: bookshop.org/a/1095/97803...
AB: www.awin1.com/cread.php?aw... #affiliatelink

Amazon pulls sponsorship from Paris book festival after booksellers’ association boycott Syndicat de la Librairie Française accused online retailer of trying to ‘flood the market with fake AI-generated books’

The booksellers have spoken.
www.theguardian.com/books/2026/m...

Reality Rides Again Matterist Picks

Reality Rides Again
open.substack.com/pub/matteris...

Oh, and good morning!

Besides the story, what makes an audiobook good is the human narrating it. Why would anyone want to be read to by a robocaller? 🤯

Reality Rides Again Matterist Picks

Reality Rides Again
open.substack.com/pub/matteris...

Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s *Herland* (1915) A utopian novel where men are no longer necessary.

Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s Herland (1915) publicdomainreview.org/collection/h...

The Body Builders: A Novel A Novel

Matterist pick: In "The Body Builders" by Albertine Clarke, a London woman's grip on reality unravels after a mysterious poolside encounter, raising questions about identity, isolation, and our bonds with others.

HC: bookshop.org/a/1095/97816...
AB: www.awin1.com/cread.php?aw... #affiliatelink

This week’s news in Venn diagrams. It’s the AWP Conference and Bookfair this week, and most of the Lit Hub staff has been in Baltimore. With the editors out of town, those of us not at AWP have been taking good care of the place, an…

I like the Venns…
lithub.com/this-weeks-n...

A True Crime History of the Los Angeles Central Library In April 1986, somebody started a fire in one of the restricted book stacks of the Los Angeles Central Library. The resulting destruction and damage to over one million books – and the years of rep…

A True Crime History of the Los Angeles Central Library crimereads.com/a-true-crime...

Inside The Body Builders: Albertine Clarke on Dreams, Identity, and the Psychology of Writing - Debutiful Albertine Clarke’s debut novel, The Body Builders, is a surreal daydream. In it, we look into the protagonist Ada’s subconscious as she struggles to see herself through mirrors, through her own…

Here's a nice interview with The Body Builders author Albertine Clarke. Such a mysterious book...
debutiful.net/2026/03/05/i...

Looking back on this week, I'd like to make a few edits.