A Novelist's Wikipedia Revenge, Roberto Bolaño's Popularity, and More

by
Evan Smith Rakoff
5.20.13

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:

Andrew Leonard exposes the underbelly of Wikipedia, and discovers the true identity of Qworty—a vengeful Wikipedia editor—is novelist Robert Clark Young. (Salon)

The New York Observer underscores changes to the New York Times Book Review following the editorship of Pamela Paul.

Sure to encourage fans to visit bookstores, Stephen King will publish his next book Joyland only in print. (Shelf Awareness)

With New Directions releasing the complete poems of Roberto Bolaño next month in a bilingual volume entitled The Unknown University, Hector Tobar considers the newfound popularity of the Chilean author, who died in 2003. (Los Angeles Times)

Sarah Dunant examines how the spread of syphilis shaped European culture. The disease got its name from a Renaissance poem, and may have altered the work of numerous writers, including Flaubert, Baudelaire, and Wilde. (Guardian)

Flavorwire rounded up images of amazing reading rooms from around the world.

State Department official Raymond Maxwell, who was disciplined following the attack on the United States Consulate in Benghazi last year, has turned to poetry to express his thoughts concerning his treatment. (CBS News)