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:
The Guardian gathered reflections from Arab writers on the uprising in Tunisia and the ongoing demonstrations in Egypt.
St. Martin's Press is publishing President Obama's speech from the Tuscon, Arizona, memorial service on January 12 as a ninety-nine-cent e-book. (New York Times)
As social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook allow folks to share their own opinions, is criticism dying a swift death? (Guardian)
A group of well-known authors including Zadie Smith, Jonathan Lethem, Elif Batuman, and Sam Lypsite have protested the planned layoffs of two editors at Harper's magazine, one of whom is a union organizer. (Business Insider) An online campaign, "Save Harper's Magazine" has raised more than $35,000 in pledges to avert the layoffs.
The long-awaited English translation of Haruki Murakami's novel 1Q84 will be published in October in a single thousand-page volume translated by Harvard professor Jay Rubin. (Guardian)
After a recent visit to the United States, U. K. indie booksellers have been inspired by their American counterparts to see e-books as an opportunity and not a problem. (Publishing Perspectives)
Borders announced a plan to delay payments to some "vendors, landlords, and others" despite receiving a financing commitment last week from General Electric Capital for over half a billion dollars. (Detroit Free Press)
What do the books we display on our shelves—and on our Facebook "likes"—really say about us? (New York Times)
