Lit Hub Daily: July 26, 2023

• How do we tell the stories of Picasso’s mistresses? Anne Boyd Rioux looks to the “weeping woman,” Dora Maar. | Lit Hub History

• Tamara Faith Berger in praise of the new sex writing: “This is literature created to hear the sluts speak.” | Lit Hub Criticism

• Why 1990s Blackpool is the perfect setting for a queer reimagining of James Joyce’s Ulysses. | Lit Hub

• Mihret Sibhat considers the multitudes of our names. | Lit Hub Memoir

• “One thing leads to another. Again and again.” Confessions of a self-proclaimed book hoarder. | The Los Angeles Times

• “I don’t choose books based on the aggregate rating as if they are skincare products.” Yellowface author R. F. Kuang talks Goodreads. | The Guardian

• A group of booksellers, authors, and publishers have filed a lawsuit to stop a Texas law that would require bookstores to give a content rating to every title they sell. | The New York Times

• “What makes a strong voice, and why does ChatGPT’s voice so often fall flat?” Laura Hartenberger considers the writing lessons of AI. | Noema

• Allison Yarrow on the continued importance of the birth story. | Elle

Also on Lit Hub: Stacy Szymaszek on the liberatory possibilities of outsider poetry • Why sharks need protection from humans • Read from José Eduardo Agualusa’s newly translated novel, A Practical Guide to Levitation (tr. Daniel Hahn)