TODAY: In 1757, William Blake is born.
- “The writers working away from the mainstream are often the most exciting ones.” A profile of Brigid Hughes, editor and founder of A Public Space. | Lit Hub
- At WS Merwin’s old French farmhouse, Michael Wiegers surveys the landscapes (and donkeys) of the poet’s life. | Lit Hub
- “Like the ghostwriter, the translator must slip on a second skin.” Ten literary translators on the art of translation. | Lit Hub
- “What horrible price do we pay when we go against the laws of nature?” Joy Lazendorfer finds echoes of Frankenstein in the California fires. | Lit Hub
- From porn to indie lit? Christopher Zeischegg in conversation with Brad Listi on this week’s Otherppl podcast. | Lit Hub
- How the Dead Rabbits Reading Series went from an idea to a community to a press. | Lit Hub
- “I will hate you till the day I die”: 9 famous authors who responded to their bad reviews. | Book Marks
- This week in Secrets of the Book Critics: Ron Slate on Moby-Dick, Cane, and the addiction to visibility. | Book Marks
- “Plots are like a disease with me.” Sarah Weinman on Merriam Modell, aka Evelyn Piper, the reluctant icon of mid-century suspense. | CrimeReads
- “We all have days when even the best classics seem a great bore.” Is the pursuit of literary glory a fool’s errand? | NYRB
- Fiction or reportage? On Anna Maria Ortese’s classic Neapolitan Chronicles. | Los Angeles Review of Books
- If what you’d like to do today is aimlessly browse 319 of the best books that came out this year, NPR’s book concierge is here for you.| NPR
- Electric Literature and MCD x FSG are launching a weekly newsletter about the possibilities of storytelling. | Electric Literature
- “When I grew up, there were borders everywhere.” Mathias Enard and Ian Maleney in conversation. | Granta
- Women’s rage is so hot right now—on the murderous women of Megan Abbott’s Give Me Your Hand, Oyinkan Braithwaite’s My Sister, the Serial Killer, and Adrienne Celt’s Invitation to a Bonfire. | BuzzFeed News
- Netflix has picked up the rights to “a slew” of Roald Dahl’s books, including Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Matilda, and will begin adapting them into animated series next year. | The Guardian
Also on Lit Hub: When British socialists used fairy tales to spread their message • A reading list of queer Southern lit • Read from The Frolic of the Beasts
