Assange May Publish Memoirs in March, Winter Solstice Literary Quiz, and More

by Staff
12.21.10

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:

What can poetry teach us about the war in Afghanistan? (New Republic)

The Guardian reports that WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange may have already sold his memoirs to Knopf in the United States and to Canongate in the United Kingdom, with a March publication date.

Herman Melville was the only author to have two works on AbeBooks top ten list for biggest sales in 2010. A 1979 limited edition of Moby Dick illustrated with wood engravings sold for nearly thirty thousand dollars, while a sixteen-volume set of the author's complete works published in 1922 sold for over seventeen thousand dollars. (Jacket Copy)

A correspondent from the Harriet blog attended the e-book summit in New York City last week and brought back a full report from an author's perspective.

Book going out of print? Here's how one author turned the sad news into the one thing she sought in the first place—an opportunity to get her book into the hands of many eager readers. (Publishing Perspectives)

Train of Thought, the program that places literary placards in New York City subway cars, has been scrapped and replaced by announcements of train system improvements. (New York Times)

Jacket Copy has an early look at the film adaptation of Sara Gruen's best-selling 2006 novel, Water for Elephants, which is set to hit theaters in April 2011.

In honor of the winter solstice and last night's total lunar eclipse, the Guardian has a quiz on "darkness in literature."