Every day Poets & Writers Magazine scans the headlines—publishing reports, literary dispatches, academic announcements, and more—for all the news that creative writers need to know. Here are today’s stories.
The Association of Writers & Writing Programs (AWP) Board of Directors has issued a statement regarding its decision to proceed with the AWP 2020 annual conference as scheduled despite growing concern about coronavirus in San Antonio, Texas, where the conference will be held. After consulting with city officials, including mayor Ron Nirenberg, the board writes: “We do believe that we can work to address our legitimate concerns together by following the recommended public health protocols.” While the conference is now confirmed to begin tomorrow, many participants, including Tin House and the Academy of American Poets, have announced via Twitter that they plan to sit out. AWP has stated it will honor refunds or credits toward next year’s conference in Kansas City for any individuals uncomfortable attending.
PEN America conferred more than $330,000 to writers and translators at the 2020 PEN America Literary Awards Ceremony yesterday evening in New York City. Among the honorees, Yiyun Li won the $75,000 PEN/Jean Stein Book Award for Where Reasons End.
Sarah Blackwood considers the enduring value of Edith Wharton’s The Age of Innocence for twenty-first-century readers. “How the social mores of the rich shape the lives and values of everyone else has arguably been the topic of American popular and political culture throughout the 2000s and 2010s.” (Literary Hub)
Sixteen books have been longlisted for the Women’s Prize for Fiction, including Girl, Woman, Other by Bernardine Evaristo, Red at the Bone by Jacqueline Woodson, and The Mirror and the Light by Hilary Mantel. The shortlist for the £30,000 award will be announced on April 22. (Guardian)
In conversation with Alexandra Schwartz, Vivian Gornick reflects on her literary life. “I’m grateful that I was able to go on doing the work all this time.” (FSG Work in Progress)
Novelist Tope Folarin talks to the Rumpus about the limits of literary categorizations and defining his own narrative.
Anne Enright discusses the origins of her short story “Night Swim” and capturing “the logic of mental breakdown.” (New Yorker)
Louise Erdrich talks to NPR about finding inspiration for her new novel, The Night Watchman, in her grandfather’s letters.
