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 Chinese government has refused to allow any of the family members of Nobel Peace Prize winner Liu Xiaobo to travel to Norway to accept the award of 1.5 million dollars in cash and a medal. In fact, according to the New York Times, anyone associated or related to Liu has been either detained or surveilled, and intellectuals are being blocked from traveling "for fear they might later find their way to the awards ceremony." According to Nobelprize.org, the last time no one was present to accept the peace medal was in 1936, when the German journalist and pacifist Carl von Ossietzky was not allowed to leave Nazi Germany.
In any case, Anne Hathaway and Denzel Washington are slated to host the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony in Olso, Norway, on December 10. (Reuters) Liu has requested that a children's choir perform at the ceremony in his absence.
The Moscow underground subway system in Russia will soon feature poetry installations featuring the work of famous Chilean poets like Pablo Neruda and Gabriela Mistral. (Voice of Russia)
Despite investing heavily in literacy programs over the past three decades, Iran is celebrating its eighteenth annual Book Week amid concerns that reading habits are "dwindling" in the country. (Jacket Copy)
The Seattle school board is considering a ban on Aldous Huxley's Brave New World because of the book's negative depictions of Native Americans. (Seattle Times)
Barnes & Noble has opened an e-bookstore for Spanish language titles. (Publishers Weekly)
The short list for the Literary Review's 2010 Bad Sex in Fiction Award has been announced, and while the list does not include a former British prime minister, it does include a former Time magazine cover model. (Guardian)
Online social publisher Scribd has launched "a year-long global literacy campaign that will feature an array of celebrity reading lists, and will encourage Scribd users to share their own lists and to donate to global literacy efforts." (Publishers Weekly)
