Books Briefing: What Famous Writers Had to Say About Writing
Your weekly guide to the best in books
In one of the earliest issues of The Atlantic, the poet and essayist Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr. made a direct appeal to his audience on behalf of his fellow writers: “Deal gently with us, ye who read!”
He wanted it to be known that writing isn’t an easy business: It can be frustrating, mystifying, isolating. And that’s just the beginning, if our full archive of writers’ musings on writing is toauthor Richard Wright to sublimate the racism he portrayed. The Pulitzer Prize–winning writer Edith Wharton could never quite discover where inspiration stemmed from.
