Lit Hub Daily: March 15, 2023

TODAY: In 1970, Norwegian author Tarjei Vesaas dies at 72.   

• A more interesting autofiction: DK Nnuro examines how Black writers are “appropriating” their way into a literary movement. | Lit Hub Criticism

• Is the “first job” memoir dead? Bryony Lau makes the case for new narratives of work. | Lit Hub Criticism

• “If Don Draper is a metaphor for white people’s version of America, I can have compassion for him, for us, but I can’t believe in it.” Kelly Shetron on Mad Men and white America’s willful amnesia. | Lit Hub Film & TV

• Ann Napolitano on self-doubt, loving basketball, and the piece of writing advice she could do without. | Lit Hub Questionnaire

• Ann Napolitano on self-doubt, loving basketball, and the piece of writing advice she could do without. | Lit Hub Questionnaire

• “This boy is going to be a writer.” Wendy Walker remembers a young Paul La Farge. | Lit Hub In Memoriam

• Matthew McNaught reflects on playing bass for an evangelical church band, to a chorus of singing in tongues. | Lit Hub Religion

• Jesse Q. Sutanto’s favorite feel-good mysteries of the year. | CrimeReads

• “I’m an absolute hobbit.” A profile of the genius Kelly Link. | Vulture

• Thirteen things you need to know about the longlisted books for the International Booker Prize. | The Booker Prize

• “Sensitivity reading ‘on the fly’ is an invaluable tool for parents reading to children. It can even be a useful exercise for authors who revisit their work at a later stage. It is less helpful, I think, when it is used by commercial entities to obscure the cultural history of storytelling.” Jan Grue on the disabled villain and sensitivity reading. | The Guardian

• Pioneering Association of American Publishers CEO Pat Schroeder has died at 82. | Publishers Weekly

• The Atlantic editors recommend 10 must-read (and must-reread) poetry collections. | The Atlantic 

• A veterinarian and author on what pets can teach us about love and grief. | NPR

Also on Lit Hub: Kathy Fagan on the poetic power of “misusing” language • Growing up queer: a coming-of-age reading list • Read from Tom Comitta’s latest novel, The Nature Book

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