Google Books Ruling Expected Today, Apple May Discount E-books After All, and More

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:

A ruling on the Google Books Settlement is due today from a New York judge. (Guardian) UPDATE: Judge Denny Chin has postponed his ruling. (Wall Street Journal)

A Harvard-trained neurobiologist accused of killing three colleagues at the University of Alabama is the author of three novels and a relative of John Irving. (Boston Globe)

Pricing for Apple's forthcoming e-book titles may not be as high as previously thought after details of a discount plan for bestsellers emerged today. (New York Times)

In startling news with broad implications for the future of the book industry, less than half of children aged nine to fourteen read fiction more than once a month; instead they read e-mail and Web sites for leisure, according to a recent survey by Britain's National Literacy Trust. (Telegraph)

Freedom to Read Week kicks off on Sunday throughout Canada with events on freedom of expression and censorship awareness taking place in Toronto and other cities. (Star) 

The inaugural Karachi literary festival starts next month in Pakistan's largest and most diverse city, which hopes to turn attention from its political and religious turmoil to its thriving literary scene. (Independent) 

Front-runners have already emerged for the Oxford professor of poetry post after nominations opened today. (Guardian)

Berlin's national library has collected two hundred books published by Jewish Holocaust survivors in Displaced Person Camps between 1945 and 1950. (Publishing Perspectives)

A social services organization in New York City has come to the aid of a celebrated Latino poet who was hit particuarly hard by the economic downturn. (New York Times)