LitHub Daily: July 5, 2016

The Best of the Literary Internet, Every Day

TODAY: In 1972, writer and prolific book trailer maker Gary Shteyngart is born [right]. (Still from his Little Failure trailer). 
  • The genius of William Shawn, and the invention of The New Yorker: David Remnick on the post-war evolution of an American literary institution. | Literary Hub
  • How to write a short story: Helen Phillips and Matthew Vollmer on the art of the form. | Literary Hub
  • On the comedy of history, and the importance of a good joke: Christopher Bram finds humor in the greatest literature. | Literary Hub
  • There would be no fourth of July without the Iroquois nation, from Bev Sellars’s Price Paid: The Fight for First Nations Survival. | Literary Hub
  • Nobel Prize-winning author Elie Wiesel died on Saturday at age 87. | The New York Times
  • “He lies, bullies, menaces, dishes it out but can’t seem to take it, exhibits such a muddy understanding of certain American principles… that he might be a seventeenth-century Austrian prince time-transported here to mess with us.” George Saunders attends a Trump rally. | The New Yorker
  • “Try to think bigger than you ever have/or had courage enough to do:” Alice Walker responds, in verse, to Jesse Williams’ BET Speech. | Vulture
  • Lidudumalingani has been awarded the Caine Prize for his story “Memories We Lost.” | Caine Prize
  • Freedom is not a settled thing: Dave Eggers on America’s continued need to welcome the world’s oppressed. | The Guardian
  • “In a literary marketplace where the very image of a woman is seen as antithetical to literature, Ferrante’s covers take an important stand.” On the female-oriented covers of Elena Ferrante. | The Atlantic
  • Chigozie Obioma on surpassing his literary dreams, exploring fear, and moving from a storyteller to a writer. | The Literary Show Project
  • On Speak, Memory, Vladimir Nabokov’s “exquisite paean to memory itself.” | Humanities
  • “Remember: none of this is really happening.” A short story by Jess Row. | n+1

Also on Literary Hub: On the battle to desegregate the nation’s libraries · Books making news this week: freaks, geeks, and some crazy, crazy love · Our city: From Christopher Hebert’s Angels of Detroit



Lit Hub Daily
Lit Hub Daily
The best of the literary Internet, every day, brought to you by Literary Hub.









More Story

Angels of Detroit

 She had never cared for cars. At least not in the way her brothers did. When they were teenagers, it had all been about fins,...

Become a Lit Hub Supporting Member: Because Books Matter

For the past decade, Literary Hub has brought you the best of the book world for free—no paywall. But our future relies on you. In return for a donation, you’ll get an ad-free reading experience, exclusive editors’ picks, book giveaways, and our coveted Joan Didion Lit Hub tote bag. Most importantly, you’ll keep independent book coverage alive and thriving on the internet.

Become a member for as low as $5/month

Dismiss without supporting Lit Hub
x