In this week's newsletter, we review Nigerian author Damilare Kuku's debut, Nearly All the Men in Lagos Are Mad, a story collection featuring a dozen "rollicking, riotous stories" of "mad men and women getting out--and even," as well as Swedish novelist Lina Wolff's "magnetic fever dream" The Devil's Grip, a fast-paced story about "a woman pushed to the edge of sanity." Plus, we look at the "empowering picture book" Piper Chen Sings by Phillipa Soo, the award-winning performer who originated the role of Eliza in the musical Hamilton, inspired by "her own journey dealing with stage fright as a young child."
In The Writer's Life, poet and techno-thriller author Izzy Wasserstein discusses the authors who influenced her understanding of worldbuilding, power differentials, and how to put petty complaints to good use.