Every year, like clockwork, a few brave administrators ban a classic book in time for the opprobrium of Banned Books Week. This year, the brave administrators in question work in Randolph County, NC, where Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison will no longer be on the curriculum. Why? Real quote: it’s a “hard read.” (Related: Kelsey McKinney on banning The Bluest Eye.)
“Filthier”
In Case You Were Curious
Baratunde Thurston, stand-up comedian and director of digital for The Onion, stops by NPR's Fresh Air to read from his new memoir and satirical self-help book How to Be Black.
●
●
E is for Edward who mailed you some art
How jazzed would you be if you received mail in one of Edward Gorey's illustrated envelopes?
#ThisIsWhere We Post Our Favorite Poems
Remember when I told you about the #ThisIsWhere poetry contest being organized by O, Miami and WLRN? Well, ten of the best submissions have been posted online since then.
●
●
The New Face of Poetry
Denmark has a new superstar, and he’s a poet named Yahya Hassan. At 18, Hassan has published a poetry collection that sold 100,000 copies in three months -- a figure that, in Denmark, translates to one copy for every fifty residents. At the LARB, Pedja Jurisic delves into the young poet's incendiary politics.
●
●
Bring On The Rejection
Steel your nerve, readers! Kim Liao at The Literary Hub thinks that everyone should shoot for at least 100 rejections per year. At least some of the satisfaction, she argues, lies in knowing that "in the towering waves of slush, be it high tide or low tide, my own modest submission is out there, like a tiny sailboat, bobbing afloat."
Writing from the Self
Year in Reading alumnus Alexander Chee has a guide for writing an autobiographical novel. He writes, “The woods is your life. You are the axe.” Pair with this Millions piece in defense of autobiography.
●
●