TODAY: In 1915, Canadian poet John McCrae’s “In Flanders Fields” is first published in the London magazine Punch.
- Remembering the great William Gass, his life and his writing advice. | Literary Hub
- The downloadable brain: we’re closer to immortality than we think (at least the super-rich are). | Literary Hub
- How I survived my crush on Holden Caulfield. | Literary Hub
- Why is a tech start-up hosting poetry readings? And is it working? | Literary Hub
- Emily Dickinson, poet and baker: seven recipes for the holiday season so you too can bake like a genius. | Literary Hub
- Drawings by Kerouac, Ginsberg’s funny hat, Cassady’s mugshot, and other rare Beat collectibles. | Literary Hub
- B-movie monsters, nuclear weapons, and jellyfish: the best-reviewed books of the week. | Book Marks
- “Good writing and good reading will break down barriers. We may even find a new idea, a great humane vision, around which to rally.” Kazuo Ishiguro calls for cultural and generic diversity in his Nobel lecture. | Nobel Prize
- Truth, Chaos, Violence, Belief: Writers (Margaret Atwood, Roxane Gay), politicians (Hillary Clinton, John McCain), and others reflect on the words that defined 2017. | Medium
- “Artists and writers who are not white men continually have to fight back against a public obsession with their personal lives.” On Emma Cline, Elena Ferrante, and the ways in which we diminish women’s talent. | Jezebel
- From a memoir of growing up in war-ravaged Iraq to the latest from Jillian Tamaki, the year’s 10 best comics and graphic novels. | Vulture
- “There are different kinds of hard. It’s not the hard of landing an airplane on an aircraft carrier. It’s not the hard of doing a spacewalk. But writing a book . . . was one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to do. It was pretty damn hard.” An interview with astronaut and memoirist Scott Kelly. | The New Yorker
- “Joanna Newsom was only five years older than me, but she seemed wiser than I’d ever be.” Chelsea Hodson reflects on—and releases—her 13-year-old interview with Joanna Newsom. | Fanzine
- Among the 10,000 books banned in Texas prisons: The Color Purple and Memoirs of a Geisha. Not banned: Mein Kampf and Satan’s Sorcery Volume I. That seems . . . normal. | The New York Times
