Lit Hub Daily: November 13, 2018

• “This distinction between ‘entertainment’ and ‘literature’ was not meaningful, not at the highest levels.” George Saunders on Gogol, Johnny Tremain, and following the magic. | Lit Hub
• “One of the great pleasures in writing nonfiction is the writer’s adventure of exploration.” Kay Eldredge Salter on the notes and drafts of her husband, James Salter. | Lit Hub
• “Over the decades she has seemed as narratable as Helen of Troy, but rather less warm to the touch.” On the perennial allure of Joni Mitchell. | Lit Hub
• Five writers, no wrong answers: Kiese Laymon, Susan Orlean, and more take the Lit Hub Questionnaire. | Lit Hub
• “The poem should reveal an image of what is beyond linguistic expression.” A conversation with Jeffrey Schultz. | Lit Hub
• “Crime fiction isn’t afraid to get weird.” Gabino Iglesias on the underground classics, bizarro hybrids, clowns, sharks, and anthropomorphized chicken detectives of the strangest crime novels ever written. | CrimeReads
• From Goodbye, Columbus to The Stories of John Cheever, Karen E. Bender talks about five short story collections that shaped her work. | Book Marks
• 1,000 spruce trees will grow for 96 years as part of Scottish artist Katie Paterson’s Future Library. Then, in 2114, paper from the trees will be used for an anthology of 100 previously unpublished works by 21st-century writers. | The New York Times
• “Don’t print it, don’t leave it on your desk, don’t save it on your hard drive”: An interview with publisher Azadeh Parsapour on publishing Farsi writings that have been censored in Iran. | Publishing Perspectives
• Stan Lee, the legendary publisher of Marvel Comics, has died at age 95. | Hollywood Reporter
• “Eating, for Bourdain, was ultimately a humanist act.” On the intimacy of Anthony Bourdain’s work. | LARB
• Against the “nonsensical and pernicious” idea of intellectual property. | Aeon
• “Odd”, “impenetrable”, “hard work”, “challenging,” and “brain-kneading.” On Anna Burns’ Milkman and why we need difficult novels. | The Guardian
• Meet the women of Brooklyn’s Well-Read Black Girl Book Club—and hear about the black women writers who inspire them. | The Cut

Also on Lit Hub: Fragments of John McPhee • Meet Sigrid Nunez and Rebecca Makkai, finalists for the National Book Award in Fiction • Read from Muck