Lit Hub Daily: July 5, 2023

TODAY: In 1852, Frederick Douglass gives his iconic speech, “What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?”       

• How Franz Kafka achieved cult status in Cold War America: Brian K. Goodman traces the origins of the term “Kafkaesque.” | Lit Hub Criticism

• Grifter princesses, sci-fi romance, and unchosen ones: here are July’s best sci-fi and fantasy books. | Lit Hub

• “I wouldn’t have written anything over the past six years without my children’s naps.” Kate Zambreno on getting the writing done (and more). | Lit Hub

• Chronicle of a battle foretold: How one American town went to war over desegregation. | Lit Hub History

• From the Labor Bund to the Lesbian Bar, Molly Crabapple profiles the legendary poet Irena Klepfisz. | Lux

• Oh dear: TikTok’s owner, ByteDance, is launching a publishing company. | The New York Times

• The New Yorker fiction issue features short fiction from Jhumpa Lahiri, Camille Bordas, and Hiromi Kawakami, a profile of Samuel R. Delany by Julian Lucas, and an essay from Zadie Smith. | The New Yorker

• “We can and should mock Hawley, but we’re taking a risk if we don’t read between the lines.” Ginny Hogan reads Manhood. | The Nation

• Test your knowledge of the summer bestsellers of yore. | The Washington Post

Also on Lit Hub: Marsha Gordon on Ursula Parrott’s ambitious women • Caitlin Shetterly on the honest humility of going gray • More from the author of Mrs Caliban

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