Paris Review and the CIA, Herman Melville's Notebook, and More

by
Evan Smith Rakoff
5.29.12

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:

Famed literary agent Hilary Rubinstein passed away last week in London at age eighty-six. While still a student at Oxford, Mr. Rubinstein was credited with discovering Kingsley Amis, and during a long career at the A. P. Watt agency, represented P. G. Wodehouse. (Independent)

In answer to a recent article in Salon linking the founding of the Paris Review with the CIA-funded Cold War organization, Congress for Cultural Freedom, Carolyn Kellogg advises, "Read, but read skeptically." (Los Angeles Times)

Raghad Saddam Hussein, the eldest daughter of Saddam Hussein, is seeking a publisher for her father's memoirs. (Guardian)

NPR chats with Rollie Pemberton about his time as poet laureate of his Canadian hometown of Edmonton, Alberta, and his dual career as the hip-hop artist, Cadence Weapon.

In light of the buzz created by the release of the film trailer for Baz Luhrmann’s adaptation of Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby, as well as HBO's Hemingway & Gellhorn, which premiered Memorial Day, the Observer questions if we're in the midst of a Jazz Age boom.

Flavorwire provides a look within the notebooks of famous writers and artists, including Kurt Cobain, Jennifer Egan, and Herman Melville.

Public libraries are experiencing a demand for e-readers and e-books, and WNYC investigates the costs and benefits.

At noon on June 8th and June 15th, the poems of Frank O'Hara will be read and discussed at the Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Sculpture Garden at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City.