TODAY: In 1859, Harriet E. Wilson publishes her novel Our Nig: Sketches from the Life of a Free Black anonymously. The novel was discovered in 1982 by Henry Louis Gates, Jr., who documented it as the first African-American novel published in the United States..
- “When you can eliminate or paralyze identity, make your enemies’ cultures either nonexistent or criminal then you’ve done one better than genocide.” Walter Mosley on the terrifying implications of historical erasure. | Lit Hub
- Attention, writers: Pat Barker urges you to disregard the clutter in your under-sink cupboard. | Lit Hub
- Part one of our nonfiction fall preview: 10 new memoirs we’re looking forward to. | Lit Hub
- Heather Morris on how she learned the storyof Lale Sokolov, the tattooist of Auschwitz. | Lit Hub
- Getting inside the mind of a plagiarist: Kevin Young goes deep into the world of American hoaxes. | Lit Hub
- “The critic’s task is not to make us agree with them but to help us think for ourselves.” An interview with writer, translator, and book critic Jenny Bhatt. | Book Marks
- The marvelous dysfunctions and sociopathic charms of fiction’s most alluring families. | CrimeReads
- “When you put a snake and a rat and a falcon and a rabbit and a shark and a seal in a zoo without walls, things start getting nasty and bloody.” Bob Woodward has a new book about the Trump White House, and it’s not pretty. | The Atlantic
- Salinger may have hated birthdays, but for his 100th, Little, Brown is reissuing his major works as a hardcover set anyway. | Vulture
- A viral listing for a 3-month position selling books in the Maldives has attracted applicants from 40 different countries and all walks of life—including a member of the White House press team. | The Guardian
- “In trying to get away from my story, I’d walked in a circle and returned home.” Thea Lim on the difficulties on writing characters of color without giving in to the dominant gaze. | The Paris Review
- From The Handmaid’s Tale to The Art of the Deal, the 20 books most likely to be left behind in a hotel room. | Travel + Leisure
- “From the moment we sit down, it’s clear that [he] is much better at drinking than I am.” Helena Fitzgerald goes shot for shot with Gary Shteyngart. | PUNCH
- “I think that readers still value . . . an element of mystery and privacy. Maybe books are one of the last remaining ways to accomplish that.” An interview with Chelsea Hodson. | The Creative Independent
Also on Lit Hub: A novel of coming of age in gang land • Truman Capote’s personality type • Talking to Lydia Kiesling about her debut novel, The Golden State
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