A National Museum of American Writers, Shake-up at Oxford American, and More

by
Evan Smith Rakoff
7.17.12

Every day Poets & Writers Magazine scans the headlines—from publishing reports to academic announcements to literary dispatches—for all the news that creative writers need to know. Here are today's stories:

Bloomsbury reports its e-book sales are up 70 percent. (GalleyCat)

Good magazine tells us about the Book Truck, a mobile library in Mexico City.

The founding editor of Oxford American magazine, Marc Smirnoff, and its long-time managing editor, Carol Ann Fitzgerald, are no longer associated with the publication. Its publisher Warwick Sabin reportedly locked the nonprofit magazine's offices at the University of Central Arkansas on Wednesday, and will reopen today. (Observer)

Author Walter Kirn details his personal history with the American-born Mormon religion. (New Republic)

Critic Marjorie Perloff answers Ugly Duckling Presse editor Matvei Yankelevich's response to Perloff's essay, “Poetry on the Brink.” (Los Angeles Review of Books)

A plan for a national museum dedicated to American writers is in the works. The American Writers Museum Foundation has created a concept plan, with the help of Amaze Design. Nothing is final, but Chicago is the top city on its list of potential locations. (Christian Science Monitor)

Laura Helmuth is annoyed Jonathan Franzen is "becoming the public face of bird-watching." (Slate)

Designer Dinah Fried has created famous literary meals from the pages of Salinger, Melville, and others. (ShortList)

"Our lazy embrace of Stewart and Colbert is a testament to our own impoverished comic standards." The always-provocative Steve Almond examines contemporary political comedy. (Baffler)

In Pennsylvania, Wilkes University's writing program has renewed a three-year contract with Etruscan Press.

If you'd like to win an especially cool bike, simply write a great short essay. (Paris Review Daily)