LitHub Daily: December 20, 2016

TODAY: In 1954, Sandra Cisneros, author of The House on Mango Street, is born. 

• Charles Johnson on the art of revision: most of what you write should be cut. | Literary Hub
• Ten great books by women, overlooked in 2016. | Literary Hub
• What to give the book person who’s already swimming in books (hint hint). | Literary Hub
• The late Shirley Hazzard, a wonderful writer, was also a teenage spy. | Literary Hub
• Junot Díaz, Salman Rushdie, Nell Zink, and other “notably avid readers” on the books they read this year. | The New York Times
• Perception is a creative, not a passive act: A conversation with Siri Hustvedt. | Signature Reads
• “I basically work for Sweetbitter. I am now Stephanie Danler’s assistant.” An interview with Stephanie Danler. | The Creative Independent
• On opposing views on world literature and the contentiousness with which it is often treated. | Los Angeles Review of Books
• “One of the things that we do to develop as artists, as poets, is we become aware of the constraints that we’re not aware of.” An interview with D. A. Powell. | Divedapper
• “The logic of Book Twitter is: Books are inherently good. Therefore, if we’d all just read more books, Donald Trump wouldn’t have been elected.” Kevin Nguyen on the failings of book twitter (and IRL publishing culture). | The Millions
• Over 140 writers, booksellers and librarians have signed a letter calling on Penguin Random House UK to “reverse its decision to derecognise unions.” | The Guardian

Also on Lit Hub: Blueprint for a kleptocracy: Life under Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos · 5 Books Making News: Criticism, conversation, and cartography! · From Garth Greenwell’s What Belongs to You, one of the best books of the year.

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