TODAY: In 1799, Alexander Pushkin is born.
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“I don’t even know if it is possible to decolonize portraiture, but it’s important for me to take those steps toward attempting to do that work.” Nikole Hannah-Jones and Gio Swaby discuss portraiture that uplifts Black women. | Lit Hub Art
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What can dogs teach us about courage? Lynne Cox considers the daring feats of a flying Newfoundland. | Lit Hub Animals
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“You become yourself through caring, even if you can’t make serious progress in your own writing during a year of Zoom school.” Catherine Nichols considers the paradox of care in Elif Batuman’s Either/Or. | Lit Hub Criticism
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Never too late: Lisa Russ Spaar reflects on publishing her debut novel in her sixties. | Lit Hub
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Sarah McCoy in praise of the literary happy ending. | Lit Hub
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Why Primo Levi’s work was rejected in post-war Italy. | Lit Hub History
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Amy Feltman recommends books about unconventional families, featuring Miranda July, Marie-Helene Bertino, and more. | Lit Hub Reading Lists
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Sandra S.G. Wong on word choice and whiteness in publishing. | CrimeReads
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Joshua Ferris on Dan Chaon’s Sleepwalk, Maggie Shipstead on Elif Batuman’s Either/Or, and more of the Reviews You Need to Read This Week. | Book Marks
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“I’ve begun to question my life’s relentless, unending hustle.” Michael Dirda talks life on the books beat and returning to the classics. | The Washington Post
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Adrienne Raphel explores L. Frank Baum’s pre-Oz life as a department store window dresser. | JSTOR Daily
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“Divided fortunes can create divided families—and good stories.” Cressida Connolly lists ten favorite novels on inheritance. | The Guardian
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“Against all odds, despite all the solemnity and self-destruction, the novels of Walter Tevis are joyful.” Jackson Arn on the revival of Walter Tevis, chronicler of American addictions large and small. | The Nation
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Brooke LaMantia reports from the Pen America Literary Gala, where book bans and free speech were at the forefront of conversation. | New York Magazine
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Is contemporary gay literature broken, or are we simply “caught in a mimetic cage of your own making”? | Sweater Weather
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“I don’t believe the dead are waiting for us to arrive; they are already with us, waiting to be seen.” How Joseph Han learned to live with ghosts. | The New York Times Magazine
Also on Lit Hub: What gardening can teach writers • The treacherous world of New York City real estate • Read from Benjamin Myers’s latest novel, The Perfect Golden Circle