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 [2])
Remember when videos became books [3] a couple weeks ago? Well, get ready for a lot more vooks. (New York Times [4])
In response to the Google Books Settlement, British authors have formed a new grassroots compaign group to protect the interests of writers. (Bookseller [5])
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 [6])
The world's biggest book club started in a hair salon in Texas. (Publishing Perspectives [7])
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 [8])
Poet Rita Dove's husband accused the Poetry Society of America of racism in an open letter. (Poetry Foundation [9])
The French National Library paid millions of dollars for manuscript pages from Casanova, the world's most famous lover. (New York Times [10])