Lit Hub Daily: June 30, 2021

TODAY: In 1984, American playwright Lillian Hellman dies at 79.  

• Lavinia Liang considers the “Eastern Western,” a growing body of literature that’s reclaiming a xenophobic genre. | Lit Hub Criticism

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• “There are certain novels that have the remarkable quality of being both timely and prophetic.” Margot Livesy on Kathrine Kressmann Taylor’s Address Unknown, which exposed the dangers of Nazism. | Lit Hub

• How to respond to The Dreaded Question, “What’s your book about?” | Lit Hub

• “A fascinating aspect of creative writing is that the rabbit so often threatens to seize control of the hat.” Tom Robbins talks to Gary Lippman. | Lit Hub

• What does the future hold for epidemiological technology like tracing apps, when “public perception is based on cultivated paranoia”? | Lit Hub Tech

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• Lytle Shaw remembers Bolinas, California, population 500 (poets). | Lit Hub

• A month of literary listening: AudioFile’s best audiobooks of June. | Book Marks

• Gabriel Krauze on public housing estates as settings for real stories about real people. | CrimeReads

• “Translated myths include transformation both in content—characters inhabit different bodies—and in form—languages alter each other.” Elisa Taber on translating Miguelángel Meza’s chapbook. | Harriet

• Jonathan Parks-Ramage discusses the therapeutic nature of writing, power dynamics, and challenging the archetype of the “perfect victim.” | The Rumpus

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• The language of liberation: Five formerly or currently incarcerated writers on what freedom means to them. | Harper’s Bazaar

• Elizabeth “Betita” Martínez, American Chicana feminist, organizer, editor, and author, has died at 95. | Los Angeles Times

• “We’re more secure in the world, more balanced, more confident in our identities, if we know this history of ourselves.” Anjali Enjeti on ancestral narratives and the need for structural change in publishing. | Guernica

• Clare Sestanovich’s advice for writing through self-doubt. | Poets & Writers

• “He wanted to cause chaos. He wanted to break America—and remake it in his imaginings.” The secret history of VICE co-founder Gavin McInnes, who was always an asshole. | Vanity Fair

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Also on Lit Hub: Mieko Anders considers Klara and the Sun and Midsommar • On Kurt Cobain, Beck, and the idols who mythologized a subculture • Read from Diane Johnson’s latest novel, Lorna Mott Comes Home

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