Lit Hub Weekly: Poetic Plagiarism, Joan Didion, and the 25 Most Iconic Book Covers
Lit Hub Weekly October 4 - 8, 2021
TODAY: In 1863, Edward Bok, Pulitzer Prize-winning author and longtime editor of the Ladies' Home Journal, is born.
“Poetry might seem like an inconsequential side-casualty in a larger, noisier war, but in fact it is central to the story of ownership of ideas and expressions.” Sam Riviere in defense of poetic plagiarism. | Lit Hub Poetry
Larry Lockridge reveals the story behind The Snake Pit, Mary Jane Ward’s dark comic masterpiece. | Lit Hub Criticism
Clocking in, chanting, and selling out subjects: Sara Davidson on the ten writing lessons she learned from hanging out with Joan Didion. | Lit Hub Craft
You know it when you see it: the 25 most iconic book covers in history. | Lit Hub
New titles from Jonathan Franzen, Miriam Toews, Val McDermid, and David Sedaris all feature among the Best Reviewed Books of the Week. | Book Marks
“How did stories make it more likely we would be alive tomorrow?” Lee Child on the invention of fiction. | CrimeReads
How has the pandemic changed what we normally think of as “science writing”? Ed Yong offers some reflections. | The Atlantic Hilton Als discusses the role that art can play in rebuilding our fractured culture. | Interview
Bad art friends: Robert Kolker tells the story of inspiration, appropriation, and litigation between two writers. | New York Times Magazine
Jonathan Franzen on his most memorable reads. | Elle
“All narratives suddenly ceased. It was just the virus now.” Amitava Kumar talks to Ryan Chapman about responding to the “infodemic” around COVID-19 in his new novel. | BOMB
“I often find myself sitting down to write and then my ghosts arrive.” Ada Limón discusses writing through grief. | NER
Welcome to Pillow-Cat Books, “the first animal-focused bookshop in New York.” | The New York Times
Read a breakdown of the effect of supply-chain snarls on the publishing industry (and get your holiday book pre-orders in now). | Vox How Indigenous folklore helped geoscientists understand the story of three giant, out-of-place boulders off the coast of the Makin Islands. | Hakai Magazine
“If someone wanted to build a young woman specifically for the purpose of being hated by the internet, she was what they would’ve wrought.” Scaachi Koul considers the legacy of Marie Calloway. | Buzzfeed News
On the connection between baking and the labor of publishing a book. | Catapult
Looking back at a 1950s newsletter dedicated to gay literature, which amassed a mailing list in the thousands despite threats from the FBI. | The New Yorker
Are coffee table books worth it? Design pros weigh in. | The Wall Street Journal
“You have a right to walk out that door. I have an obligation to say what I believe. This is how we get along.” A conversation with Nikki Giovanni. | Public Books
Read a roundtable of authors with roots in Latin America on identity, the publishing world, and their new work. | Teen Vogue
ENTER FOR A CHANCE TO WIN
ALSO THIS WEEK ON LITERARY HUB
Dave Eggers talks about escaping corporate tech • Miriam Toews on Grapes of Wrath and writing honestly • Amitava Kumar asks, can fiction fight fake news? • Bonnie Friedman reflects on writerly self-doubt • Joshua Ferris on his writing habits and Sesame Street • Kelefa Sanneh traces country music’s evolution from twangy regional phenomenon to Lil Nas X • On questions of procreation and responsibility in post-apocalypse narratives • Colin Kaepernick on abolition and Black liberation • Nadia Wassef reflects on owning the first modern Egyptian bookstore of its kind • How Babar represents the troubling history of colonialism in France • On Constancia de la Mora and the plight of writers in exile • Jocelyn Nicole Johnson on the uses of “vengeful fiction” • How to write a good fight scene • Siri Ranva Hjelm Jacobsen on recording her family’s Farose stories • Patrick Allington reads the Unidentified Aerial Phenomena report alongside Chariot of the Gods? • How fanfiction can inspire meaningful social change • Stephanie Grant unpacks the uses and abuses of disgust • How to be married in 16 simple (and excruciating) steps • Why Kendrick Lamar “wears the mantle of Tupac Shakur” • How Ralph Waldo Emerson helped transform the word “landscape” • Rowan Jacobsen on the primordial pull of the truffle • Why it took scientists so many centuries to grasp genetics • A brief survey of men having opinions about what women are reading • “Queer Love, it turns out, is everything True Love wishes it could be” • What Squirrel Hill can teach us about the power of proximity • Wisława Szymborska recommends learning to write from life
It’s a cold case like no other. In 1888, five women were brutally murdered in a London slum—attacks so violent the killer earned himself a nickname: Jack the Ripper. But everything you think you know about Jack and those women is wrong.
On the Bad Women podcast, historian Hallie Rubenhold uncovers the real lives of Jack’s victims, revealing discrimination that put them in Jack's path—misogyny women still face today. The show challenges established theories about the murders… causing many supposed Ripper experts to see red.
Listen to Bad Women at https://link.chtbl.com/lithubbadwomen.
|
Older messages
The Book Marks Bulletin: October 8, 2021
Friday, October 8, 2021
Click here to read this email in your browser. LIT HUB'S HOME FOR BOOK REVIEWS BOOK MARKS BULLETIN 10/8 In literary land this week, in non-kidney-related news: Noname opened an LA library dedicated
Lit Hub Daily: A Brief Survey of Men Having Opinions About What Women Are Reading
Friday, October 8, 2021
Lit Hub Daily: October 8, 2021 Click here to read this email in your browser. Crossroads by Jonathan Franzen Lit Hub Daily October 8, 2021 Harvey Pekar, an underground comic book writer best known for
Lit Hub Daily: The 25 Most Iconic Book Covers in History
Thursday, October 7, 2021
Lit Hub Daily: October 7, 2021 Click here to read this email in your browser. The Death of Jane Lawrence by Catilin Starling Lit Hub Daily October 7, 2021 In 1955, Allen Ginsberg, pictured here with
Lit Hub Daily: Dave Eggers on the Terrifying Ubiquity of Corporate Tech
Wednesday, October 6, 2021
Lit Hub Daily: October 6, 2021 Click here to read this email in your browser. The Survivors by Alex Schulman Lit Hub Daily October 6, 2021 In 1979, Elizabeth Bishop dies. TODAY: In 1979, Elizabeth
Lit Hub Daily: Amitava Kumar Wonders If Fiction Can Fight Fake News
Tuesday, October 5, 2021
Lit Hub Daily: October 5, 2021 Click here to read this email in your browser. Swann Galleries | Early Printed Books Lit Hub Daily October 5, 2021 In 1900, Bing Xin, who wrote for young readers and was
You Might Also Like
The 'Kitty Cut' Is Poised To Be 2024's #1 Haircut Trend
Thursday, March 28, 2024
Run, don't walk to your stylist.
Shopping on Amazon Is About to Get Even Worse
Wednesday, March 27, 2024
How to Make Sure Your Solar Eclipse Glasses Actually Work. I don't need to tell you that Amazon's search results keep getting worse and worse. Now, Amazon has decided to pour AI-powered jet
The Women Who Run Harlem
Wednesday, March 27, 2024
What's new today on the Cut — covering style, self, culture, and power, plus interviews, profiles, columns, and commentary from our editors. Brand Logo WEDNESDAY, MARCH 27 power The Women Who Run
Burn Belly Fat in Just 28 Days!
Wednesday, March 27, 2024
This science-backed plan really works Men's Health shop logo The Ultimate Belly Fat Workout From Men's Health View in Browser Men's Health 28-Day Belly Fat Burner Get Rid of Your Gut for
Rihanna Stuns In Gorgeous Floral Lace Lingerie For Vogue
Wednesday, March 27, 2024
Plus, gold chrome nails are taking over, the zodiac signs who always max out their credit card, & more.
Three new cookbooks “find” something in common
Wednesday, March 27, 2024
These bakeries are redefining Puerto Rico's traditions
Heads up.
Wednesday, March 27, 2024
For tomorrow. ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏
A guide to electric car misinformation (part 1)
Wednesday, March 27, 2024
The 2024 election is becoming all about EVs — which is terrible news for public understanding about them. ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏
"Look on me and be renewed"
Wednesday, March 27, 2024
March 27, 2024 Mari Evans I Am A Black Woman Mari Evans was born in Toledo, Ohio, on July 16, 1923. A major figure in the Black Arts Movement, Evans's books of poetry include Continuum: New And
How Temperance Illuminates the Middle Way Between People-Pleasing and Selfishness
Wednesday, March 27, 2024
It can mean walking the tightrope to do so. ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏