Layla Halabian & Sophia June, Language Arts

💭 Thoughts on DIY media & publishing, Marissa Zappas’ fragrance line, and the best advice from Kim Cattrall.

Layla Halabian and Sophia June are writers and the co-founders of Language Arts, a new literary Substack about books you actually want to read. The pair met in 2021 when Layla hired Sophia to be her culture writer at NYLON. Their boss/employee relationship soon turned to a real friendship strengthened over their love of Lana Del Rey, weird books, and shared values around not taking anything too seriously.

🎯 Current focus

We’re excited about our newsletter Language Arts. We both left media to work on something free from the tyranny of SEO and misguided egos. Language Arts focuses on author interviews, book recommendations, and party dispatches from literary events. We've been doing book coverage at NYLON for the last three years, and are excited to be going out on our own – it’s a whole new kind of freedom that’s intoxicating. We constantly look at each other and say: We can do whatever we want? What?! 

Some other things on our minds right now are: invisible ink, martini innovations, the Challengers score, and that one windy scene.

🎶 “Tough” by Quavo & Lana Del Rey

We’re obsessed with “Tough” by Quavo and Lana Del Rey. It’s an unbelievably sexy track. Both of their verses, the trap beat, the “Grandpa’s glass!” ad-lib, Lana’s giggle — it’s perfect. And don’t even get us started on their chemistry in the music video…

 ✨ The best advice from Kim Cattrall

Our guiding mantra comes from the one and only Kim Cattrall: “I don’t want to be in a situation for even an hour where I’m not enjoying myself.” That’s why we started Language Arts. 

📕 DIY Media & Publishing

We are inspired by anyone who is shirking the mainstream for something more DIY, especially in media and publishing. We adore Chelsea Hodson, a cult-favorite writer who started the indie press Rose Books, which has put out titles from musician Geoff Rickley and Kendall Jenner’s modeling agent Ashleah Gonzales (who has famously good taste in literature).

👃 Marissa Zappas

The namesake fragrance line by Marissa Zappas is one of the most exciting in the game right now. Everything she creates feels luxurious, moving, and romantic. 

👀 The “i ain't reading all that” meme

One thing we can’t live without is the meme “i ain't reading all that i’m happy for you tho or sorry that happened.” Some people need to learn the art of discretion. 

Follow Layla & Sophia’s new literary Substack here.

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