Lit Hub Daily: September 27, 2023

TODAY: In 1906, American crime writer Jim Thompson is born.

• “Without the First Folio we would have lost a world of words.” On the two heroic friends of Shakespeare, who saved the Bard’s plays from burning up in the Globe Theatre. | Lit Hub History

• In the latest installment of The Journey That Matters, Ursula K. Le Guin reflects on her most beloved fantasy series: Earthsea. | Lit Hub

• Speaking of fantasy, Ryan Britt looks to the first iteration of Frank Herbert’s Dune, and why today’s readers (and moviegoers) “are more primed to enjoy and ‘get’ Dune for its plot alone than perhaps any other generation before.” | Lit Hub

• Steve Stern explains how his novel grew from that “catalog of weird impressions” that writers keep. | Lit Hub Craft & Advice

• Douglas J. Weatherford considers Juan Rulfo’s 1955 novel, Pedro Páramo, Mexico’s most translated work of fiction. | Lit Hub Criticism

• The board of the White Review has announced that the magazine will cease publication “for an indefinite period.” | The Guardian

• Jasmine Liu provides a helpful primer to the right-wing war on books. | The New Republic 

• “When writers fell ill at Bread Loaf they were on their own.” Alison Stine on the lessons of a COVID outbreak at a writing conference. | Nonprofit Quarterly

• The Iliad is back, baby. | Slate

• “I had no idea how wrong my deadname had felt until it was no longer mine.” Isle McElroy on changing their name after publishing their debut. | The Cut

Also on Lit Hub: How genre can illuminate theme • A poem by Quan Barry • Read from C Pam Zhang’s latest novel, Land of Milk and Honey

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