National Poetry Series Winners, Essays on Bodegas, and More

by
Staff
9.18.17

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 National Poetry Series has announced the five winners of its 2017 prizes. Each winner receives $10,000 and publication of their book by a participating press.

“The truth is, so much has to align when adapting a book for the screen that it’s practically a miracle when it works out.” Caren Lissner shares the experience of having her book Carrie Pilby adapted into a movie. (Atlantic)

Playwright Matthew Lombardo has won his case against the Dr. Seuss estate, which argued that his play Who’s Holiday!, a parody of Dr. Seuss’s How The Grinch Stole Christmas!, violated copyright.

In the wake of last week’s controversy over the tech start-up Bodega, the Los Angeles Times revisits Electric Literature’s series of essays about the beloved shops, the Bodega Project, published earlier this summer. The series includes essays about bodegas written by writers such as Kristen Radtke, Tracy O’Neill, and Anelise Chen.

From Reese Witherspoon to Oprah to Emma Watson, Publishers Weekly considers the impact of celebrity book endorsements and the growing number of “bookstagrammers.”

“Some people will respond to reasonable arguments; others have to be confronted. It’s a constant balancing act. But one thing I’ve learned is that if you’re going to be angry, be angry on behalf of a cause bigger than yourself, on behalf of someone other than yourself.” Hillary Clinton talks with America Ferrera and Philip Galanes of the New York Times about the 2016 election, sexism in politics, and her memoir that came out last week, What Happened.

Novelist Jennifer Egan talks about the process of researching, writing, and rewriting her new novel, Manhattan Beach. (Publishers Weekly)

“She, too, has a startling ability to go beyond: beyond the sentimental heart, the writerly niceties, the conventions that bind us, and the messy effusions of contemporary life.” Sheila Heti considers the fiction of Swiss writer Fleur Jaeggy. (New Yorker)