Lit Hub Daily: September 28, 2026 brings a week of literary journalism that ranges from ghosts to crabs to dinosaurs, with stops at Don Quixote, a 17th-century witch hunt, and a profile of Paulina Borsook. Here is the full roundup.
Ghosts Are Getting Louder
Tara Badstubner opens the week with a piece on why recent ghosts are “actually” haunting us. She writes that the spectral are getting louder, more insistent, and more prevalent, and that our literature and cinema reflect this. The argument ties the current wave of ghostly fiction to broader cultural unease.
Badstubner’s essay appears in the Lit Hub Craft section, where it joins a steady stream of writing advice and literary analysis.
Angela Flournoy Talks Class and the Internet
Angela Flournoy joined Brit Bennett and Raven Leilani at The Center for Fiction for a wide-ranging conversation. The trio discussed class, the internet, and more, with Flournoy offering her thoughts on how those forces shape storytelling today.
The Real Story Behind 17th-Century Witchcraft Panic
Marion Gibson traces the real story behind 17th-century England’s witchcraft panic. Her piece appears in the Lit Hub History section, where it joins other essays on the history of literature and culture.
The witch hunt is a recurring subject in literary history, and Gibson’s work adds new context to a period often reduced to simple horror.
Alexandra Shackleton on Grandfather’s Expedition
Alexandra Shackleton considers the legacy of her grandfather Ernest Shackleton’s great Antarctic expedition. Her essay appears in the Lit Hub History section alongside Gibson’s work.
Shackleton’s expeditions have produced decades of writing, and Shackleton’s descendants continue to engage with the stories their family created.
Hiroko Oyamada’s Crabs
“My all-girls’ high school was sometimes visited by crabs. The first time I saw one show up was during my first year, on a rainy day in early summer.” That opening line comes from Hiroko Oyamada’s collection Garden, translated by Lucy North.
The excerpt appears in the Lit Hub Fiction section, where it joins other short works and book reviews.
Reading Don Quixote in 2026
“Reading Don Quixote is reminding me that at least a point of literature is to goof around.” Lincoln Michel makes that argument in a piece for Counter Craft, where he reflects on Cervantes’ masterpiece in the present day.
Michel’s playful approach fits the spirit of the original text, which has endured for centuries precisely because it refuses solemnity.
RFK’s Ethics Filing Reveals Skyhorse Payments
RFK’s ethics filing revealed that Skyhorse Publishing has paid him a whole lot of money, according to NPR. The filing, described as an “ethics filing (lol),” includes that detail among others.
NPR’s coverage treats the revelation as notable, though it does not specify the amount or the nature of the payments.
On Edgar Allan Poe as Excavator
The New Republic runs an essay on Edgar Allan Poe as “an excavator of repressed emotion.” The piece places Poe within the tradition of American literature, focusing on his ability to dig beneath surface feeling.
Poe’s work has been reinterpreted countless times, and this essay offers another angle on his contribution.
Tommy Craggs Profiles Paulina Borsook
“Borsook didn’t want me to come inside, lest I pull the old magazine hack’s scam of investing the decor with symbolic significance. She wrote enough stories of this kind in her heyday…to know how the game gets played.” Tommy Craggs writes those lines in a profile of Paulina Borsook for Wired.
Craggs’s piece is a character study of a writer who knows the tricks of her trade, and who is unwilling to let a visitor play them back at her.
Why Humans Tell Stories About Dinosaurs
“Why do humans tell ourselves stories about dinosaurs?” That question opens a piece in the Los Angeles Review of Books, which explores the enduring appeal of prehistoric creatures in human narrative.
The essay connects the dinosaur story to larger questions about memory, extinction, and the human relationship to the natural world.
The Week’s Schedule
| Date | Item |
|---|---|
| September 28, 2026 | Lit Hub Daily: September 28, 2026 |
What This Week Actually Shows
This week’s roundup is a snapshot of contemporary literary journalism. It moves across genres, eras, and continents, from crabs to 17th-century witches to the legacy of Shackleton. Each piece is a small entry point into a larger conversation about how we tell stories.
The best of it is the stuff that reaches beyond the obvious. Badstubner’s ghost essay is not just about scary books. Craggs’s profile of Borsook is not just about a writer’s career. The dinosaur essay is not just about extinct animals.
What holds the week together is the assumption that stories matter. Whether the story is a ghost, a crab, or a forgotten expedition, the writers here treat them as windows into something larger.
Ranking the Week’s Highlights
- Tara Badstubner’s ghost essay, for its ambition in linking contemporary fiction to cultural anxiety.
- Tommy Craggs’s profile of Paulina Borsook, for its sharp observation of a writer’s craft.
- Hiroko Oyamada’s “Crabs,” for its strange, specific voice.
- Marion Gibson’s witchcraft history, for its grounding of a familiar story in actual evidence.
- Lincoln Michel’s Don Quixote reflection, for its reminder that literature can be silly.
- The RFK/Skyhorse filing, for its unexpected transparency.
- The dinosaur essay, for its willingness to ask a simple question.
- Angela Flournoy’s conversation, for its range of topics.
The ranking is subjective, but it captures a pattern. The strongest pieces are the ones that do the work of interpretation. They take a topic and push past the surface.
Final Word
Lit Hub Daily: September 28, 2026 is a good week for readers. It offers something for everyone, from craft essays to history to fiction excerpts to profile pieces.
The week’s highlights show the range of what literary journalism can do. It can be academic, personal, funny, or strange. What it should never be is boring.
That is the standard this roundup sets, and it is a standard worth meeting.
Source material: “Lit Hub Daily: September 28, 2026,” Literary Hub.
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