TODAY: In 1913, author Barbara Pym, noted by critic Lord David Cecil and the poet Philip Larkin as the most under-rated writer of the century, is born.
- Franz Kafka, the ultimate self-doubting writer. | Literary Hub
- Don’t make yourself the hero of the story (and other memoir-writing DOs and DON’Ts). | Literary Hub
- Fake news, fake history, and the problem of separating truth from lies in the face of wartime atrocity. | Literary Hub
- “This is Mr. Baldwin’s subject, the rareness and difficulty of love.” A 1956 New York Times Review of Giovanni’s Room. | Book Marks
- Books were either decent or indecent, vulgar or civilized, responsible or irresponsible: Vivian Gornick on “deliciously feared” midcentury literary critic, Diana Trilling. | The Nation
- Two scholars have discovered an unseen Edith Wharton play entitled Shadow of a Doubt, written nearly two decades prior to The Age of Innocence. | The Guardian
- “With every book I read, I can’t wait for the happy ending.” An 18-year-old Syrian refugee on the books she turned to in the midst of war. | VICE
- Like a cool teen, the New York Public Library is publishing a zine that will “showcase works from the diverse communities the Library serves.” | New York Public Library
- Margaret Atwood has picked up yet another literary award: the 17th annual Franz Kafka Prize. | Publishing Perspectives
- “One of the strangest things about drawing and writing is that what you’ve written and drawn becomes more real to you than what you actually experienced.” An interview with Kristen Radtke. | Los Angeles Review of Books
- James Patterson has increased the “holiday bonuses” he distributes to individual booksellers in partnership with the American Booksellers Association by $100,000. | Publishers Weekly
Also on Lit Hub: Why Thomas Hardy’s Angel Clare is the worst · Kenneth Branagh’s mustache, along with the week’s other literary film and TV news · Get at first look at Behind the Moon, by Madison Smartt Bell.
