Lit Hub Daily: December 13, 2021

TODAY: In 1797, Heinrich Heine is born. 

• Our 48 favorite books of the year—for all your last-minute gifting, Omicron hibernation companionship, and holiday reading needs. | Lit Hub

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• Lee Gutkind recounts the surprising history of a genre: how creative nonfiction overcame resistance in English departments to become a literary force. | Lit Hub

• “It doesn’t matter whether you draw well or not. You can convey so much in comics.” Keum Suk Gendry-Kim talks to Alexander Chee about Korea, black and white illustration, and her new graphic novel, The Waiting. | Lit Hub Comics

• Michelle Bowdler and Kenny Fries talk about telling the story of injustice through memoir. | Lit Hub Memoir

• “The promise of the completed narrative is transformation, not reiteration.” Bonnie Friedman on taking clues from your own manuscript in order to get unstuck. | Lit Hub Craft

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• Howard Norman on the end times sketches of New Yorker cartoonist Edward Koren. | Lit Hub Comics 

• Amanda Gorman, Yusef Komunyakaa, Kaveh Akbar, Rita Dove, and Arthur Sze all feature among the Best Reviewed Poetry Collections of 2021. | Book Marks

• “All the clichés about Los Angeles are true.” Jeff Weiss talks to John Rechy, the “90-year-old laureate of sex and salvation.” | theLAnd

• Shane Graham considers David Levering Lewis’ When Harlem Was in Vogue, 40 years on. | Public Books

• A look at the 50 best books of literary journalism of the 21st century. | GQ

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• RJ Smith pays tribute to pioneering music journalist Greg Tate. | Los Angeles Times

• On the politics of Johnny Cash. | The New Republic

• Rachel Brittain shares some favorite gender-swapped fairytales. | Book Riot

• The latest from Texas, where local lawmakers are pressuring schools to review or remove books related to race, gender, and sexuality. | The New York Times

Also on Lit Hub: Aysegül Savas on moving beyond the business of writing • Visiting an icon of natural winemaking in Slovenia • Read from Neel Patel’s debut novel, Tell Me How to Be

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