TODAY: In 1963, French writer, designer, playwright, artist and filmmakerJean Cocteau, best known for his novel Les Enfants Terribles, dies.
- Viet Thanh Nguyen, Jesmyn Ward, and (many) more have been awarded a MacArthur genius grant. | The Washington Post
- Phenomenal, forsythia, handmaid, lemonade… 137 writers and the words their best known for. | Literary Hub
- Ellen Ullman: we need to demystify computer code (because our enemies have algorithms too). | Literary Hub
- From Freeman’s: the sly noir of A Yi, a former Chinese cop. | Literary Hub
- Jane Austen’s early readers we’re not impressed with Emma, and they let her know it. | Literary Hub
- How to explain murder to a seven-year-old: on the perils writing true crime while parenting. | Literary Hub
- Katherine Mansfield found joy in the small details of life (and was very good at writing letters about it). | Literary Hub
- Eve Ewing: “The primary audience of my book is, first and foremost, black teen girls. | Literary Hub
- “No longer is book criticism a bunch of white men reading books by white men and talking about them to other white men.” Speaking with Kate Tuttle, President of the National Book Critics Circle. | Book Marks
- How Amazon, “a corporate giant whose stars can anoint or destroy,” has become a new battleground for American politics. | The Guardian
- “Most of the things we love are the things that embarrass us.” And Helena Fitzgerald really loves the National. | Nylon
- “I am meditating on the care with which we must handle our languages.” Kaveh Akbar speaks with Layli Long Soldier. | Divedapper
- “I don’t mean that I met the man. I mean I stepped into a story he could’ve written.” Victor LaValle shares his Richard Matheson moment. | Electric Literature
- Painting a rich representation of the ongoing marriage between us eatin’ types and the types of eats we favor: Nick Offerman on Harper’s best collected food writing. | Harper’s Magazine
- “Read less fiction,” and other unconventional writing advice from Chuck Wendig. | terribleminds
- With Blade Runner 2049 now in theaters, a look at the other Philip K. Dick adaptations, from the must-sees to the better-off-skipping. | Slashfilm
