Models of Artistic Resistance, PEN Protests Professor Watchlist, and More

by
Staff
11.30.16

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:

PEN America has released a statement condemning the “Professor Watchlist,” published on November 23 by conservative advocacy group Turning Points USA. The list accuses almost two hundred college professors of using their positions to “advance a radical agenda in lecture halls.”

“No other poet has captured so well the feeling of noble failure—of having lost an unfair fight—along with the feeling of conflict between serving a very flawed nation and serving the ideals embodied in art.” Poet and poetry critic Stephen Burt writes about reading William Butler Yeats’s poetry in the age of Trump. (Boston Review)

Meanwhile, poet Cathy Park Hong discusses models of artistic resistance and the role of artists and writers in today’s political environment. “We are artists not just by the objects we make, but by the communities we build, the work we advocate for, and the activism in which we participate.” (Hyperallergic)

Award-winning fiction writer Haruki Murakami has a new novel in the works, but the title, theme, and exact release date have yet to be disclosed. The book’s publisher, Shinchosha Publishing, announced today that the novel is set for release in Japan in February. (Washington Post)

“I’m a slow writer, but I’m a constant writer.” Pulitzer Prize–winning poet Gregory Pardlo discusses his writing process and his memoir in essays, Air Traffic, forthcoming from Knopf. (Rumpus)

A recently rediscovered original manuscript by Scottish poet Robert Burns will go on display at the Paisley Museum in Renfrewshire, Scotland, in January. The poem dates from 1785 to 1786. (BBC News)

Entropy has released its “Best of 2016” list of small presses, websites, and literary journals.