TODAY: In 1830, Sarah Josepha Hale’s Poems for Our Children, including “Mary’s Lamb”, with the verse “Mary Had a Little Lamb”, is published by Marsh, Capen & Lyon in Boston, Massachusetts.
- The beautiful, the irreverent, and the so-80s-it-hurts: 50 Raymond Carver covers from around the world. | Lit Hub
- Aminatta Forna, Malaika Adero, Mukoma Wa Ngugi, and others pay tribute to Kenyan author and activist Binyavanga Wainaina, who died this week · Billy Kahora on the groundbreaking nature of Wainaina’s writing. | Lit Hub
- The future is uncertain for Sweden’s floating libraries, which bring books to thousands who need them. | Lit Hub
- “When did humans discover the magical potency of a few puffs of smoke to pacify thousands of irascible bees?” On the origins of honeybee domestication. | Lit Hub
- “I realized with dismay that the beautifully experimental forms of nonfiction might not be so effortless after all.” Kim Adrian on the difficulty of marrying form and content. | Lit Hub
- In praise of Cora Crane—writer, bill-payer, bordello owner—and other literary women who prop up literary men. | Lit Hub
- A collection of Gabriel García Márquez’s early journalism, a tome of filthy wisdom from John Waters, and more of the Best Reviewed Books of the Week. | Book Marks
- Legendary mystery bookseller Scott Montgomery on the art of the hand-sell, why you (yes, you!) need to read Craig Johnson, and that time Jim Crumley gave him the Crumliest compliment of all. | CrimeReads
- A roundtable discussion with five authors debuting this summer, including Lisa Taddeo (Three Women) and Taffy Brodesser-Akner (Fleishman Is In Trouble). | EW
- Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o has won the 2019 Erich-Maria-Remarque Peace Prize. | Stadt Osnabrück
- Following Jokha Alharthi’s historic Man Booker International Prize win, the Sharjah Book Authority announced the creation of a $350,000 award open to publishers putting out translated Arabic literature. | Publishing Perspectives
- “I start with a physical feeling. I start with a physical image.” Ann Beattie makes an appearance on Late Night with Seth Meyers to talk about her writing process. | Poets & Writers
- Judith Kerr, author of The Tiger Came to Tea and other beloved children’s books, has died at the age of 95. | The Guardian
- How The New York Times “has become a book deal factory.” | Vanity Fair
- Michael Avenatti was charged with—among other things—stealing $300,000 of Stormy Daniels’ book advance. At least this means he’s not running for president? | KTQV
Also on Lit Hub: Struggling to mine family history for a novel • Scent and sensibility: 5 olfactory novels • Hilary Plum on terrorism, disease, and blurring the lines of self on the New Books Network • On The Literary Life with Mitchell Kaplan, Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah discusses the role of indie booksellers in Friday Black‘s success • On Keen On, trying to convince Jeff Jarvis the internet is bad for democracy • Read an excerpt from Pola Oloixarac’s novel Dark Constellations
