LitHub Daily: February 5, 2016

TODAY: In 1914, William S. Burroughs is born and so begins “the study of things themselves in the streets of life and the night.”

• Remembering the great Urdu writer Intizar Hussain: remembrances from Yiyun Li, Mohsin Hamid, Kamila Shamsie, and more, plus an excerpt from Hussain’s celebrated novel, Basti. | Literary Hub
• Eddie Glaude Jr. on race in America, and why James Baldwin’s truth still holds today. | Literary Hub
• “Swimming in the ocean is writing a novel; swimming in a pond is writing in a diary.” Hanya Yanagihara on reenacting a version of ‘‘The Swimmer’’ by swimming across Martha’s Vineyard. | T Magazine
• “I just think goodness is more interesting.” Toni Morrison on internalized feelings, altruism, and the original title of her most recent book. | The Guardian
• Annual alcohol festivals and graveyard magic: Ann Beattie shares five things about Key West. | Granta
• More than a “hunk” with a “harem:” On Robert Lowell’s complicated relationship to women. | The New Republic
• “We might be under siege for years. So books are our greatest portal to knowledge.” On the 15,000-volume library salvaged from ruins in Damascus. | BuzzFeed News
• The official bracket for everyone’s favorite book-sport, the Tournament of Books, has been released. | The Morning News
• “If a thing you read gives you that sensation, it’s your responsibility to share the piece with someone.” On answering the call to translate a slightly fancy, Finnish cowboy’s poetry into English. | Catapult
• For all the new women, and the new men: Revisiting The Feminine Mystique’s vision of equality on the anniversary of Betty Friedan’s birth (and death). | The Huffington Post

Also on Literary Hub: Michelle Hoover remembers the storyteller of Damascus and Syria before the war · CAConrad on how poetry saved his life, an essay in verse · A family emergency: from Amy Parker’s story collection, Beasts and Children · Out of control: from Maylis Kerangal’s The Heart, translated by Sam Taylor.

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