Lit Hub Daily: November 23, 2021

TODAY: In 1644, John Milton publishes Areopagitica, a pamphlet decrying censorship. 

• How Hunter S. Thompson put the Dadaism in sports writing, during his bizarre two-week stint at The Jersey Shore Herald. | Lit Hub Sports

• “I had loved writing while sitting cross-legged on various sofas, the computer in my lap, but now that those days are over, I can see it is a very small loss.” Ann Patchett on creating the workspace your body needs. | Lit Hub

• David Mitchell on the stories of A. S. Byatt, which “amend, or even rewrite, any putative Rules of the Short Story time and again.” | Lit Hub Criticism

• Lara Vergnaud on the task of translating musicality. | Lit Hub Translation

• “I figure that the full Sir James experience is a claimable expense for an author writing a book about endurance.” Jenny Valentish recounts her journalistic journey into BDSM. | Lit Hub

• Vulture shock, merrenness, justing: John Koengi searches for words that capture obscure sorrows. | Lit Hub

• MeiLan K. Han breaks down the “highly orchestrated symphony” of breathing. | Lit Hub Science

• WATCH: Nikkolas Smith, Namrata Tripathi, and Jason Reynolds introduce The 1619 Project: Born on the Water, a lyrical picture book that chronicles the consequences of slavery in the United States. | Lit Hub Virtual Book Channel

• Andrew Nette examines the largely forgotten period of American cinema that came between classic film noir and 1970s neo-noir. | CrimeReads

• “Baudelaire’s is a supreme music, written by a man who could write hell because he heard heaven.” Wyatt Mason on Baudelaire and translating poetry. | Poetry Foundation

• Remembering the surprising friendship between Hunter S. Thompson and Oscar Acosta. | Los Angeles Review

• How can an independent art book publisher survive in the digital age? | i-D

• “I believe now that American schooling is a systemic tool of capitalism and white supremacy, but at 14, I already knew traditional schooling didn’t make space for creativity.” How schools strip children of their ability to create. | Catapult

• Robert Bly, author of more than 50 books of poetry, translation, and nonfiction, has died at 94. | The New York Times

• After pulling two LGBTQ-themed books from high school libraries, a school district in Kansas City, Missouri, is reversing the decision under pressure from students and the state ACLU. | Associated Press

• “A very important part of the creative process is being able to keep your own company and be alone.” Julie Klausner talks about solitude, writing, and comedy. | The Creative Independent

Also on Lit Hub: A poem from Paul Muldoon’s new collection • Read from Mario Vargas Llosa’s newly translated novel, Harsh Times (tr. Adrian Nathan West) 

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