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:
Random House will release a collection of forgotten Dr. Seuss stories that were originally published in midcentury magazines. Horton and the Kwuggerbug and More Lost Stories comes out in September, and will include an introduction by Seuss scholar Charles D. Cohen. The book is a follow-up to a 2011 collection of lost Seuss stories, The Bippolo Seed and Other Lost Stories. (NPR)
Simon & Schuster has launched a new video series that tells the stories behind the company’s books. “Behind The Book from Simon & Schuster” will include video interviews with editors and publishers who discuss the making of each book. The first installments of the series can be seen on the publisher’s YouTube page. (GalleyCat)
With the new academic semester just around the corner, Flavorwire helps incoming college freshmen get a feel for the roommates they've been assigned based on their favorite books.
British Prime Minister David Cameron has voiced his support of a security measure in the U.K. that prevents books from being sent to prison inmates. Cameron’s support comes in response to a letter signed by Salman Rushdie, Julian Barnes, Carol Ann Duffy, and dozens of other writers, that calls the policy “misguided” and states that “reading goes hand in hand with education and rehabilitation.” (Guardian)
The blog i09 rounds up the most disastrous typos in western history, including a 1631 version of the Bible that reads, “Thou shalt commit adultery.”
In this week’s New York Times Book Review, singer-songwriter, poet, and memoirist Patti Smith reviews Haruki Murakami's new novel, Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage, which will be published in English on August 12 by Knopf. To celebrate the new book, a number of bookstores throughout the country will be hosting midnight release parties next week.
Meanwhile, Courtney Maum taken on the satirical identity of nineties indie-rocker Liz Phair in a review of Stacey D’Erasmo’s Wonderland. (Electric Literature)
At the Millions, novelist Rebecca Makkai talks about her new book, The Hundred-Year House, and the importance of outlining. Listen to a podcast of Makkai reading from the new book, published last month by Viking.