TODAY: In 1993, English novelist, short story writer, screenwriter, and film critic Penelope Gilliatt, one of the main film critics for The New Yorker in the 1960s and 1970s, dies.
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- Read from Tommy Pico’s book-length poem, Junk. | Lit Hub
- Dear Book Therapist: What do I read when the worst has happened? | Lit Hub
- “Through social media, I discovered the work of other critics of color, and saw reviewing books as a possibility.” An interview with book critic and creative writing professor Anjali Enjeti. | Book Marks
- Alex Segura provides a tour of Miami noir, from Carl Hiaasen to Carolina Garcia-Aguilera. | CrimeReads
- “Becoming Andrew’s mother was neither the least nor the most she could do; it was, simply, what she had done.” Read an excerpt from Rumaan Alam’s That Kind of Mother. | BuzzFeed Reader
- “Resources in my aspiring-comedian tool kit include a strange immunity to shame and a willingness to expose my thoughts and behavior to utter strangers.” Michelle Tea on starting stand-up at 46. | Lenny
- Balancing art and archives: Meet six librarians who moonlight as artists. | Lit Hub
- People don’t have sex with sea creatures unless the world has failed them: Jia Tolentino on The Pisces and the pop-culture phenomenon of amorous amphibious encounters. | The New Yorker
- “The effect is something like an absurd and endless syllabus, constantly updating to remind you of ways you might flunk as a moral being.” Lauren Oyler against “necessary” art. | The New York Times Magazine
- “Schulz’s literary legacy is fractured; absence lies at its heart.” Nathan Goldman on the Jewish writer Bruno Schulz, murdered by a Gestapo officer in 1942, and the radical potential of diaspora. | The New Inquiry
- “[It] may not have been the best postmodern novel ever written, but it was, despite stiff competition, perhaps the longest.” Marissa Brostoff on The X-Files. | n+1
- Joanna Cantor on choosing a New York she didn’t think she wanted. | Lit Hub
- Should a romance novelist be able to copyright the word “cocky”? “Such behavior is considered a dick move,” said Joanne Harris. | The Guardian
Also on Lit Hub: Is there such a thing as Catskills lit? 9 novels that go deep into the mountains • Terrance Hayes on Shakespeare, Ol’ Dirty Bastard and what makes a good MFA • From the new issue of The Gettysburg Review: the story “Frank at the End of the World,” by Tracy Daugherty
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