TODAY: In 1976, Dana goes back in time for the first time in Octavia Butler’s Kindred.
- Letter from Oakland: Idrissa Simmonds-Nastili on Black motherhood in these sleepless times. | Lit Hub
- “It’s not sufficient to sit in shame without taking action to move towards something better.” Marina Endicott on the forced schooling of Indigenous Canadians, and other racist acts of “white benevolence.” | Lit Hub History
- Lessons for 2020 from the films of Studio Ghibli: Susan Napier on Miyazaki’s Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind. | Lit Hub Film
- Arborist William Bryant Logan on the ancient art of coppicing—creating many trees from one. | Lit Hub Nature
- “We live with the nightmares.” Reverend Dr. William J. Barber II on the Poor People’s Campaign, and the politics of rejecting those living in poverty. | Lit Hub Politics
- Megha Majumdar, Katherine Hill, Robin Wasserman, and more take the Lit Hub Author Questionnaire. | Lit Hub
- Abdo Wazen explores Elias Khoury’s trailblazing Lebanese war novels. | Lit Hub
- “All energy, to that engineer, / the Soul, is the same.” Read two poems by James Richardson from his collection For Now. | Lit Hub
- Fifteen new books coming out today (perfect for ordering from one of these independent black-owned bookstores). | Lit Hub
- John Freeman recommends five poets who center nature in their work, from Alice Oswald to Juana de Ibarbourou. | Book Marks
- Kimberly Belle on six novels that prove lakes are the perfect setting for a murder mystery. | CrimeReads
- Michelle Alexander on the stories we must study to “begin the process of racial reckoning” and reimagine our systems of justice. | The New York Times
- Lauren Francis-Sharma thought she could protect her two black daughters from racism while sheltering-in-place. Then she realized it was a pipe dream. | The Lily
- A reminder that you’re allowed to grow out of your favorite books and authors. (This may or may not be a J.K. Rowling subtweet.) | BookRiot
- “What is required is a reevaluation, a dismantling. And no nation will go down quietly.” Robert Jones, Jr. on the necessity of collapse. | The Paris Review
- Tayari Jones on the way the criminal justice system and institutionalized racism affect individuals. | WABE
- Thousands of rare Islamic texts, some of which are hundreds of years old, are being digitized and made publicly available. | The Guardian
- “I have no faith that meaningful, measurable, permanent change is on the horizon. Prove me wrong.” Mariah Stovall writes an open letter to white people in publishing. | Poets & Writers
Also on Lit Hub: Writing across time and queer generations: Cooper Lee Bombardier in conversation with Paul Lisicky • “Volume”: A poem by Rachel Eliza Griffiths • Read an excerpt from Galsan Tschinag’s novel The Blue Sky, trans. by Katharina Rout.
