TODAY: In 1826, English novelist and poet Dinah Craik is born.
- A master class in shade: The meanest things Vladimir Nabokov has ever said about other writers. | Lit Hub
- It’s never “too soon” for art (or politics) about societal trauma: Tom McAllister on writing about a school shooting. | Lit Hub
- On this day of student protests against gun violence, Dava Sobel looks at the life and writing of Marjory Stoneman Douglas (who would have approved of the walk-outs). | Lit Hub
- Celebrate 4/20 with 17 marijuana-laced mysteries, from The Savage Detectives to Pineapple Express. | CrimeReads
- Barbara Ehrenreich, John Edgar Wideman, and more: The ten best-reviewed books of the week. | Book Marks
- “We are so vulnerable when we open ourselves up to literature. We’re reminded of these real parts of ourselves.” Tracy K. Smith and Jacqueline Woodson in conversation. | The New York Times
- Here is your 4/20 content: Why does DaVinci’s Jesus look so… stoned? | Lit Hub
- Julie Buntin talks with Will Schwalbe about girlhood friendships, Lorrie Moore, and her rebellious youth. | Lit Hub
- In honor of Earth Day, ten trailblazing environmental books, and a look at the literary brilliance of Rachel Carson. | Lit Hub
- Rachel Cusk on the Italian writer Natalia Ginzburg, who “separates the concept of storytelling from the concept of the self and in doing so takes a great stride towards a more truthful representation of reality.” | The Times Literary Supplement
- A Farewell to Arms, Catch-22, The Alchemist, and other books you really don’t have to read (and what to read instead). | GQ
- “I thought about the act of listening and the act of rapping. The act of receiving art…” On the secret writing lessons hidden in the music of Kendrick Lamar. | Electric Literature
- “They are like liner notes of a new culture.” Chris Abani on the photographs of Sanlé Sory. | The New Republic
- FOSTA–SESTA gives me a sense of déjà vu: On the censorship of 20th-century French newspapers’ backpages and the need to find actual solutions to the problems associated with trafficking. | Public Books
- “your mama so black she will carry you in her teeth to the river & hold you / down until you become either holy or dead.” Two poems by Hanif Abdurraqib. | The Rumpus
Also on Literary Hub: Interview with a Bookstore: International lit in Pittsburgh’s City of Asylum · What we loved this week, from LeBron James to Helen DeWitt · Read from Jonathan Evison’s new novel, Lawn Boy
