Lit Hub Daily: April 26, 2024

TODAY: In 1564, playwright William Shakespeare is baptized in Stratford-upon-Avon, England.   “I yearned for a bigger life and was sure it would come for me.” Aaron Hicklin on how the novels of Lynne Reid Banks helped him see himself. | Lit Hub Memoir

“The more pertinent question than what we can write is what we who are Black authors can write about that a publisher will publish, will publicize, will market and distribute widely.” Nell Irvin Painter on writing about anything. | Lit Hub Craft

Is there something writerly about hypochondria? Caroline Crampton complies a list of authors with health anxieties. | Lit Hub History Andrew J. Scott considers aging and disease in the modern world: “A new era where the young grow up to become very old in large numbers is leading to a significant shift in society’s disease burden.” | Lit Hub Health Grace Jung examines how amnesia as a dramatic device in K-dramas connects to “cultural amnesia” and the Japanese occupation of Korea. | Lit Hub TV Jane Smiley’s Lucky, Judi Dench’s Shakespeare, and Justin Taylor’s Reboot all feature among the best reviewed books of the week. | Book Marks “D’boy lurked around the edge of the crowd at the newspaper vendor’s stand, looking for a worthy pocket to pick.” Read from Uche Okonkwo’s story collection, A Kind of Madness. | Lit Hub Fiction Authors from Major Jackson to Sloane Crosley recall the dawn of Gmail. | New York Magazine “But one of the biggest questions about Shakespeare is whether, in the end, he’s emblematic of high culture or low (to wit: all those dirty jokes).” On understanding Shakespeare through fan fiction. | JSTOR Daily “Unfortunately, yes, I am also a scholar.” Charlotte E. Rosen and David Hollingshead (Diabetic of Enlightenment) on the mess that is Academic Twitter. | Public Books On Deep Vellum, Wild Detectives, and Dallas as “a literary hub.” But, like, a different one. | The New York Times Fifty-five years after the publication of On Death and Dying, Colin Dickey considers Elizabeth Kübler-Ross’ legacy. | The New Republic “I am afraid anything I love will become dangerous.” Kaveh Akbar on his obsessive pursuit of basketball cards. | GQ