LitHub Daily: February 2, 2017

TODAY:  In 1904, writer and political intellectual Bozorg Alavi is born.

• James Baldwin, American radical: in conversation with the director of I Am Not Your Negro, Raoul Peck. | Literary Hub
• We need more trans characters in children’s books. | Literary Hub
•  Of Mice and Men turns 80 tomorrow, let’s rescue it from thoughtless parody. | Literary Hub
• Advice to a young writer from Robert Louis Stevenson: “If you have to ask, you’re probably not actually a writer.” | Literary Hub
• More advice to a young writer: “Sometimes it should probably be fun, too.” | Literary Hub
• “Trump’s speech was dark, rancorous, unnuanced. Afterward, I wanted to fall into a poet’s carefully crafted, insightful, and at times elegiac words.” Edwidge Danticat on turning to poetry after the election. | The New Yorker
• The first issue of SUBLEVEL, which was co-edited by Janice Lee and Maggie Nelson, features writing by Hilton Als, Solmaz Sharif and Rickey Laurentiis in conversation, and more. | SUBLEVEL
• Valeria Luiselli on attempting to narrate a novel from the perspective of a potted plant, the etymologically precise sense of enthusiasm, and loving Harlem from afar. | Creative New York
• BuzzFeed has partnered with the New York City Mayor’s Office to launch the One Book, One New York project and have five contenders for the first selection. | NYC.gov, BuzzFeed Books
• We had passed our youth in a haunted country: A short story by Viet Thanh Nguyen. | Electric Literature
• International Graphic Novels Volume XI features illustrated work translated from Polish, French, Hebrew, Italian, Spanish, and Afrikaans. | Words Without Borders
• I’d be a bad wife but a good ghost: An excerpt from literally show me a healthy person by Darcie Wilder. | New York Tyrant

 

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