LitHub Daily: December 21, 2016

• The best book covers of the year, as chosen by designers. | Literary Hub
• Meet the last bookbinder on the Lower East Side. | Literary Hub
• The story behind Hidden Figures: in conversation with author Margot Lee Shetterly. | Literary Hub
• Fiction inspired by the art of Edward Hopper. | Literary Hub
• “Already, at quite a young age, poetry was like an invisible figure—the lyric I—walking at my side and holding me lightly by the right arm.” An interview with Fanny Howe. | The Paris Review
• “To re-encounter nature, after losing your way in your own country, would never be an escape from history or social life into a greenwood idyll.” Reading Thoreau between the elections and their consequences. | n+1
• A heartening trend countering the upsurge of xenophobia: On “this year’s bonanza of English-language fiction published by writers of Asian descent.” | VICE
• “There are definite solutions to climate change out there that could make a nice place to start for alternative narratives.” How better writing about climate change can make it less polarizing. | Publishing Perspectives
• Egyptian novelist Ahmed Naji, jailed for “violating public modesty,” has been released from prison. | Los Angeles Times
• The novel is hamstrung by its 18th-century origins and the TV box set sets fiction free: An intrepid critic wonders if Westworld tells “a truer story than a novel can.” | The Guardian
• Recommendations of books from (over 100!) independent presses. | BookRiot

Also on Lit Hub: In conversation with poet Melissa Range · Wild spaces, girls in trees · “Discovery” by Samantha Hunt