World's Biggest Book Club Started in a Texas Hair Salon, Casanova Manuscript Purchased for Millions, 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:

Meet today's new genre: steampunk, "a modern mix of Victorian technology and sci-fi" currently making waves in commercial fiction. (Independent)

Remember when videos became books a couple weeks ago? Well, get ready for a lot more vooks. (New York Times)

In response to the Google Books Settlement, British authors have formed a new grassroots compaign group to protect the interests of writers. (Bookseller)

The six finalists for the oddest book title of the year have been announced, including Afterthoughts of a Worm Hunter, Collectible Spoons of the Third Reich, Governing Lethal Behavior in Autonomous Robots, and What Kind of Bean Is This Chihuahua? (Yahoo)

The world's biggest book club started in a hair salon in Texas. (Publishing Perspectives)

The founder and headmaster of the first boarding high school for the arts on the West Coast announced his retirement after twenty-five years. (Press Release)

Poet Rita Dove's husband accused the Poetry Society of America of racism in an open letter. (Poetry Foundation)

The French National Library paid millions of dollars for manuscript pages from Casanova, the world's most famous lover. (New York Times)