Jeffrey Eugenides as Henry James in Vogue Magazine, Joan Didion Screenplay, and More

by
Evan Smith Rakoff
8.13.12

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:

The Guardian lists the United Kingdom's one hundred bestselling books of all time.

New Orleans police arrested Abdulrahman Zeitoun—the post-Katrina hero of Dave Eggers's 2009 book, Zeitoun—and charged him with soliciting the murder of his ex-wife. (Los Angeles Times)

Joan Didion is slotted to pen a film script for director Todd Field—a political thriller called As It Happens. Field directed the adaptation of Tom Perrotta's Little Children, as well as In the Bedroom, based on an Andre Dubus II short story. (Playlist)

The current issue of Vogue features a series of Annie Leibovitz photographs recreating a picnic with Henry James, Morton Fullerton, Edith Wharton, and others, at Wharton's estate in the Berkshires. Acting as stand-ins—and dressed in period costume—are authors Jonathan Safran Foer, Jeffrey Eugenides, and Junot Díaz. (Volume 1 Brooklyn)

To promote Michael Chabon's Telegraph Avenue, due out next month, HarperCollins intends to transform an Oakland bookstore into Brokeland Records—the used-record store run by the main characters in Chabon's book. (Wall Street Journal)

In an essay for this weekend's New York Times Book Review, Harvard English professor Leah Price says "every generation rewrites the book’s epitaph."

Citing David Mitchell's Cloud Atlas, author Jonathan Evison suggests readers desire a collaborative challenge. (Wall Street Journal)

Writer and editor Kera Bolonik remembers her colleague and friend David Rakoff, who passed away last week. (Vulture)