TODAY: In 1944, the second line of Paul Verlaine’s 1866 poem Chanson d’automne is broadcast by the Allies over BBC Radio Londres as a coded message to the French Resistance to prepare for the D-Day landings.
- Silence is an occupation all its own: Michael Chabon and Ayelet Waldman on Israel and Palestine. | Literary Hub
- Gabe Habash on how to write an essay for the internet in order to support your novel (very meta). | Literary Hub
- What reading Robert Pirsig taught me about writing (and life): lessons from Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. | Literary Hub
- Darkness and exuberant vitality are inextricably intertwined: Claire Messud on Arundhati Roy’s First Novel in 20 Years, The Ministry of Utmost Happiness. | Book Marks
- “Sometimes, when she prayed, she said ‘Dear Big Bang,’ and she was half certain that God enjoyed the inside joke.” A short story by Sherman Alexie. | The New Yorker
- Attempting to see through the “the phoniness of America’s number-one he-man to the genuine tragedy of masculinity that is played out in Hemingway’s life and in his best work:” On a slew of new biographies of Ernest Hemingway. | NYRB
- Confronting gay conversion therapy through fiction. | Literary Hub
- It’s the presentation behind the ritual of the return that I’ve always been interested in: An interview with Deepak Unnikrishnan, the inaugural recipient of the Restless Books Prize for New Immigrant Writing. | Los Angeles Review of Books
- “A central concept for PalFest was that Palestine would be liberated from being seen always in conjunction with Israel, from being seen as a problem to be solved, the Palestinians to be helped or persuaded towards ‘peace.’” Reflections on 10 years of the Palestinian Festival of Literature by its founder, Ahdaf Soueif. | The Guardian
- On the difficulty of being a writer in prison. | Literary Hub
- I had to consciously work to root out cultural, societal, religious and even feminist notions about who did sex work and why: On writing (accurately) about sex work. | Hazlitt
- “He has the editorial attitude I like best, which is no rules except for taste.” On the relaunch of the Sewanee Review under new editor Adam Ross. | The New York Times
- America constantly reminds me of Ray Bradbury’s Martian Chronicles, and other notes from Victoria Lomasko’s book tour diary. | n+1
- In honor of Federico García Lorca’s 119th birthday, 3 poems by surrealist masters. | Literary Hub
And on Literary Hub: Attending every party at BookExpo: a multi-party writeup that does not end on a note of exhausted despair • Revisiting Jenny Diski’s debut, sadomasochistic novel: on Nothing Natural and the literature of sexual submission • A look at Edan Lepucki’s new novel, Woman No. 17
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