September 25, 2023 ‹ Literary Hub

TODAY: In 1952, bell hooks is born. (Image courtesy of Denison)    

• “Over the last hundred years, diabetes should have lost much of its bite.” Stuart Bradwel breaks down the insulin crisis of the 21st century and the tragic consequences of unethical profiteering. | Lit Hub Health

• Ken Follett on finding inspiration in Ian Fleming, playing the bass guitar, and more. | Lit Hub Questionnaire

• Alexander Chee welcomes back Lan Samantha Chang’s Hunger: “She is one of the few American writers who can be said to have actively worked to change the literary landscape in which she is understood.” | Lit Hub Criticism

• The making of “Alabama’s Gandhi”: How Bayard Rustin inspired Martin Luther King Jr.’s nonviolent activism. | Lit Hub History

• “In every context and at every level, Ballard’s gaze is fixed, fixated, on the man behind the curtain.” Tom McCarthy on J.G. Ballard. | The Paris Review

• The Brooklyn Public Library is launching a seven-episode limited series this Friday called Borrowed & Banned, featuring librarians, writers, students, and others on book bans. | Brooklyn Public Library

• “The turtle reminds me that I owe my small human life to the generosity of the more-than-human beings with whom we share this precious homeland.” Robin Wall Kimmerer on the animal refugees of the climate crisis. | New York Times

• The Strand Magazine will publish a newly discovered Truman Capote story, “Another Day in Paradise,” which was found written in pencil in a notebook among papers at the Library of Congress. | The Guardian

• Alexandra Wolfe considers the many literary feuds of her father, Tom. | Air Mail 

Also on Lit Hub: Jen Silverman on imagining dystopias and utopias • Molly Lynch on chaos, childcare, and civilizational collapse • Read from Isle McElroy’s latest novel, People Collide