TODAY: In 1958, Raymond Chandler begins work on his final novel.
- In praise of the great Thom Jones: remembering the boisterous, blue-collar fiction of an American master; plus “The Pugilist at Rest,” a story by Thom Jones. | Literary Hub
- Could Saraband, a two-person press from Glasgow, win one of the biggest prizes in literature? On the rise of the small press on the Man Booker shortlist. | Literary Hub
- On first seeing your novel on the big screen: M.L. Stedman watches The Light Between Oceans. | Literary Hub
- John Simpson, editor of dictionaries: STOP STEREOTYPING LEXICOGRAPHERS! | Literary Hub
- How I built my own Game of Thrones iron throne: Lauren Harms reveals the secrets of the book designer. | Literary Hub
- Edward Albee, big in Bulgaria: on Eastern Europe’s love/hate relationship with a great American playwright. | Literary Hub
- I knew I didn’t want to write a conventional novel: The six Man Booker shortlisted authors on the inspiration and methodology behind their nominated books. | The Guardian
- “Poetry—poiesis means a thing made. And making is always a slightly hopeful thing because once you’ve made something… the world will be different.” An interview with Ann Carson. | NPR
- The saga of Bob Dylan and the Nobel Prize continues: A member of the Swedish Academy has called the newly crowned laureate, who has barely acknowledged the award, “impolite and arrogant.” | The New York Times
- It might be an ado about trifles: An excerpt from The Daily Henry James. | NYRB
- The recently announced Nine Dots Prize will award $100,000 for a 3,000-word essay (which will be expanded to a 30,000-word book). | Newsweek
- From oral poetic traditions to family soap operas, a look at early Korean novels. | BLARB
- How Swann’s Way, “Proust’s slow meditation on the compelling this-ness of home, family, and desire,” embodies the essence of Southern literature. | Bacon on the Bookshelf
Also on Literary Hub: Interview with a bookstore: Literati · Literary frenemies: Jean Cocteau and Marcel Proust · What ten thousand dollars could buy: from James Lasdun’s The Fall Guy
