TODAY: In 1919, Doris Lessing, the oldest person to win the Nobel Prize in Literature and the author of the five novel series Children of Violence, is born.
- How Garth Risk Hallberg’s City on Fire came to be (in a period of 90 seconds, through dreams). | Literary Hub
- Meet the Young Poet Laureate of London/of Twitter, Alexis Okeowo. | The New Yorker
- Purity, the gift that keeps on giving, ends by calling “Hey, Soul Sister” by Train a “great song” (in “a pointed fuck-you to hipsterism,” perhaps). | Slate
- Congrats to the authors of the “poetry, short fiction, essays or literary whatnot” selected for this year’s Pushcart Prize. | The Pushcart Prize
- Eileen Myles and Alexander Chee talk Mercury retrograde, manageable messiness, and Rosie Myles, pitbull/ex-vice presidential candidate. | LA Times
- Alex Mar on marrying God, sky burial, and the politics of witchcraft. | The Millions
- On the televisual quality of City on Fire, which unapologetically adopts the “recognizable formula for a Golden Age serial drama,” and the future of fiction. | The Atlantic
- Constance Wilde, who is (still) misunderstood, minimized, and ridiculed, should be pretty pissed off. | McSweeney’s
- “Money was no concern, she thought, but witnesses now were.” A short story by Miles Klee. | Hobart
Also on Literary Hub: Anthony Marra interviews @GuyInYourMFA, genius ensues · Secrets of the book designer, a new series: on the paperback cover of Dept. of Speculation · In praise of Joe Meno, our wonderful hipster sentimentalist · Jason Diamond reads Henry James every fall, on the same park bench in Washington Square · A poem-a-day countdown to the Irish Arts Center Poetry Fest: day three, Elaine Feeney · The story of a lobotomy from Janet Sternburg’s White Matter
