Dana Canedy and Lisa Lucas Take the Lead, Publishers Delay Returning to Offices, and More

by Staff
8.3.20

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.

At the Los Angeles Times, Dana Canedy and Lisa Lucas reflect on the movement for racial equity in publishing and working as Black women in the industry. Last Month, Canedy was appointed executive vice present and publisher of Simon & Schuster’s flagship imprint, while Lucas was hired as senior vice president and publisher of Pantheon and Schocken Books. “We are constantly in a moment of reckoning as Black women, as Black people in America,” says Lucas.

While a number of publishers had hoped to return to their offices after Labor Day, Publishers Weekly now reports that many companies will not reopen their offices in any significant capacity before the new year

“I wanted to write a story about a Black woman who fails a lot and is sort of grasping for human connection and making mistakes.” Raven Leilani, the author of Luster, reflects on loss, originality, and her path to becoming a writer. (New York Times)

At the Cut, Molly Fischer profiles queer writer and activist Sarah Schulman, paying particular attention to Schulman’s innovative thinking on conflict and abuse. 

This year’s Boston Poetry Marathon will take place online from August 6 to 8, and will raise funds for the Urban League of Eastern Massachusetts and Sista Fire. Confirmed readers include Kazim Ali, Eileen Myles, and Dorothea Lasky.   

Calvin Baker writes in praise of Gayl Jones at the Atlantic. “What Faulkner saw in the haunted old mansions of Oxford, Mississippi, Jones saw in the ghosts of the Black dead. She was a pioneer in grappling with the contemporary legacy of slavery.” 

“I was convinced, romantically, no doubt, because of all the stories and novels I was reading, that anyone who wanted to be a writer had to go to Paris.” Eduardo Halfon recalls his early days as a reader and a writer. (New York Review Daily)

The Millions selects its most anticipated August titles, including Akwaeke Emezi’s The Death of Vivek Oji and Ali Smith’s Summer.