TODAY: In 2011, the Nobel Prize in literature is awarded to Swedish poet Tomas Transtromer.
- The secret history of “Light as a Feather, Stiff as a Board.” Emily Temple on Samuel Pepys and parlor games for plague times. | Lit Hub
- “It was a portrait of Jesus—married, living with his wife Mary Magdalene, cursing her detractors—unlike any known to history.” Ariel Sabar on the scrap of papyrus that launched a reconsideration of early Christianity. | Lit Hub History
- “The precariousness of dignity, more than its eternal lack, cuts to the root of poverty and vulnerability.” John Freeman on the moral power of Halldór Laxness. | Lit Hub Criticism
- “Nothing was known, everything was possible.” A.J. Lees gets lost in the world of explorer Perry Fawcett. | Lit Hub History
- “To me, the best children’s books are the result of serious unselfishness.” Annie Barrows on Ramona Quimby and the great Beverly Cleary. | Lit Hub Criticism
- “Please Mr. Miranda, put my grief on stage.” Ishmael Reed weighs in on Hamilton. | Lit Hub Criticism
- Where are the unlikable female characters in YA fiction? Hayley Krischer on the reluctance to publish stories of unlovable girls. | Lit Hub
- Phil Klay recommends five books about the civilian experience of war, from The Sound of Things Falling to Frankenstein in Baghdad. | Book Marks
- Carlos Lozada read 150 books about the Trump era and lived to tell the tale. | GEN
- A newly-discovered short story by Raymond Chandler, soon to be published for the first time, takes aim at corporate culture. | The Guardian
- “Wearing stylish, well-made garments put me into a kind of embrace. Maybe I wasn’t alone after all. Maybe my clothes were the best company I had.” Donald Antrim on finding solace and connection through clothes. | GQ
- A call to buy books from your local independent bookseller now—or risk losing them forever. | LA Times
- “I would like to stay here. In the wordless place. After all these years looking closely at words, I have come to mistrust them.” Lulu Miller on the power (and limits) of naming. | The Paris Review
- From Chaucer to Shakespeare to, uh, Will Smith—disentangling the long, literary history of the word “cuck.” | InsideHook
- In early recognition of Indigenous Peoples’ Day, read about seven audiobooks by Indigenous authors. | The Seattle Times
