Lit Hub Daily: February 15, 2017

The Best of the Literary Internet, Every Day

TODAY: In 1869, Ghalib, the preeminent Urdu and Persian-language poet during the last years of the Mughal Empire, dies.
  • George Saunders on the mental trick that made him a better writer (warning, also discussed: Trump and death). | Literary Hub
  • Russians in the White House? Thriller writer Paul Vidich on blackmail, spycraft, and the mess in Washington. | Literary Hub
  • Casting The Master and Margarita: a (timely) classic is becoming a movie, and giant talking cats are the new hotness. | Literary Hub
  • It’s hard to be a stranger these days: on Book Twitter, ride-sharing, and finding yourself in a James Salter story. | Literary Hub
  • Laird Hunt and Emma Donoghue on the complexities of writing historical women. | Literary Hub
  • I just want to enjoy your nextness and nearness: Bill Hayes on loving Oliver Sacks. | BuzzFeed Reader
  • “All of us who write and teach and make art will need to be braver, for at least the next four years.” Viet Thanh Nguyen interviews Chris Santiago. | Los Angeles Review of Books
  • YOU ARE MY [adjective] [noun]. MY [adjective] [noun] [adverb] [verbs] YOUR [adjective] [noun]. On Christopher Strachey’s love poetry-writing computer. | The New Yorker
  • Where violence meets life and art, and where the responsibility falls: On Norman Mailer’s friendship with convicted murderer Jack Henry Abbott. | New Republic
  • “I don’t want translation to be a metaphor for grief or grief for translation, but in looking at these two practices I hope to find another way of understanding their connections.” On translating one Petrarch poem a day as a form of mourning. | Electric Literature
  • Philip Pullman has announced that he will be writing a follow-up “companion” series to the His Dark Materials trilogy. | NPR
  • Nearly one-fifth of respondents to a recent study reported that the “voices of fictional characters stayed with them even when they weren’t reading, influencing the style and tone of their thoughts—or even speaking to them directly.” | The Guardian

Article continues after advertisement
Remove Ads



Lit Hub Daily
Lit Hub Daily
The best of the literary Internet, every day, brought to you by Literary Hub.









More Story

George Saunders on Death, Trump, and the Trick That Made Him a Better Writer

 When I called George Saunders on the phone last week, I was supposed to ask him questions about his new novel. Instead,...

We Need Your Help:

Become a Lit Hub Supporting Member

Lit Hub has always brought you the best of the book world for free—no paywall. But our future relies on you. In return for your contribution, you'll get an ad-free site experience, editors' picks, and our Joan Didion tote bag. Most importantly, you'll keep independent book coverage alive and thriving.