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:
J. D. Salinger, the reclusive author of Catcher in the Rye, Franny and Zooey, and many popular and critically-acclaimed short stories, died on Wednesday in Cornish, New Hampshire, at the age of ninety-one (New York Times [2]). The Guardian [3] collected tributes to Salinger from Joyce Carol Oates and E. L. Doctorow, among others, while Rick Moody wrote a piece for NPR [4]. The Rutland Herald [5] spoke to Salinger's neighbors, who helped the author protect his privacy all these years.
Penguin will relaunch Salinger's backlist this June with new jacket covers approved by Salinger himself (Bookseller [6]).
Borders Group cut 165 positions in its corporate division and distribution centers (Publishers Weekly [7]).
Random House and McGraw-Hill were both conspicuously absent from the list of major publishing partners at Wednesday's Apple event (New York Post [8]).
Borders UK, which collapsed in November of 2009, has struggled to repay publishers and creditors an amount estimated at over $60 million (Bookseller [9]).
New York City's mayor has proposed cutting 689 library positions from the citywide budget over the next two years (Library Journal [10]).
The London Book Fair [11], one of the world's largest book-publishing trade events, kicks off at the Earls Court Exhibition Centre next month.
Santa Cruz county appointed its first ever poet laureate (Mercury News [12]).