James Patterson Donates $1.25 Million to School Libraries, Basquiat the Poet, and More

by
Staff
3.9.15

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:

This morning, bestselling author James Patterson announced that he will donate $1.25 million to school libraries this year. Grants of $1,000 to $10,000 will be distributed on a rolling basis over the next twelve months, continuing Patterson’s efforts to foster children’s love of reading. Last year, Patterson donated $1 million to independent bookstores. (Washington Post)

Famed graffiti-artist-turned-painter Jean-Michel Basquiat was also a poet, says Luc Sante at the New York Times Style Magazine. “[Basquiat] dealt in words, artfully executed with marker or spray can, to be sure, but nevertheless words intended to convey meaning, slantwise—that is to say, poetry.” Next month, eight of Basquiat’s personal notebooks will be displayed at the Brooklyn Museum.

“If there is an individual alive in 2015 with the genius and vision of James Joyce, they’re probably working for Google, and if there isn’t, it doesn’t matter since the operations of that genius and vision are being developed and performed collectively by operators on the payroll of that company, or of one like it.” At the Guardian, Tom McCarthy examines the current state of fiction writing in the age of digital saturation.

The Warburg Institute library in London has a strange past and an uncertain future.  Adam Gopnik chronicles the history of this “eccentric” library at the New Yorker.

What are the boundaries of the “poetry of witness?” At the Los Angeles Times, Carol Muske-Dukes discusses the ways in which poets Tom Sleigh, Marilyn Hacker, Deborah Landau, and Cecilia Woloch bear witness in their work. 

Independent bookstores around the country are gearing up for the first national Independent Bookstore Day, set to take place on May 2. Organizers will host a range of events including author readings, scavenger hunts, and literary trivia. (Shelf Awareness)

Paul Beatty, author of the new acclaimed novel The Sellout, talks with his editor Colin Dickerman about his writing process, influences, and more at the Farrar, Straus and Giroux Work in Progress blog.