2025 was a very good year for literary writing on Substack

too much to choose from

This time last year I was asked to make a prediction about what to expect in Literature in 2025. I said there would be a flourishing of criticism from Substack writers such as BDM, the Washington Review of Books, Joel J Miller, laura thompson, Naomi Kanakia, John Pistelli, Horace & friends, Julianne Werlin, Hollis Robbins (@Anecdotal), Brad Skow.

All of those writers are going strong, I am pleased to say. Naomi Kanakia has an excellent book coming out and her stories are attracting a bigger audience, as well as her writing about American fiction. Hollis Robbins has been leading the conversation about academia and the future of AI. BDM is working on an exciting book and she wrote a lovely piece about Northanger Abbey. And she wrote a defence of teaching and reading the canon. Joel J Miller has released The Idea Machine. laura thompson had several great pieces about detective fiction, including this one. Brad Skow has been writing about poetry and released an anthology. Julianne Werlin wrote several excellent essays (including a dialogue here at the Common Reader), but it was her interview in The Republic of Letters that I enjoyed the most.

Other names should be added, too, such as Celine Nguyen, one of my favourite Substack critics, whose work this year has been recognized by the National Book Critics Circle. We’ve also seen amazing work from James Tussing at the journal Literary Imagination, alongside John Pistelli.

Most of all, I have loved the work at Horace & friends this year, especially this piece about autumn poems.

Whatever problems it may have, Substack is currently a very good thing for critical and literary writing. What we are seeing, I think, is a revival of the old idea of the “man of letters”. Long may the flourishing continue!

Tell us in the comments which pieces of literary writing you have most enjoyed on Substack this year.