Teju Cole on Ghanaian Poet Kofi Awoonor, Defending Jonathan Franzen, and More

by
Evan Smith Rakoff
9.27.13

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:

Novelist Teju Cole shares his thoughts from Nairobi, Kenya, about the death of Ghanaian poet Kofi Awoonor, and the seige of Westgate Mall. (New Yorker)

Jonathan Raban looks at the life and work of William Gaddis, America’s “best unknown writer.” (New York Review of Books)

In the wake of Canadian novelist David Gilmour offending half the world’s population in recent days, Michelle Dean highlights a few other sexist statements by male authors. (Flavorwire)

Meanwhile, Michelle Goldberg comes to the defense of Jonathan Franzen. (Daily Beast)

In a video for the New Yorker, Jhumpa Lahiri discusses her writing process, and her new book The Lowland.

And in a video for NBC Latino, Junot Díaz discusses how Latinos are represented in film and television. (Huffington Post)

For Banned Books Week, Tin House’s Rob Spillman examines the banning of Maurice Sendak’s Where the Wild Things. (Pen America)