Lit Hub Daily May 25, 2021
TODAY: In 1803, Ralph Waldo Emerson is born.
Hot Books Summer is upon us: Here are the 38 novels you should read this summer, as recommended by the Lit Hub editors. | Lit Hub
“We tend to believe that invertebrates lack any mental life whatsoever, but science has been exposing the frailty of such a belief.” Jonathan Balcombe on the secret lives of flies. | Lit Hub Science
“We must make a new map, together where poetry is sung.” Joy Harjo on the upcoming anthology Living Nations, Living Words. | Lit Hub Poetry
Say it with us now: New! Books! Tuesday! | The Hub
Rinaldo Walcott traces the tradition of rioting, “an important element of the quest for Black freedom,” from slavery to now. | Lit Hub Politics
ER without Nurse Hathaway? Julianna Margulies recalls the tipping point of her TV career (and her love for the Uncle Vanya monologue). | Lit Hub TV
Are gay uncles having a cultural moment, or is it a clever bit of branding? Steven Rowley, guncle to five, digs into a contemporary phenomenon. | Lit Hub
“The last thing I want to do in my writing life is repeat myself.” Marisa Silver talks to Jane Ciabattari about pivoting to surrealism with her new novel, The Mysteries. | Lit Hub
Nathan Gorenstein on the life of John Moses Browning, whose “name was synonymous with pistols of all types” yet lived in relative obscurity… until World War I. | Lit Hub Biography
Kathy Wang on the literature of tech billionaires behaving badly. | CrimeReads
“Midnight’s Children sounds like a continent finding its voice.” The first reviews of Salman Rushdie’s Booker-winning magical realist epic. | Book Marks Angela Y. Davis, Natalie Diaz, and more artists, critics, and scholars have signed a letter condemning trustees of New York’s Museum of Modern Art for being “directly involved with support for Israel’s apartheid rule.” | Hyperallergic
On the overlooked legacy of John Wieners, one of the most important gay poets of his generation. | Boston Review
Kikuko Tsumura, with translator Polly Barton, discusses her new novel, narrative devices, and female solidarity in the workplace. | The Rumpus
“Back then, I was oblivious to the fact that writing a novel is hard, and that many people try and fail.” Mateo Askaripour talks about his satirical novel, the writing process, and his experiences in corporate America. | The Guardian
Fernanda Melchor considers the anti-nostalgia of José Emilio Pacheco’s Battles in the Desert. | The Paris Review
Dan Frank, revered editor at Pantheon, has died at 67. | The Seattle Times
During April of 2020, Pamela Petro and her partner, each the kitchen archivists of their families, “decided to cook and bake our way back in time.” | Guernica
“You can’t just pick up your art career, eighteen months later, from the place you dropped it. There’s no job to go back to; the job is you.” What effects has the pandemic had on the arts? | Harper’s
“Food, writing, they’re both offerings of building community and communication.” T Kira Madden considers her relationship to writing and cooking. | Catapult
NEW ON LIT HUB RADIO
Thomas Dyja talks about misplaced nostalgia for New York City, on Keen On. * Kathleen Rooney on how Robert Aickman’s stories illuminate the difference between horror and terror, on Lit Century.
ALSO ON LITERARY HUB
THE LINEAGE OF A REALITY TV EMPIRE
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