About r/literature
In its own words:
Welcome to /r/literature, a community for deeper discussions of plays, poetry, short stories, and novels. Discussions of literary criticism, literary history, literary theory, and critical theory are also welcome. We are not /r/books: please do not use this sub to seek book recommendations or homework help.
The community was created on Apr 1, 2008, which makes it 18 years old. Since Oct 26, 2026, it has gained 991 subscribers (+0.04%).
Subscriber growth
Between Sep 19, 2026 and Nov 2, 2026, r/literature climbed from 2,229,837 to 2,236,297 subscribers (+6.5K, +0.29%). That is about 147 new members per day. The chart uses our weekly snapshots (9 so far), so it gets longer every week.
What r/literature talks about
Looking at the titles of 19 recent posts (Oct 31–Nov 4), the words that come up most are “reading”, “art”, “book”, “read” and “writer”.
Activity and best time to post
The public archive holds 67,808 posts and 709,374 comments in total, about 10.5 comments per post.
Rules of r/literature
The moderators of r/literature list 8 rules. In short:
- Required in all posts
- No Homework (student) or curriculum (teacher) posts
- No requests for book recommendations
- No advertising or self-promotion
- No pics or memes
- No writing advice
- No silly videos
- No spoilers
How to join
Open reddit.com/r/literature and press “Join”. Read the community rules in the sidebar before you post: every subreddit is run by its own volunteer moderators.
Frequently asked questions
How big is r/literature?
r/literature has 2,236,297 subscribers, which makes it the #498 safe-for-work subreddit in the SubMouse ranking. It added 6,460 members between Sep 19, 2026 and Nov 2, 2026.
How old is r/literature?
r/literature was created on Apr 1, 2008, so it has been around for 18 years.
How active is r/literature?
Over its lifetime the archive counts 67,808 posts and 709,374 comments.
What is r/literature about?
The community describes itself as: “Welcome to /r/literature, a community for deeper discussions of plays, poetry, short stories, and novels. Discussions of literary criticism, literary history, literary theory, and critical theory are also welcome. We ar…” Recent post titles often mention reading, art, book, read and writer.
Is r/literature safe for work?
Yes. Reddit does not mark r/literature as an 18+ (NSFW) community. SubMouse lists safe-for-work subreddits only.
How do I post on r/literature?
Join the community on Reddit first, then use “Create post”. r/literature accepts both text and link posts. It has 8 posted rules, starting with: “Required in all posts”; “No Homework (student) or curriculum (teacher) posts”; “No requests for book recommendations”. Moderators remove posts that break the rules, so read them in the sidebar before posting.
Which communities are like r/literature?
Communities with similar topics include r/suggestmeabook (3.4M), r/booksuggestions (1.4M), r/Fantasy (4M), r/comicbooks (4.1M) and r/books (27.3M).
Stats from public data (data updated Nov 2, 2026; activity, rules and archive totals via the Arctic Shift archive, Nov 6, 2026). Point and comment counts are archive snapshots and can be lower than on Reddit today. SubMouse is an independent directory and is not affiliated with Reddit or the moderators of r/literature.