TODAY: In 1847, newspaper publisher Joseph J. Pulitzer, namesake of the Pulitzer Prizes, is born.
- Let’s all stop pigeonholing Sally Rooney as a “Millennial Writer” (it’s the least interesting thing about her). | Lit Hub
- “Some of the essays seem to have been written last week, so fresh are the topics.” Annie Proulx on freewheeling nature writer Ellen Meloy. | Lit Hub
- A day in the life of one of New York’s best hairstylists: Kate Bolick on what it takes to make the cut. | Lit Hub
- “The metaphor reveals a world behind the world of things.” On falling in love with Malcolm X—and his mastery of metaphor. | Lit Hub
- What do we really mean by “women’s fiction”? Rachel Howard recommends six essays on the gendering of books. | Lit Hub
- “This is the transaction the writer must accept: you make a story and it is not for you.” On the necessary surrender in publishing a book. | Lit Hub
- Run DMC, Spike Lee, and… “Self-Reliance.” Discovering Ralph Waldo Emerson in the golden age of sneakers. | Lit Hub
- This week in Secrets of the Book Critics: Emily Gould on The Bell Jar, mean reviews, and cancel culture. | Book Marks
- On the occasion of its ninety-fourth birthday, The Great Gatsby: remarkable study of an era OR nothing more than a glorified anecdote? | Book Marks
- Michael Gonzales remembers the start of his love affair with horror, and how the wide open world of 1970s horror comics ended up with a 14-year-old cold calling DC and getting an interview to become a writer. | CrimeReads
- Rachel Cusk’s papers have been acquired by UT Austin’s Harry Ransom Center. | Ransom Center Magazine
- “Will the Earth be destroyed when I’m a grown-up?” A seven-year-old interviewing David Wallace-Wells on climate change is no less bleak than you’d expect. | Orion Magazine
- Bond, James Bond: How Ian Fleming (and his most famous creation) influenced the CIA in the 1960s. | Salon
- “I guess I was like, what if this gingerbread was poisonous? Would I continue eating it? Probably.” Read an interview with Helen Oyeyemi. | Hazlitt
- “What do America’s borders mean now?” On Valeria Luiselli, Greg Grandin, and the death of America’s frontier vision. | The Atlantic
- “When you’re still a teenager, it’s hard to know how to think of yourself because you receive so many contradictory messages”: Longreads interviews Susan Choi on her new novel, teenage psychology, #MeToo, and more. | Longreads
- The glorious days of Gourmet: On the new memoir of everyone’s favorite foodie, Ruth Reichl. | The New York Times
Also on Lit Hub: Anissa Gray talks challenging stereotypes of “rich white girl problems” on Reading Women • Interview with a bookstore: At Two Owls • Birth of the gun lobby: a history of the NRA • Read from María Gainza’s Optic Nerve
