TODAY: In 1928, Maya Angelou is born.
- “Would I have liked my name better had John Hughes not borrowed it for Ferris Bueller, or would I have liked it less?” Sloane Tanen on the lessons of Sloane Peterson. | Lit Hub
- 1984: still-relevant classic or “a wet, moody rag”? (Decidedly the latter, according to these one-star Amazon reviews.) | Lit Hub
- Valerie Jarrett recalls 26-year-old Michelle Obama’s remarkable job interview, and her first dinner with a young political super couple-to-be. | Lit Hub
- “I try to think of my drive the way Eudora Welty thought of her writing, as ‘a continuous thread of revelation.’” Learning to love the worst commute in America. | Lit Hub
- Read a story by Leanne Shapton from her collection Guestbook: Ghost Stories. | Lit Hub
- Short stories from the heart of the country: Donna Baier Stein picks her Midwestern favorites. | Lit Hub
- “It was very hard for me to accept Western European values because they didn’t accept me.” Read James Baldwin’s 1964 interview with Robert Penn Warren. | Lit Hub
- Sarah Weinman on Sandy Fawkes, the British journalist who crossed paths with an American serial killer. | CrimeReads
- Sally Rooney’s politics, Susan Choi’s untruths, Salman Rushdie on a dazzling debut, and more of the Book Reviews You Need to Read This Week. | Book Marks
- Salvador Dalí’s side project: illustrating books, from Don Quixote to the Bible. | Artsy
- All-male band Green Day is writing a “handbook for the rebellious everywoman who refuses to capitulate.” | Loudwire
- “Language does not only respond to reality, but forms it.” Poet Rebecca Tamás on the power of naming and being named. | Granta
- Words, pictures, sound, and architecture: Five translators on the joys and challenges of translating kids’ books. | Words Without Borders
- “Any policy that discourages reading in our prisons is a policy that harms us all.” On Washington state’s ban on used books in prisons. | The Seattle Review of Books
- From Instagram influencers like Mrs. Hinch to YouTube stars like PewDiePie, some internet celebrities have found their next big gig: writing books—and not without controversy. | The Conversation
- Listen to Henry Louis Gates, Jr. discuss Reconstruction and the origins of the American white supremacy movement on NPR’s Fresh Air. | NPR
Also on Lit Hub: Chloe Aridjis discusses 19th century books and her goth teen poetry on Otherppl • Fiction/Non/Fiction‘s lit mag episode, featuring Brigid Hughes, Jennifer Baker, and more • Leanne Shapton talks ghosts and guardian angels on So Many Damn Books • Helen Ellis on getting pregnant, and not getting pregnant • A rare book exhibition celebrates historic contributions by women • Read from Ann Beattie’s new novel, A Wonderful Stroke of Luck
