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:
“I’m less interested in convincing people of an argument than in modeling a style of thinking. That’s what’s important to me in the literary world: ways of seeing and thinking.” Zadie Smith answers questions from famous fans, including Philip Pullman, London mayor Sadiq Khan, and writer Teju Cole. (Guardian)
Seattle’s Hugo House has received a $1.032 million grant from Washington state. The grant will allow the popular writing center to purchase and develop a new space to support writers.
Director Sara Colangelo, actress Maggie Gyllenhaal, and actor Ajay Naidu talk about incorporating poems by Ocean Vuong, Kaveh Akbar, and a five-year-old girl in their forthcoming film, The Kindergarten Teacher. (Los Angeles Times)
Soft Skull Press editor Yuka Igarashi talks with the Authors Guild about editing books versus magazines and thinking of a press’s books as working in conversation with one another.
“How do we show up not just in historic moments but in our everyday lives, in our own homes and communities?” A year after the first Women’s March, Roxane Gay reflects on the impact and challenges behind women coming together to protest. (Glamour)
“I have yet to see a story of mental illness that does not involve white, middle-class people, so I decided to create one. I wanted to show that the disease impacts diverse racial and ethnic communities.” Mira T. Lee discusses writing about mental illness in her debut novel, Everything Here Is Beautiful. (Los Angeles Review of Books)
Listen to Lee read from her novel in an audio exclusive for Poets & Writers.
Publishers Weekly is calling on publishers to join the fight to protect net neutrality as a necessary measure to protect free speech.
“The new poets are products of a cult of personality, which demands from its heroes only that they be ‘honest’ and ‘accessible,’ where honesty is defined as the constant expression of what one feels, and accessibility means the complete rejection of complexity, subtlety, eloquence and the aspiration to do anything well.” In a piece for PN Review, U.K. poet Rebecca Watts has stirred controversy by arguing against the value of work by young poets such as Rupi Kaur, Kate Tempest, and Hollie McNish. (Guardian)
