Lit Hub Daily: August 30, 2023

TODAY: In 2015, English author Frederick Forsyth (The Day of the Jackal) reveals that he worked for MI6 for more than 20 years.     

• Olivia Rutigliano recounts J.D. Salinger’s copyright wars and endless quest for solitude. | Lit Hub

• A book for every Taylor Swift era, all ten of ’em. | Lit Hub Music

• Megan Barnard in praise of morally gray female characters, from Amy Dunne to Jezebel. | Lit Hub

• “One doesn’t fix a polluted information stream simply by diluting it with truth.” Lee McIntyre on how Big Tech can help stop the disinformation it currently spreads. | Lit Hub Tech

• How humans throughout history have imagined the cosmos. | Lit Hub History

• Fan-fiction goes mainstream: Elizabeth Held on the fic-to-romance novel pipeline. | Vulture

• “Palahniuk targeted the parents who raised their kids to believe in such universal uniqueness, whereas now those same parents seem to take aim at anyone foolish enough to believe them.” Jonathan Russell Clark profiles Chuck Palahniuk. | Esquire

• Tajja Isen wonders: Who is Goodreads for? | The Walrus

• “The Federal Theatre Project was established in a 1935 program with branches across the country meant to retrain the old and guide the young.” Adam J. Sacks on the history of socialized theater. | Jacobin

• Read a novella by Bryan Washington. | The New Yorker

Also on Lit Hub: Why it’s cathartic to read about the end of the world • New poetry by Brendan Joyce • Read from Angie Kim’s latest novel, Happiness Falls