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:
A Louisiana State University student was arrested for a poem he left in the school library. The poem, and the story of the arrest, came to the attention of poet Johannes Göransson, whose own work was imitated by the young poet in the offending verse. Check out James Bellard's first person account on Göransson's blog. (via Harriet)
Hot on the heels of Kobo's new Touch, Barnes & Noble unveiled a touch screen Nook that retails for $139 and is aimed at "the 'grandma' demographic." (Winnipeg Free Press)
Speaking of Barnes & Noble, the New York Times believes the book retailer may be caught in some kind of Wall Street vortex relentlessly pushing it toward a purchase deal, regardless of the logic of such a deal for the parties involved.
The audiobook of Keith Richards's memoir Life won the Audiobook of the Year award at the annual Audies Competition in New York City on Tuesday. (Jacket Copy)
A municipality in Scotland has banned from its libraries any book written by an Israeli author, or published or printed in Israel, in apparent protest of the country's actions toward Palestinians and their supporters in Gaza. "A place that boycotts books is not far from a place that burns them," Israel's ambassador said. (JTA)
The three Kardashian sisters of reality television fame are writing a novel together, and you can pick the title! (Bookperk)
In the aftermath of the controversy over Philip Roth's Booker Prize win last week, Salon's Laura Miller asks whether the prize judge who quit in protest over Roth's win, Carmen Callil, should have been dismissed by critics for making "emotional or ideological" arguments instead of literary ones.
A seventy-four-year-old bookseller in Australia, who opened his shop in 1967 and was regularly raided by police in the early years for stocking controversial books, died on Sunday. Within hours of his passing, Bob Gould's fabled bookshop in Newton opened its doors to the public. ''That's what Bob would have liked,'' his daughter said. ''He loved books and this place has been his life. Keeping it open is the best thing.'' (Sydney Morning Herald)
