Lit Hub Weekly

·         The role of stories to unify—as opposed to divide, to engage rather than to marginalize—is more important than ever.” President Obama discusses books and his love of reading with Michiko Kakutani. | The New York Times

·         “I read my poem, feeling American poets alive and dead by my side, feeling myself as representative in the most grave and beautiful way.” Elizabeth Alexander on composing and reciting a poem for Obama’s first Inauguration. | The New Yorker

·         The finalists for the 2017 NBCC Awards, PEN Literary Awards, National Magazine Awards for Print and Digital Media, and Edgar Awards have been announced. | National Book Critics Circle, PEN America, ASME, TheEdgars.com

·         I think genre is as much a lie as gender is: An interview with Eula Biss. | Fiction Advocate

·         “What a toll it has taken, this death and grieving and loss!” An excerpt from Patty Yumi Cottrell’s novel Sorry to Disrupt the Peace. | BuzzFeed Reader

·         “As long as Trump is in charge, if I absolutely have to visit the United States, I prefer to go in the queue for a regular visa with others.” Wole Soyinka, the first African writer to receive the Nobel Prize in Literature, has destroyed his Green Card. | The Atlantic

Listen to me if you know what’s good for you: An advance look at Han Kang’s