TODAY: In 1971, Canadian poet, memoirist, and novelist Evelyn Lau is born.
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“Legislating reproductive rights remains a hallmark of authoritarian and fascist governments.” Siri Hustvedt on the malign philosophies—and bad history—behind the Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade. | Lit Hub Politics
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Looking to Beowulf and other myths to understand the origins of early medieval England. | Lit Hub History
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“This sounds crazy. That you start a book because you have thought of two words that make you happy.” In one of her last interviews, Joan Didion talks to Hari Kunzru about Blue Nights and giving up the yellow Corvette. | Lit Hub
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Alexis Schaitkin on motherhood and creativity, or when your baby and manuscript share the same due date. | Lit Hub Parenting
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Geraldine Brooks’ Horse, Andrew Holleran’s The Kingdom of Sand, and Ed Yong’s An Immense World all feature among the Best Reviewed Books of the Month. | Book Marks
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“We have entered an era not of unsafe abortion but of widespread state surveillance and criminalization—of pregnant women, certainly, but also of doctors and pharmacists and clinic staffers, […] of anyone who comes into meaningful contact with a pregnancy that does not end in a healthy birth.” Jia Tolentino on the consequences of overturning Roe v. Wade. | The New Yorker
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“Bodies that can give birth don’t own themselves. They are owned. By the structures they are born into.” Writers around the world respond to the Roe v. Wade decision. | Astra Magazine
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Joshua Prager recommends ten essential books on the history of abortion and attacks on abortion rights in America. | The New York Times
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A cultural (and personal) history of the abortion story, by Maggie Doherty. | The Yale Review
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“The rhetoric that the Nazis used to denounce gay men in the 1930s and 1940s mirrors that coming from the right in the United States today.” Samuel Huneke on the long history of panic over queer “seduction.” | The Baffler
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Marion Winik on the welcome revival of Bette Howland. | The Washington Post
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Sally Rooney on the emotional power of Natalia Ginzburg’s novel, All Our Yesterdays: “It was as if her writing was a very important secret that I had been waiting all my life to discover.” | The Guardian
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Emma Stiefel considers the legacy and lessons of feminist bookstores. | San Francisco Chronicle
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Carmen Maria Machado on Jennifer’s Body, bisexuality, and TikTok. | HuffPost
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“I was struck, as I often am, by the loneliness of so many of our American writers—Melville, Dickinson, Thoreau—each so isolated in their strange digs.” Christopher Benfey visits Melville’s childhood home. | NYRB
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Don Franzen talks to Congressman Ted Lieu about his bill HR 3054—the 21st Century Federal Writers’ Project Act. | Los Angeles Review of Books
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Margaret Rhodes dives down the rabbit hole of fake prop books and where they come from. | New York Magazine
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Dwyer Murphy on serendipity, how working as a litigator informed his writing, and why noir is a great genre with which to explore “the era of a person’s life in which youthful enthusiasms flicker out.” | Study Hall
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Amna A. Akbar on intersectional activism and discovering Abolition. Feminism. Now., “a powerful meditation on the queer, trans, and feminist politics at the core of organizing against criminalization.” | Los Angeles Review of Books
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Elisa Gonzales considers Marilyn Monroe’s poetry. | The Paris Review
Also on Lit Hub:
Tom Perrota talks to Emma Straub about Tracy Flick, 30 years later • Lidia Yuknavitch describes her perfect writing spaces • New writing by Ukrainian poet Ostap Slyvynsky • On the Richard Brautigan universe that inspired Harry Styles • Does anyone want computer-generated art? • On the “Unnoticed Generation” of Russian writers in Paris • How poet Paul Laurence Dunbar influenced aviator Orville Wright • Clare Pooley on the curse of the sophomore novel • How the bizarre story of a kidnapping inspired Ravi Mangla’s debut novel • Abi Morgan on learning how to write a memoir in real time • Rebecca Rukeyser on sleaze, male rot, and writing a horny novel • Why being humble is good for you • “So what if writing a Bigfoot book made me seem silly?” • How bartending helped Wesley Straton write her novel • How institutional neglect shaped Rockaway, Queens • What a letter captures in the age of social media • Fiddleheads, f*ck ups, and life on the farm • Tackle writers block by writing badly, and other advice from Jason Mott • On the origins of cosplay, circa 1939 • Mary Pipher on the unglamorous side of publishing a bestseller • Why 1997 was a pivotal year for George Michael • Exploring the modern origins and evolving accessibility of bisexuality • When a talisman from childhood doesn’t hold up • Keri Blakinger on her first week in jail • The 10 best book covers of June • “War on the air is war on life” • The life of one of history’s most famous librarians • David Michael Ettlin recounts his reporter days in Baltimore • Why we should embrace imperfection in our conversations about the climate crisis • Solidarity is not a finite resource • How campaign operatives shape American democracy • On the perpetual relevance of “A Jury of Her Peers” • Ina Cariño on naming and claiming ancestral land • “Letters are a hinge into the invisible world.”