LitHub Daily: December 6, 2016

TODAY: In 1953, Vladimir Nabokov finishes Lolita.

Edmund Wilson hated the first draft of Lolita so much he couldn’t finish it, and told his friend Vladimir just that. | Literary Hub
Matthew Zapruder calls on a nation’s poets to write and to act. | Literary Hub
PEN has announced the first of their 2017 Literary Award longlists (for debut fiction and science writing); the others will be announced over the course of the week. | PEN America
VICE’s 10th annual fiction issue, including work from Roxane Gay, Ottessa Moshfegh, and Rachel Cusk, is now online. | VICE
In search of “high-prestige literature with a reputation for salacious bits:” On Barney Rosset’s quest to legalize Tropic of Cancer and publishing’s postwar transformation. | The New Yorker
Piyali Bhattacharya and Tanwi Nandini Islam discuss the power of personal essays, overturning monolithic paradigms, and writing the books they once needed. | Elle
“All I want is a great book. I don’t really care from where, about what, by whom.” An interview with Imbolo Mbue. | The Rumpus
What I lost, I keep losing: Four poems by Jericho Brown. | Enkare Review
With the privilege to tell stories, especially those that are not yours, comes responsibility to tell the truth: Conversing about colonialism and authenticity from European Literature Days 2016. | Asymptote Journal

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