Lapham’s Quarterly‘s Food issue was a big hit, but their upcoming Future issue looks promising as well.
Coming Soon: The Future
Influential Books
The Library of Congress has published an updated list of the most influential books in America after hearing responses from the public.
●
●
Here Refrain
Beautiful, shimmer, jetty. Poets Joy Harjo, Claudia Rankine, Robert Pinsky et al. tell Merriam-Webster about their favorite words. Related, and far less pretty: the most-looked-up words post-election include fascism, bigot, and xenophobe.
LA Review of Self-Published Books
The Los Angeles Review will start reviewing one self-published book each month. They plan on applying “the same standards of good literature” to their reviews of self-published content as they do to traditionally published content.
●
●
Olio
We thoroughly enjoyed the latest episode of David Naimon‘s Between the Covers podcast featuring Whiting-Award winner Tyehimba Jess. The conversation centers on Jess’s latest book, Olio, a tour de force hybrid-genre exploration of African-American performers from the period just before the American Civil War through World War I. (Previously: We recommended Jess’s Leadbelly as perfect reading for train travel.)
Yiyun Li on Reporting Fiction
When describing the process of writing her latest book, Yiyun Li sees herself as more of an impartial reporter than a novelist.
●
●
●
The Eternal Mystery
Recommended reading: Jonathan Russell Clark, who’s written for us many, many times before, considers “The Eternal Mystery of the Reclusive Writer” for Literary Hub.
●
●
Duke to Publish Transgender Studies Journal
Duke University Press is set to begin publishing a transgender studies journal in 2014. TSQ: Transgender Studies Quarterly will be “the first nonmedical journal dedicated to transgender studies.”
●
●
Overlooked by the New York Times
On International Women’s Day the New York Times launched Overlooked, a project that features the obituaries of remarkable women who did not receive the NYT obituary treatment when they passed away. It turns out only 20% of NYT obituaries were about women. Overlooked will seek to remedy this oversight by posting new obituaries of female icons weekly for the rest of 2018. Of particular note to our readers this week; Charlotte Bronte, Qiu Jin, Nella Larsen, Sylvia Plath and Ida B. Wells. But all 15 obituaries are worth reading, whether to learn something new or refresh your memory.