Lit Hub Daily: January 22, 2019

• “We still don’t know all of what Plath left behind.” On a chance encounter at the grave of Sylvia Plath. | Lit Hub
• “Culture and history tell us that New World tribal people emerged here, as cultures and as people.” David Treuer on the myth of an Edenic, pre-Columbian “New World.” | Lit Hub
• Diary of a government shutdown: a furloughed worked watches 24 hours of CNN, in search of the real story. | Lit Hub
• Jealousy, guilt, and royal rifts: a reading list of sororal friction, from Edith Wharton to J. Courtney Sullivan. | Lit Hub
• “I don’t know if it’s the well water or what.” On the small Vermont town that has produced 11 Olympians. | Lit Hub
• A decorated WWII veteran returns to the Jim Crow South: an account of the blinding of Sgt. Isaac Woodard. | Lit Hub
• Wil Medearis looks at 7 crime novels featuring America’s original swindle: the crooked land deal. | CrimeReads
• The Heartbeat of Wounded Knee author David Treuer on five books about Native America, from The Other Slavery to The Wretched of the Earth. | Book Marks
• “Eating alone is one of life’s greatest pleasures, time to consider the life-imitating-life issues.” Daniel Halpern’s food diary includes oysters, Shake Shack, and homemade eggs. | Grub Street
• “Some of the strongest stories begin with very simple archetypes.” Chigozie Obioma on the real tragedy that inspired his latest novel. | The Guardian
• “What is the book you pick up when you’re done with Harry Potter?” It’s called A Discovery of Witches, and it’s about to become a television show. | New York Times
• “Like other bilingual literatures, Deaf literature has the potential for making us think twice about how and why we write.” On writing Deaf literature. | Literary Studies
• The Trevor Project sent 100 copies of Last Week Tonight’s A Day in the Life of Marlon Bundo—a children’s book in which Mike Pence’s bunny marries another boy bunny—to the school where Karen Pence teaches, with a request that the school reconsider its anti-LGBT policies. | Vice
• Literary criticism or defamation? A Chinese film critic lost $11,800 in a lawsuit over a review. | Sixth Tone
• What’s a doctor’s best medicine? If we’re talking about physician burnout—it might be reading. | American Medical Association

Also on Lit Hub: Literary Disco considers the genius of Tommy Orange • On the absurdities of law on the US-Mexican border • Read from Talent