Hello and welcome to this week’s Lez Liberty Lit! A short one this week because it turns out it’s very ambitious to try to move into a whole new house in under two weeks? Whoops. Point of discussion: As much as I’m clearly endlessly obsessed with linking to books as clutter vs books as a necessary physical presence, do you find that shifts at all for you when you move? What if after you move because you’re over some sort of big life transition and more ready to step into the future probably? What if you feel like you’re past that actually but you also just don’t want to track down more boxes to pack with? All input welcome.

This interview with Carmen Maria Machado at Electric Literature is perfectly normal and fine, and Machado discusses the Gothic genre and queerness, moving towards desire, queer rereadings, and more:

“When I was a girl, I had a vision that beneath my bed existed a set of stairs. In my imagination, if I descended the stairs, I might be able to see everything I had ever wanted to see: every fantasy, every truth. But I knew—I understood, as clearly as you understand what is happening, now—that were I to descend those stairs, and then look up, I would see what was above me as divers do: through a medium dense and rippling, but transparent. I would be under, and lost.”

Here’s how sexism and machismo shaped a prestigious writing program.

Here’s Rebecca Solnit on writing a liberated Cinderella.

Here’s what it’s like to keep a list of every book you read over decades.

You don’t need to publish a book by age 30.

A Prince memoir is due in October.

What is writers’ role in addressing climate change? At Lit Hub, opening with Cyclone Idai, Amy Brady notes, “This is life in the Anthropocene, an age characterized by humanity’s unprecedented influence on Earth’s atmosphere and weather systems. And in response, artists of all kinds—including novelists and poets—are producing work that speaks to the intense feelings of fear and loss that so many people are wrestling with.”

Read these books about women’s pain. Read these books about women searching for home. Read these books about unicorns. Read these essay collections by women. Read these 50 literary biographies. Read these astrophysics books for ordinary people. Read these books if you’re into Ariana Grande. Read these books about fires. Read the best debuts of the year so far. Read these books to think like a visual artist.

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