Lit Hub Daily: September 1, 2022

TODAY: In 1952, The Old Man and the Sea is published in LIFE; five million copies of the magazine sold in two days.  

• In the first of a series of weekly recaps, Tolkien devotee Jenna Kass and fantasy philistine Dylan Roth look at the two-episode premiere of The Rings of Power—and ask: is it for Lord of the Rings diehards or casual fans? | Lit Hub Film & TV

• “I’ve decided to reclaim the word ‘voices’ as a tool in the service of writing.” Sonya Huber rethinks what we mean when we talk about voice. | Lit Hub Craft

• Casey Parks reflects on the personal stakes behind her search for hidden queer history in rural Louisiana. | Lit Hub Memoir

• “Black feminism offers a vision for liberation not just for Black women, but for our entire community, and for all who experience oppression.” On Black feminists’ fight against the carceral state. | Lit Hub Politics

• Suiting up in a man’s world: Meet the players (and coaches) who built Toledo’s pro women’s football team. | Lit Hub Sports

• John Irving on James Hannaham’s Didn’t Nobody Give a Shit What Happened to Carlotta, Laura Miller on Stephen King’s Fairy Tale, and more of the Book Reviews You Need to Read This Week. | Book Marks

• John Burnett reports on the ways that local libraries have become a cultural battleground, especially in conservative areas. | NPR

• Here’s definitive proof that John Hughes was a fan of John Cheever. | The Hub

• “In My Phantoms, the protagonist is not a novelist but an academic, and Riley said she now feels the book conveys a sense of ‘terror’ at the idea of a life without writing.” Rachel Connolly profiles Gwendoline Riley. | Vulture

• In a diary entry from 1823, Johann Peter Eckermann recounts some writing advice from Goethe. | The Paris Review

• Spencer Quong talks to Tash Aw and Édouard Louis about collaboration, translation, and friendship. | Astra

• Here’s how Missouri school districts are responding to a new state law that makes it a misdemeanor to provide “explicit” material to students. | KSDK

• Turns out, succession crises aren’t just for Targaryens: Agatha Christie’s estate sent a cease and desist letter to Val McDermid, the current living “Queen of Crime,” over the title. | The Hub

Also on Lit Hub: A reading list of historical fiction from Phong Ngyuen • How Silicon Valley conquered the post-Cold War consensus • Read a story from Italo Svevo’s newly translated collection, A Very Old Man (tr. Frederika Randall)

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