Daily News from Poets & Writers

Goodbye to Algonquin's Oak Room, E. B. White Answers the ASPCA, and More

esmithrakoff — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 16:12:58 +0000

Evan Smith Rakoff

Melville House wonders when publishers will speak out about Amazon; New York City's Algonquin Hotel announced that when it reopens this spring after a renovation, the famed Oak Room will be gone; E. B. White answers a charge levied by the ASPCA; and more

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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:

GalleyCat profiles this evocative visualization of Amazon's book recommendation feature.

Meanwhile, in light of Barnes & Noble's recent announcement it won't carry Amazon's books in its stores, Melville House asks: "When will big publishers speak out about Amazon?"

Publishers Weekly reports Random House has committed to e-book lending in libraries, but will raise its prices.

Non-profit publisher Concord Free Press has given away thousands of books, asking its readers to donate to a favorite charity in lieu of payment. Last week, donations topped $250,000. (Los Angeles Times)

The owners of New York City's historic Algonquin Hotel announced that when the favorite meeting place of Dorothy Parker and her Round Table reopens this spring after a major renovation, the Oak Room will be gone. (NewYorkology)

Ken Kesey's best-selling novel One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest has turned fifty. Carolyn Kellogg revisits the book to see how McMurphy and Chief Bromden are holding up. (Los Angeles Times)

The Millions offers a comprehensive guide to over sixty literary Tumblrs.

In this amusing letter, the legendary writer E. B. White answers a charge levied by the ASPCA. (Letters of Note)

Remembering Wislawa Szymborska and Dorothea Tanning, Paul Auster's War of Words, and More

esmithrakoff — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 17:38:15 +0000

Evan Smith Rakoff

Nobel prize-winning poet Wislawa Szymborska, as well as Surrealist artist and poet Dorothea Tanning, passed away yesterday in their respective countries; novelist Paul Auster has engaged in a war of words with Tayyip Erdogan, the prime minister of Turkey; Open Letters Monthly examines the hidden life of Virginia Woolf's institutionalized half-sister, Laura Makepeace Stephen; and other news.

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Nobel prize-winning poet Wislawa Szymborska has passed away in her native Poland. (Guardian)

Meanwhile, the last of the Surrealist artists, Dorothea Tanning, who turned her attention to writing and publishing poetry late in life, died yesterday at her home in New York City. (New York Times)

The Authors Guild has posted an essay arguing that “the abandoning of New Deal era protections of retailers” has aided Amazon's domination of the book business. (GalleyCat)

Paul Auster's new book, Winter Journal, has been released in Turkey. Recently, Auster cited Turkish human rights abuses in an interview with a Turkish newspaper, which sparked a war of words between the New York City novelist and the Turkish prime minister, Tayyip Erdogan, who called Auster “an ignorant man.” (New York Times)

Laura Miller at Salon reminds readers "stories don't need morals or messages."

Open Letters Monthly examines the hidden life of Virginia Woolf's institutionalized half-sister, Laura Makepeace Stephen, who was the grandchild of Victorian novelist William Makepeace Thackeray. On Laura's third birthday, the poet Robert Browning gave her Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s poem "Aurora Leigh" inscribed, “With all good Christmas wishes to Laura Makepeace Stephen from Robert Browning." Despite auspicious beginnings, Laura lived most of her years in isolation.

Today marks the anniversaries of the birth of James Joyce as well as the full-length publication of Joyce's Ulysses, released in France on his birthday in 1922. (OUPblog)

Gothamist reports a miniature brownstone library is coming to Brooklyn, New York. (If that sparks your interest, check out our video featuring the Corner Library, a community-sponsored lending library in New York City.)

Geoffrey Hill Versus Carol Ann Duffy, History of Blurbs, and More

esmithrakoff — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 17:40:10 +0000

Evan Smith Rakoff

GalleyCat reports adult hardcover sales were down in November; Oxford professor of poetry Geoffrey Hill offers choice words for the United Kingdom's poet laureate Carol Ann Duffy; Sherman Alexie responds to a ban of ethnic studies in Tucson classrooms; and other news.

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GalleyCat reports adult hardcover sales were down over 20 percent this past November.

In a recent lecture, Oxford professor of poetry Geoffrey Hill had choice words for Carol Ann Duffy, the United Kingdom's first female poet laureate, who in an newspaper interview compared poetry to texting. (Guardian)

The Millions examines the history of book blurbing, replete with "excesses and scandals."

Novelist and poet Sherman Alexie responds to the new Arizona law that bans ethnic studies in Tucson schools.

Barnes & Noble announced it would not sell Amazon Publishing's books. (New York Daily News)

Poet and journalist Eliza Griswold writes of leaving a secluded artists’ colony in Italy to report on the influx of thirty-seven thousand Arab Spring refugees arriving on the small island of Lampedusa, and the poetry she turns to in an attempt to make sense of the crisis. (Poetry)

Huffington Post lists reasons self-published authors aren't taken seriously.

Discussing topics such as Amazon rankings, fear, bullies, bad teachers, and depression, Other People with Brad Listi interviews New York Times bestselling author Caroline Leavitt.

Flavorwire lists the twenty most beautiful bookstores in the world.

Chinese Poet Faces Prison, Bukowski's Last Poem, and More

esmithrakoff — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 16:15:41 +0000

Evan Smith Rakoff

Chinese activist Zhu Yufu is facing a prison sentence for a poem he circulated on the Internet; Melville House ponders if James Franco's forthcoming novel will be a bestseller; eighteen days before Charles Bukowski died, he faxed a poem to his publisher; and other news.

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In the eastern Chinese city of Hangzhou, activist Zhu Yufu stands trial for "inciting subversion of state power." Prosecutors centered charges around his poem, "It's time," which was circulated on the Internet. Zhu Yufu faces jail time if convicted. (Reuters)

According to a recent survey by Forrester Research, publishers are losing faith in the tablet device market. James L. McQuivey, PhD, who conducted the survey, offered, “If you have an iPad and fifteen minutes to kill, are you going to do something more cognitively difficult like reading, or something brain-dead simple like going on Facebook or watching a YouTube video?” (Digital Book World)

Citing modest sales of his story collection, Palo Alto, and with his first novel forthcoming from Amazon Publishing, Melville House asks, "Can James Franco be a bestseller?"

For about a week the famously reclusive Cormac McCarthy was on Twitter, building followers and exchanging tweets with fellow authors like Amy Tan, Neil Gaiman, and Margaret Atwood. Of course, it wasn't McCarthy, but Michael Crossan, an unpublished writer in Scotland. Still, many were fooled. The Atlantic Wire tracked down Crossan to ask why.

GalleyCat reports Occupy Wall Street Library is sending books to Occupy Tucson in response to an Arizona bill forbidding literature in the Tucson Unified School District “designed primarily for pupils of a particular ethnic group.”

World Book Night 2012 is approaching on April 23, and to learn more about this international event, podcast host David Wilk interviews Carl Lennertz, the Director of World Book Night in the United States. (WritersCast)

Poet Mark Strand launched the Michener Center for Writer’s Spring 2012 Reading Series last week, and CultureMap Austin plumbs the fifty-year career of the prize-winning poet.

"We have our Arts so we won't die of Truth." –Ray Bradbury. The Atlantic rounds up quotes of famous writers on truth and fiction.

Eighteen days before he died in 1994, Charles Bukowski bought a fax machine, and immediately faxed this poem to his publisher. (Open Culture)

Jonathan Galassi's Latest, Justin Torres's Teenage Crisis, and More

esmithrakoff — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 16:02:08 +0000

Evan Smith Rakoff

Jonathan Galassi's new book, Left-handed, tells the story of a married man in mid-life who discovers he's gay; novelist Justin Torres and his mom, Theresa, recall their versions of a crisis that happened when Justin was a teenager; publishing industry veteran Jane Friedman explains how to get your book published; and other news.

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The New York Times profiles Jonathan Galassi, the venerable editor, poet, and publisher of Farrar, Straus and Giroux. His new collection of poetry, Left-handed, will be released by Knopf in March. Left-handed tells the story of a married man in midlife who discovers he's gay. “It’s about me,” Mr. Galassi said.

Malaprop’s Bookstore in Asheville, North Carolina, is celebrating its thirtieth year in business by publishing a collaborative comic novel, Naked Came the Leaf Peeper, written by ten western North Carolina writers, including Tony Earley and Fred Chappell. (Publishers Weekly)

Meanwhile, the Raconteur Bookstore in Metuchen, New Jersey, will shutter after tomorrow. (My Central Jersey)

Speaking at the Hay festival in Cartagena, Colombia, novelist Jonathan Franzen explained his dislike for e-books: "Someone worked really hard to make the language just right, just the way they wanted it. They were so sure of it that they printed it in ink, on paper. A screen always feels like we could delete that, change that, move it around. So for a literature-crazed person like me, it's just not permanent enough." (Guardian)

Novelist Justin Torres and his mom, Theresa, recall their versions of "a crisis that happened when Justin was a teenager," which led to Justin's psychiatric hospitalization. (KQED)

"Shouldering the responsibilities of Barnes & Noble is one thing. Holding the fate of American book publishing in your hands is quite another." With a new e-reading device reportedly in the works, the New York Times features the CEO of Barnes & Noble, William J. Lynch Jr., and the evolving state of the publishing industry.

On her website, publishing veteran Jane Friedman lists an informative breakdown on "how to get your book published."

Paul Berman recounts time spent with the late playwright and leader of the Czech Republic, Václav Havel, and how then Senator Joe Biden chided the ailing leader, “Mexico is fifty times as important to us as you are!”

Wrong Shakespeare, Tess Gallagher Sues, and More

esmithrakoff — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 17:19:49 +0000

Evan Smith Rakoff

Tess Gallagher, Raymond Carver's widow, has filed a lawsuit against Skyhorse Publishing over Carver Country: The World of Raymond Carver; Radhika Jones explains why she loves reading Charles Dickens; Susan Orlean discusses her love of Faulkner; and other news.

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French presidential front-runner François Hollande made a gaffe recently in a campaign speech. In front of a crowd of twenty thousand, the candidate cited the words of Shakespeare, perhaps not realizing there's more than one author by that name. In fact, Hollande quoted Nicholas Shakespeare, the novelist and screenwriter whose book The Dancer Upstairs was made into a 2002 film by John Malkovich starring Javier Bardem. (Telegraph)

Melville House discusses Barnes & Noble's recent suggestion that the retail giant "might be willing to share data about book buyer behavior" with independent bookstores.

Author Tess Gallagher, the late Raymond Carver's widow, has filed a lawsuit against Skyhorse Publishing over the copyright of Carver Country: The World of Raymond Carver. According to Publishers Weekly, "the suit claims the book has unauthorized excerpts and photos."

The Los Angeles Times profiles a new publishing venture by online literary magazine the Rumpus: Letters in the Mail. For a five dollar fee, subscribers receive letters via post from authors and celebrities such as Stephen Elliott, Dave Eggers, Jonathan Ames, and Margaret Cho.

Writer Radhika Jones explains why she loves reading Charles Dickens, and over the next two weeks will reveal her ten favorite novels from the author of Great Expectations, as well as her favorite Dickens screen adaptations. (Time)

In light of New York City's Mayor Bloomberg recently discussing he enjoyed an "occasional spy novel," the New York Times remembers another New York City mayor from an earlier century, William J. Gaynor, who listed Euclid, Shakespeare, Homer, Milton, Cervantes, and Plutarch as having the greatest effect on his life.

Flavorwire tracked down an international collection of "awesome literary street art."

A new show, Stacked Up, has successfully made the transition from web series to television. The segments feature authors in their home libraries discussing favorite books. In this episode, Rin Tin Tin author Susan Orlean "sings Faulkner's praises and reveals her penchant for books about chickens and dogs."