Best of the Week: May 26 – 29, 2015

TODAY: In 1593, 1744, and 1778, Christopher Marlowe, Alexander Pope, and Voltaire, respectively, died (and subsequently formed a power trio in the afterlife). 

• Remedying the New York Times’ summer reading list, which has finally reached peak whiteness. | The New Inquiry, The New York Times, Gawker Review of Books
• First metaphors, then the world: robots are learning poetry, the singularity is nigh. | Poetry for Robots
• Over 150 authors, including Maraget Atwood and Colm Tóibín, have added their names to a letter condemning the gruesome murders of three bloggers in Bangladesh and urging the government to take action. | The Guardian
• In case you haven’t quite reached your fill of depressing statistics about gender in publishing, it turns out that books about women don’t win awards. | Nicola Griffith
• With plenty of time to spare, Margaret Atwood has handed in her manuscript, to be published after we’re all dead (2114). | The New York Times
• Sexy vampires, reworked fairy tales, and female desire: the introduction to Angela Carter’s collected stories, by Kelly Link. | Guernica
• “New details have recently come to light” about the newly discovered Philip Larkin poem published by the Times Literary Supplement; namely, that it is not by Philip Larkin. | BuzzFeed
• “Like a child who sweetly denies any wrongdoing when caught tormenting an animal, Zink loves to play innocent while carrying out her nuttiest conceits.” Nell Zink’s Mislaid as a lunatic Shakespearean pastoral. | Bookforum
• A history of Patrick Melrose’s attentions: on Edward St. Aubyn’s autobiographical fiction project. | Flavorwire
• Alabaster roundups year after year: Roxane Gay on living the Groundhog Day of continually discussing, without result, the lack of diversity in publishing. | NPR
• “Every time our class met, it seemed, there was another black victim of a shooting in the news.” On teaching James Baldwin and Richard Wright in the Ferguson Era. | The New Republic
• “Is someone who looks like Gary Shteyngart getting better treatment than you?” A helpful flowchart, if you’re having trouble telling whether you’re at BEA or the world’s worst airport. | Tumblr

 

And on Literary Hub:

• On revisiting Colm Tóibín’s first novel, The South, after abandoning it many years before. | Literary Hub
• Remembering Kent Haruf, mentor. | Literary Hub
• Jeff VanderMeer asks if Michael Cisco is the American Kafka. | Literary Hub
• Sara Nović’s memories of pan-Yugo angst and reading Dubravka Ugrešić far from home. | Literary Hub
• Why are we obsessed with reclusive writers? | Literary Hub
• “What I do is not magical realism. I do realistic magic.” An interview with Alejandro Jodorowsky. | Literary Hub

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