The Audacious Round Up
for the Week of August 16th
Why Design Matters by Debbie Millman is available for pre-order. Yes, this link will be available in this newsletter until it goes on sale on 10/26.
Jenny Saville and I talk about fatness, feminism, art and more.
Audacious editor Brooke Obie implores us to leave fat black women alone.
Our next book selection is Somebody’s Daughter by Ashley C. Ford. Sign up on Literati to join our great discussions about the book of the month. You can register now for that conversation on August 24th.
Tressie, Debbie Millman and I are hosting a writing workshop retreat in July 2022. You can also register for this if you want to spend a weekend with us.
Roxane Gay Books is open for submissions.
I am partnering with Mayors For Guaranteed Income to publish a series of essays on a world where everyone’s basic needs are met. I’m calling the project Essays for Guaranteed Income. Consider submitting.
If you’re looking for a place to donate money to support recovery efforts in Haiti, this Google Doc lists vetted organizations.
Jimothy….
An essay on Whitney Houston and our cultural understanding of her.
We watched Netflix’s The Chair in one evening and it was eerily accurate about what it is like to be a woman of color at a predominantly white academic institution. There were some strange missteps and inconsistencies in the show, and the forced romance aspect was silly. The academic politics, though, were spot on. Sandra Oh and Holland Taylor were excellent, as they always are. Have you seen The Chair? What did you think?
Heidi Julavits, a writer I really enjoy, chases some lava in Iceland. As one does.
An excerpt from Kiese Laymon’s exceptional memoir Heavy.
Hollywood has so many problems including the dearth of opportunities for writers to apprentice as showrunners.
Dollar stores are doing very well because, well, a great many people are in economic distress and rely on that price point to get the things they need for their homes.
People insist on making Dolly Parton a saint. A writer asks why.
Claire McNear asks, “Who is Mike Richards?” The answers are… illuminating.
Predictable. Entirely predictable. Who couldn’t have seen this coming?
Not everyone can participate in The Great Resignation.
Oxford American’s fall Southern literature issue is upon us.
A public health expert writes about her vaccine hesitancy.
OnlyFans is stepping away from porn which is fascinating as I didn’t know they offered anything but.
Isaac Fitzgerald’s forthcoming, Dirtbag, Massachusetts, has a cover!
Viet Thanh Nguyen writes about what we owe the victims of America’s numerous failed wars.
A new Noah’s Ark.
A very elaborate wedding. But congrats!
An interview with Nichole Perskins, the November Audacious Book Club author of Sometimes I Trip on How Happy We Could Be.
On fact and fiction and the blurring of those lines.
Charlie Jane Anders has written a book on craft!
A profile of Camilla Cabello.
The consequences of gentrification for black homeowners.
The black architects who built New Orleans.
Jodie Turner Smith proposed to Joshua Jackson. Yes, I enjoy celebrity gossip. So much.
Old Navy is getting more inclusive in their sizing, with everything now going up to 4X both in stores and online. It’s a start though, there are plenty of people who wear sizes beyond 4X who deserve to feel good in their clothes, too.
Gawker rides again.
A conversation with Owen Wilson.
The Audacity newsletter is like a buffet. It offers so much. Sometimes I start in the middle, sometimes not. Depends what I'm in the mood for. LOL.
re: The Chair – The first episode was so realistic I wasn't sure I could watch the whole thing without triggering PTSD from 27 years as a professor (including a term as department chair).