Apple CEO Ordered to Testify, KFC Launches Poetry Contest, and More

by
Bryanna Tidmarsh
3.14.13

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:

According the Los Angeles Times, Apple CEO Tim Cook has been ordered to testify in the Department of Justice’s case, which accuses Apple, Penguin, HarperCollins, Simon & Schuster, Hachette, and Macmillan of fixing e-book prices.

With the introduction of the Kindle Fire HD in Europe and Japan, Amazon has dropped its prices for the device in the United States with the largest Wi-fi model starting at $269 (down from $299) and the 4G version starting at $399 (down from $499). (Shelf Awareness)

According to the Census Bureau, January bookstore sales rose to $2.1 billion, a 5.5% increase compared to December 2012. (Shelf Awareness)

Columbia University has acquired the archives, which include diaries, manuscripts, and artwork, of fiction writer Dawn Powell, whose work has experienced a recent resurgence. (New York Times

Ad Age reports that Kentucky Fried Chicken has kicked off a social media poetry contest to recover from a food safety crisis in China. Entries must include the sentence "The chickens are innocent," and the winner receives an iPad mini.

In anticipation of April's National Poetry Month, National Public Radio's Tell Me More announces its third annual Muses and Metaphor series. Curated by poet Holly Bass, the series will feature poems shared by NPR fans on Twitter using the hashtag #TMMPoetry.