TODAY: In 1744, English auction house Sotheby’s holds its first ever auction, the dispersal of “several Hundred scarce and valuable Books in all branches of Polite Literature” from the library of Sir John Stanley, which fetched a grand total of £826.
- “As to whether a male writer might have enjoyed more recognition for the same kind of innovatory feat, there’s a relevant case to be made, but I’m tired just thinking about it.” Josephine Rowe on the writing of the late Beverley Farmer. | Lit Hub
- “To be Black in America is to have contemplated fleeing this country, but here we’re reminded that we also escape its bleak expectations every time we come together for dinner.” Harmony Holiday on the lost conversation between Josephine Baker, James Baldwin, and Henry Louis Gates Jr. | Lit Hub
- “Writing fiction is entering into a certain wilderness—even if you’re writing it in your head while vacuuming.” Gregory Brown on taking the writing slow. | Lit Hub Craft
- Jess Zimmerman considers #MeToo, the failures of the justice system, and the overvaluing of white women’s pain. | Lit Hub
- “As to whether a male writer might have enjoyed more recognition for the same kind of innovatory feat, there’s a relevant case to be made, but I’m tired just thinking about it.” Josephine Rowe encounters the work of Beverly Farmer. | Lit Hub Criticism
- Elizabeth Knox recommends books that contain fictional books, which plague their writer characters. | Lit Hub Reading Lists
- “My work now depended on this invisible force who kept strange hours and threw tantrums without warning.” Mari Andrew on taking a break from her on-again-off-again Creativity, in wintery Bordeaux. | Lit Hub
- Rebecca Handler reflects on losing her father, and creating a narrator who lived the alternative reality she wasn’t able to. | Lit Hub
- Julian Lucas on Octavia Butler, Parul Sehgal on Shirley Hazzard, and more of the Reviews You Need to Read This Week. | Book Marks
- “How does anyone read Wilkie’s best stuff and not immediately go seek out the rest?” Steve Goble with an appreciation of Wilkie Collins’ lesser-known works. | CrimeReads
- Anne Laura Clarke, who rarely appears in history books, made a living as a public speaker at a time when it was all but inaccessible to women. | JSTOR Daily
- Reading this year’s NBCC Award finalists: Jacob M. Appel on Chris Nealon’s The Shore. | Lit Hub
- Today in Monopolies Are Bad: Amazon is blocking libraries from lending more than 10,000 ebooks. | The Washington Post
- “It’s a real painter’s book.” Anj Smith and Sarah Blakley-Cartwright discuss the “synesthetic and linguistic pleasures” of Speak, Memory. | Ursula
- Take a look at the neuroscience behind some of literature’s most powerful inventions, from the Empathy Generator to the Plot Twist. | Smithsonian
- “I’ve written for broadsheets, and I’ve written for teens–and the hardest audience will always be teens.” An interview with Mike Gayle, the first ever male author and first person of color to win the Romantic Novelists’ Association Outstanding Achievement Award. | The Guardian
- “To pay attention is to approach others with a fundamental generosity.” On Lady Bird, Consolation of Philosophy, and what it means to really pay attention. | Ploughshares
Also on Lit Hub: Andru Okun wonders if we’re in the middle of a second “memory emergency” • Sam Cohen considers the dismantling of normative gender roles • Read from James Stavridis and Elliot Ackerman’s new novel, 2034.
