Lit Hub Daily: November 22, 2021

TODAY: In 1969, Marjane Satrapi, an Iranian-born French graphic novelist and cartoonist, is born.  

• Murder Most Foul: A close reading of Bob Dylan’s 17-minute song-poem about the assassination of JFK. | Lit Hub Music

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• Alex Thomas on Ted Lasso’s reverential tone toward literature (and that weird Fountainhead thing). | Lit Hub TV

• “Rather than demonizing a place and a people, let’s talk about the West Virginians who suffer most from the chokehold of regressive policies.” Sarah Mullens on the stories that authors are failing to tell. | Lit Hub

• What we would lose by privatizing public libraries (spoiler alert: it’s a lot). | Lit Hub Libraries

• Gabriel Pasquilini on the life and work of iconic Cuban novelist Jose Lezama Lima, who walked “a slow path to literary glory” only to have the rug pulled out from under him by Castro’s regime. | Lit Hub Criticism

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• “We are cutting down trees for this. I have to give a lot to the reader on every page.” A conversation with graphic novelist Brecht Evens. | Lit Hub Comics

• Cynthia B. Dillard calls for a new way of thinking about the presence and work of Black women teachers. | Lit Hub Teaching

• Gatsby, Judy Blume, Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?, and more rapid-fire book recs from Tom Zoellner. | Book Marks

• Brandon Taylor reviews the adaptation of Passing. | sweater weather

• “I grew up with the idea, whether in films or in books, that I did not exist.” Fatima Daas on her debut novel and identity. | The New York Times

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• Listen to Neal Stephenson discuss climate change, the metaverse, and how fictional stories can shape our future. | Wired

• “One way to think about the act of annotating is that you are that meddlesome party gossip.” Merve Emre discusses the pleasures and challenges of annotating Mrs. Dalloway. | Public Books

• Twelve pennies and a dream: the story of the publishers who made Shakespeare world famous. | The Independent

• In defense of not finishing books you don’t like. | Vogue

• The story behind the Biblioburro, a “rural traveling library” that delivers books throughout the Colombian countryside. | Atlas Obscura

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Also on Lit Hub: How Persephone Books has made space for women writers for two decades • Ian Williams on books that make good literary neighbors • Read from Sj Sindu’s latest novel, Blue-Skinned Gods

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