TODAY: In 1947, around midnight, Salman Rushdie, Booker Prize winner and Twitter demi-god, is born.
- “The existential question of who is black has been answered in the most concussive way possible.” –Jelani Cobb. “Take down the flag. Take it down now. Put it in a museum. Inscribe beneath it the years 1861-2015.” –Ta-Nehisi Coates. “The black church hasn’t been safe since there has been a black church.” –Jamil Smith. | The New Yorker, The Atlantic, The New Republic
- Malcolm Brooks on the book that changed his life. | Literary Hub
- “My blood is Southern blood, right? Well, it’s my flag.” The sad and perfect truth of Percival Everett’s story, “The Appropriation of Cultures.” | Graywolf Press
- Colm Tóibín delves into Henry James’s mommy issues. | Bookforum
- “When I write a story… I close my eyes and fall back and hope that the story will catch me.” An interview with Etgar Keret. | Hazlitt
- Your daily reminder that bookstores occupy vital roles in their communities: Istanbul’s newly opened Pages serves as a cultural oasis, meeting ground, and educational center. | NPR
- Christy Wampole on the history and etymology of “awkward” and the acceptability of breaking up with someone via text. | Guernica
- Stranger than fiction, almost: Jess Row’s Your Face in Mine presaged the Rachel Dolezal story. | Flavorwire
- Finding one’s place within a feminist cosmology: on Mary Daly, impressing a girl, and what Shakespeare has to say to women. | The Millions
- Rerouting linguistic voltage: on translating upwards, downwards, subversively, and responsibly. | Asymptote
Also on Literary Hub: A long weekend reading (and eating) in Nashville · Ramona Ausubel on nice writers and why everything happens for a reason · A reading list for Father’s day · Elizabeth Harrower’s “Summertime” in Sydney
