TODAY: In 1608, John Milton, man of letters, is born.
- “How did he feel about that, about being inserted into my fiction, revealed as a character who was both recognizably himself and an avatar at the same time? I don’t know.” T.C. Boyle on writing about his friend’s life and death. | BuzzFeed Books
- “I am stunned that I have seven or eight examples, because we have never had these kinds of crimes before in libraries.” On the troubling rise of hate crimes in libraries. | The New York Times
- Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren will both contribute to Melville House’s forthcoming essay collection, What We Do Now: Standing Up for Your Values in Trump’s America. | GalleyCat
- “We live in the era that will be characterized by the death of bees and the rebirth of fascism.” On Latin American writers’ responses to Trump. | The Guardian
- The wine of Italy is stomped out by MILFs, so when you taste the wine, you are tasting their desire. An excerpt from Patricia Lockwood’s Priestdaddy. | VICE
- Belle Boggs on Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? and “the crisis point of infertility.” | Catapult
- Imagination is key to social reform and revolution: Jessa Crispin on the rise of the Golden Dawn and spiritualism in America. | The Smart Set
