TODAY: In 1949, Colette dies.
- M.V. Ramana on why nuclear power won’t solve the climate crisis. | Lit Hub Science
- “Already in antiquity, a connection developed between Lesbos and subversive sexual practices.” Daisy Dunn on Sappho’s poetry and the modern use of the word “lesbian.” | Lit Hub History
- Celebrating a century of James Baldwin’s life and work on his birthday. | Lit Hub
- Did you know that poetry used to be an actual Olympic event? (And that the first openly gay Olympic medalist was a poet?) | Lit Hub Sports
- “I listened, tried to understand what I couldn’t yet articulate. I’m still trying.” Momtaza Mehri reflects on the life and legacy of Sinéad O’Connor. | Granta
- Gaza’s students on the loss of their universities: “My academic life was once bustling with activity…Now, I realize how truly fortunate I was to experience such bliss. I yearn for it all.” | The Nation
- Normal times: A chief deputy constable in Texas spent two years trying to bring felony charges against three librarians for distributing pornographic material like… The Bluest Eye. | NBC
- Anne Enright, Colm Tóibín, and more Irish novelists remember Edna O’Brien. | The Guardian
- A depressing rundown of recent state and local book banning laws. | The New York Times
- “She’s smiling because this moment is capacious: everything’s possible.” Victor Lodato on his mother, gambling, and organized crime. | The New Yorker
- On Helen Oyeyemi’s Parasol Against the Axe: “Over the past two decades, Oyeyemi has written eight novels characterized by a similar seductive and often disquieting playfulness; sometimes they tease, and sometimes they bite.” | The Nation
- “Authorial responsibility to a real subject—living or dead—is one of art’s unresolved and probably unresolvable ethical questions.” On eulogizing as an author. | Public Books
- “The more one learns about the workings of natural systems, the more our everyday notions of selfhood and humanity crumble away.” Helen McDonald on the lasting power of Jeff VanderMeer’s Southern Reach trilogy. | Orion
- How Parable of the Sower predicted our climate predicament: “When she created her dystopia, Butler didn’t need to invent much of anything.” | Grist
- What color is night? Rebecca Boyle explores a very poetic question. | Atlas Obscura
- “As a thirty-six-year-old progressive, I was an outlier in this crowd. But, like many, I was a believer.” Jason Katz takes you inside the fourth annual Great Florida Bigfoot Conference. | The Paris Review
- On “planetary turn,” Anthropocene literature, and The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom. | Public Books
- Anna Krauthamer considers Sarah Maguso’s new novel, Liars, and the narrative function of rage. | The New Republic
- “Motherhood is crunchy. There is a sonic weight to it. It makes noise. Like eating potato chips in a quiet room, I am painfully aware of how loud this benign event is.” Gloria Alamrew on the sound of motherhood. | Hazlitt
Also on Lit Hub:
Lying about reading The Girl with The Dragon Tattoo • Writing in the midst of climate grief • August brings poetry collections from Rae Armantrout, Andrea Cohen, and more • The fight to include abortion rights in the Democratic Party’s 1972 platform • Natalie Zutter recommends new sci-fi and fantasy • What does clown college have to do with writing? • “Can historical fiction about Black global migration be… fun?” • 27 paperbacks out in August • How Asian American fiction subverts our youth-obsessed culture • On the former home of New York literary haunt Café Loup • New children’s books are coming this month • Self-help books won’t help you become a better tennis player • The literary film and TV you need to stream this month • These 17 book covers are our favorites from July • Reading—and rereading—James Baldwin’s “Sonny’s Blues.” • Colm Tóibín on the enduring influence of James Baldwin • Natalia Olbinski chronicles a long, strange book cover design trip • Bret Anthony Johnson on creating a story’s foundation