TODAY: In 1933, Philip Roth, perennial Nobel prize bridesmaid, is born. 
  • “He is objectively ridiculous, his career is murky at best and the campaign will be passionate and long.” Marilynne Robinson on Donald Trump. | The Guardian
  • The Sapir-Whorf hypothesis but for emoji: Elisa Gabbert on naming, timeless writing, and our conception of color. | Guernica
  • A vision of loneliness and riot: A profile of author and publisher Danielle Dutton. | LA Times
  • Hatred nourished by bread and milk: An excerpt from Barkskins by Annie Proulx. | The New Yorker
  • Garth Greenwell on the queer tradition of autofiction, the thrill of writing prose, and combining patience and indulgence. | Bookforum
  • A new issue of The Scofield, featuring Jeffery Renard Allen, Helen Phillips, and a lot of doppelgängers, is now live. | The Scofield
  • “I sat at my desk and contemplated all that I had accomplished this year.” James Tate’s final poem, as it was found in his typewriter. | The Paris Review
  • “When I hear my father has died, I get a tremendous craving for mushrooms.” An essay by Kaitlyn Greenidge. | BuzzFeed Books
  • Writing about the Internet now is supposed to be this Wild West of a fictional setting: An interview with Tony Tulathimutte. | Full Stop
  • Cynthia D’Aprix Sweeney on reimagining her career, the elevated location of fiction, and the appropriate reaction to a million-dollar advance (laughter, whiskey). | Vulture
  • Jessa Crispin on pre-constructing narratives, having an antagonistic relationship to the publishing industry, and having to deal with men. | The Rumpus
  • Love, loss, and neoliberal capitalism: On Beijing Comrades, a gay erotic novel that became a touchstone for queer men in China. | Broadly
  • From challenging the canon to “aimless, anti-critical, abstracted pro-‘book’ propaganda,” the rise and (limited) utility of “bookchat.” [Possibly bookchat.] | Flavorwire
  • “People have been concerned about what my mother and my (hypothetical) children would think of things I’d written—things that had nothing to do with them—long before I ever got pregnant.” On the condescending questions asked of women writers. | The Cut
  • Mysterious, doomed, reckless, but also deeply alive: On Chicago’s greatest poet, Gwendolyn Brooks. | The Toast

And on Literary Hub:

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  • Tracy Chevalier, past president of the Laura Ingalls Wilder Club. | Literary Hub
  • The novel is a mad, rambling, genius hobo: Dana Spiotta and Christopher Sorrentino in conversation.
  • When Chris Offutt lost his virginity at the World Science Fiction Convention of 1969…
  • Rosalie Knecht reflects on the stories she tells as a social worker and how they bleed into fiction.
  • Darcy Steinke in conversation with Samantha Hunt: on loneliness, motherhood, hauntings, and cults.
  • At 97 years old, Doris Grumbach looks back on a most extraordinary literary life (including getting fired from The New Republic, before it was cool).
  • Danielle Dutton questions some terrible writing advice from famous writers.
  • They just dig: Elissa Washuta on memoir, coal mining, and the hard art of excavation.
  • How social networks play favorites: the hidden forces behind going viral.
  • Paul Holdengraber continues his phone call with Adam Phillips: on Walt Whitman, self-discovery, and American rock n’ roll.
  • David L. Ulin in conversation with John D’Agata about the art of the American essay.
  • Lisa Levy profiles Adrian McKinty, working-class hero of Irish crime fiction.
  • From Ireland to Iowa, Sara Baume tries to understand America one pattern at a time.
  • Junot Diaz and Hilton Als talk masculinity, science fiction, and writing as an act of defiance.
  • Why you should watch the new Nora Ephron documentary: Michelle Dean on the art of Ephronology.
  • When the apocalypse is your religion: on leaving the church and finding a haven in science fiction.

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