TODAY: In 1586, the English poet, critic, courtier and soldier Sir Philip Sidney is fatally wounded at the Battle of Zutphen.

• Vauhini Vara talks to John J. Lennon about the sensationalism of true crime and the reality of being human in prison. | Lit Hub In Conversation
• “There is a modern tendency to refuse to read the author in a narrator, a tendency that exists for good reason.” How the kidnapping of Miguel de Cervantes shaped Don Quixote. | Lit Hub Criticism
• Patricia A. Matthew explores class, leisure, and the historical context of Pride and Prejudice. | Lit Hub History
• Margeaux Feldman considers life at the intersection of trauma and illness: “The desire to avoid nonconsensual touch can, in other words, make one sick.” | Lit Hub Memoir
• David McNally offers a Marxist examination of the economics of New World slavery. | Lit Hub History
• “It’s not MS, she said, / as we held our breath—” Read “Autoimmune Aubade,” a poem by Chet’la Sebree from the collection Blue Opening. | Lit Hub Poetry
• How Bartolomé de las Casas bore witness to the violent conquest of the Americas, from Greg Grandin’s Cundill Prize-shortlisted America, América. | Lit Hub History
• “Back in the plaza, at the heart of the protest that cold March day, a trio of drummers beat time at the center of the swell of people—three quick beats that marked a call.” Read from Grady Chambers’s new novel, Great Disasters. | Lit Hub Fiction
• Jed Kudrick and Sean Dileonardi consider various translation renaissances, and the forces that determine geographical diversity in US publishing. | Public Books
• “I don’t know if I know what plot is. I think you just have to get someone to the end of the book.” An interview with Sheila Heti. |  The Believer
• On why dictators are terrified of comedy: “Fear is one of the authoritarian’s topmost tools, and satire reminds us how brittle it is.” | Salon
• Jane Austen fans donned bonnets and A-line dresses to celebrate her 250th birthday in Regency-era style. | The New York Times
• Trump is suing Penguin Random House for $15 billion for publishing Lucky Loser: How Donald Trump Squandered His Father’s Fortune and Created the Illusion of Success. | Publishers Weekly
• Academics are being urged to lock down their social profiles due to threats of political retaliation (or to just not post at all). | 404 Media

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