HBO Rejects Franzen Adaptation, Toni Morrison at Eighty-one, 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:

Retail giant Target will stop carrying Amazon's Kindle [2] line of products. (Verge)

Although reportedly, the pilot episode of The Corrections was well-received by HBO executives, the cable channel has ceased plans to go forward with a series based on Jonathan Franzen's award-winning novel [3]. (Deadline)

New York magazine looks at the life and work of eighty-one year old novelist Chloe Wofford [4] (also known as Toni Morrison).

Despite admitting her "musical vocabulary is limited to simian gestures, deep nods, and stink-face grimaces," poet Jennifer Knox lists the music she'd take with her to a desert island [5]. (Poetry Society of America)

Laura Miller examines James Hall’s new book, Hit Lit: Cracking the Code of the 20th Century’s Biggest Bestsellers, and considers his recipe for writing the next blockbuster [6]. (Salon)

National Public Radio features a book on bookshelves to add to your bookshelf [7].

Draft, a series on the craft of writing, argues the merits of the oft-maligned passive voice [8]. (New York Times)

Imprint rounded up several famously rejected New Yorker covers [9], and explains why each was discarded.

If you're excited about the upcoming Avengers movie, director Joss Whedon is also adapting Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing, which Whedon filmed at his California home [10]. Meanwhile, Cynthia Hawkins at the Nervous Breakdown offers ten things Avengers.