TODAY: In 1953, Roberto Bolaño is born.
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“The atmosphere was mostly awkward silences, slight terror at having their poems chosen for discussion, and equal terror at having them ignored.” When Sylvia Plath and Anne Sexton met in (a very relatable) workshop. | Lit Hub
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Tobias Carroll looks to Ian Sinclair, whose idea of “walking with a thesis” takes on a different meaning in our era of pandemic and protest. | Lit Hub
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“I’ve always felt that my understanding of my body is vital for the development of my poetry.” CM Burroughs talks to Peter Mishler. | Lit Hub Poetry
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From Life After Life to Russian Doll: Catriona Silvey wonders about the counterintuitive appeal of time loop stories. | Lit Hub
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“Kay Ryan seems to me among the last of a kind, and Synthesizing Gravity a monument to a crumbling moment.” Jason Guriel considers the legacy of a literary maverick. | Lit Hub Criticism
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Charles Person remembers Birmingham’s Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth, who intended to “kill segregation or be killed by it.” | Lit Hub History
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On the unlikely legacy of Milman Perry, who at 26 pointed out to scholars that Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey weren’t written, but composed orally. | Lit Hub
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As the Mystery Writers of America prepare to hand out the year’s top honors, Edgar nominees discuss the crime fiction world. | CrimeReads
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A month of literary listening: AudioFile’s best audiobooks of April. | Book Marks
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W.W. Norton will permanently take Blake Bailey’s biography of Philip Roth out of print, following allegations that Bailey sexually assaulted multiple women. | The New York Times
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Read What’s the Time, Mr. Wolf?, a new novella by Lauren Groff. | The New Yorker
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“Melville’s manual and spiritual labors at Arrowhead were instrumental in building a mid-19th-century Berkshire literary community.” On the literary past (and future) of the Berkshires. | Public Books
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Despite a petition signed by more than 200 Simon & Schuster employees and 3,500 outside supporters, the publisher will move ahead with plans to publish Mike Pence’s memoir. | Vanity Fair
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Elizabeth McCracken provides insight on her writing process, her new short story collection, and her reading habits. | The Rumpus
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Need some new poetry titles? Christian Wessels makes the case for The Naomi Letters (2021) and Arrow (2020). | Ploughshares
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“What surgeon, in need of an operation, would take the scalpel to herself?” Jhumpa Lahiri on the challenges of self-translation. | Words Without Border
Also on Lit Hub: Faith Merino on growing up in a conspiracy theory household • Read “Lightvessel,” a poem by Kelli Russell Agodon • Read from Keiichiro Hirano’s newly translated novel, At the End of the Matinee (trans. Juliet Winters Carpenter)