Lit Hub Weekly: April 29 - May 3, 2019

• Read an interview with Chinese dissident author Ma Jian, who has been protesting literary censorship in China for decades. | TIME
• The Astro Poets would like to inform us that Clarissa Dalloway is a Virgo, Daisy Buchanan is a Libra, and Esther Greenwood is—of course—a Scorpio. | The Paris Review
• “The women characters rarely end up free.” A tribute to the “recently re-appreciated” writer Rachel Ingalls. | Longreads
• “We were poor, but the beach was ours.” Kaitlyn Greenidge on why America needs public beaches. | Sierra
• “For publishers in 2019, Donald Trump is where the money is.” On publishing’s Trump problem. | The New Republic
• On Pola Oloixarac’s Dark Constellations and Namwali Serpell’s The Old Drift, which “highlight how easily surveillance can masquerade as progress, and expose the subtle ways colonialism persists in contemporary political life.” | The Atlantic
• “Bread pudding was the first thing that I baked after I came out to my parents.” Bryan Washington on the comforts of queer baking (recipe included). | The New Yorker
• Good news for your next cool party: there’s now a Shakespeare edition of Trivial Pursuit. | Open Culture
• Not All Disgraced Politicians Get Book Deals: Former U.S. Congressman Anthony Weiner is having a tough time finding a publisher interested in his book proposal. | New York Post
• The patron saint of teenagers is now a published translator: read a profile of Molly Ringwald, who recently translated a novel from French. | WSJ Magazine
• “Framing bookstores as moral exemplars regardless of how they treat their employees isn’t to the benefit of booksellers.” Indie bookstores might be thriving, but less so the booksellers. | Popula
• How can you win on Jeopardy!? Try reading more kids’ books. | Publishers Weekly
• Ottessa Moshfegh’s favorite things include Billie Holiday, Back to the Future, and Bach. | Artforum
• The world may be terrible, but at least no one will publish Woody Allen’s memoir. | The New York Times
• Read a profile of Elizabeth McCracken and Edward Carey, “the most unassuming literary power couple in Texas.” | Dallas News
• According to “professional controversialist” Will Self, literature is “morphing into a giant quilting exercise,” and creative writing graduates will never make their livings as novelists. | The Bookseller

Also on Lit Hub:

Unconscious bias is running for president: Rebecca Solnit on Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders, and the problem with “likeability” • Yukio Mishima on the beautiful death of James Dean • Edmund White on Stonewall • Leila Slimani doesn’t care if you’re uncomfortable • Ayesegül Savas on the struggle to become a true Parisian flaneur • Benjamin Moser on the great Clarice Lispector • “You can have friends or you can correct people’s grammar.” The inimitable Mary Norris and Benjamin Dreyer talk grammar and style • David Means on the world as inspiration • Sex and Sexability: on writing desire in the Regency years • Why was Shakespeare wary of writing about religion? • Ru, Duranya, and Hasadri Freeman on the radiating power of love and terror in Sri Lanka • On raising a boy in America • The literary pitfalls of writing about the young and rich • The journey that changed Geoffrey Chaucer’s life • Edward Said on the death of American activist Rachel Corrie • On Dorothy Parker: political activist, melancholic, bootleg Scotch-drinker • Visiting a writing school for working people • Greg Bottoms on historical amnesia in the American South • The freedom of writing in a language your parents can’t read • Hannah Lillith Assadi talks to Miriam Toews about religion, revenge, and what is lost in leaving home • Dear Reader: Eileen Myles on Kathy Acker • On the quiet revolution in evangelical Christian publishing • Get your vicarious travel fix with six fictional vacations • “Having a body is not for the faint of heart.” On pain • On the life-hacking origins of incel entitlement • Anjelica Huston on finding her father in the writing of  Lillian Ross • When Mary Karr won the Whiting Award 30 years ago, she thought the call was a prank and hung up • Husband, job, self: a story of three marriages, and three rings • The pleasure of annotating one of literature’s most challenging works, Finnegan’s Wake • The Astrology Book Club: what to read this month, based on your sign • Lit Hub’s favorite book covers of April and our favorite stories from April and here are 11 books you should read in May • And some personal news: we redesigned Lit Hub, added a podcast network, and launched a blog

Best of Book Marks:

New on CrimeReads:

Craig Pittman on Encyclopedia Brown and his mysterious creator, Donald J. Sobol • All the crime and mystery books you need to read this May, featuring Thomas Harris, James Ellroy, and more • Curtis Evans on T.S. Eliot’s lifelong love of crime novels • Ahead of Malice Domestic, a conversation on the state of the traditional mystery • Mary Lawrence guides us through several series set during the ultra-violent Tudor Dynasty • Erin Kelly knows suspense fiction is far more than a passing trend – it’s embedded in our literary DNA • April’s best international crime fiction • Vincent Zandri on 10 of the most doomed romances in noir • August Norman interviews six authors about their settings, real and imagined • Lorraine Berry on post-apocalyptic detective fiction