Q. R. Markham Accused of Plagiarism, Interactive Book Covers, and More

by
Evan Smith Rakoff
11.9.11

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:

Little, Brown, after discovering numerous passages in a newly published novel had been plagiarized, pulled the book, Assassin of Secrets by Q. R. Markham from store shelves. Q. R. Markham is the pen name of Quentin Rowan, an owner of Spoonbill & Sugartown Booksellers in Brooklyn, New York. (New York Times)

Poet Brendan Lorber reports from the frontlines of Occupy Wall Street. (Rumpus)

GalleyCat takes a look at interactive book covers, and ponders if these types of covers could supplant book trailers as a marketing device.

Meanwhile, the Los Angeles Times documents the growing popularity of Hollywood-influenced book trailers, and how publishers are spending more cash on their creations.

Stella Tillyard, whose novel Tides of War was just released, lists her favorite historical novels for the Daily Beast, and details what makes them significant.

Annie Leibovitz is known for her photographic portraits of cultural icons, but her lens has also studied other subjects, such as the pattern of Emily Dickinson's single surviving dress, and a corner of Virginia Woolf’s bedroom, as shown in images from her new book, Pilgrimage. (Brain Pickings)

Jeffrey Eugenides’s vest has a Twitter account. (Melville House)

To promote its new title, Unpacking My Library: Writers and Their Books, out this month, Yale University Press asks readers to take a quiz. If you know which writer owns A Guide for the Unhemorrhoided by Charles Willeford, send your answer by November 14.