Every day Poets & Writers Magazine scans the headlines—publishing reports, literary dispatches, academic announcements, and more—for all the news that creative writers need to know. Here are today’s stories.
Elizabeth A. Harris checks in with editors, agents, and other publishing professionals about how they are adapting to working from home. Harris points out that “publishing is a very social business,” and that younger editors and agents, especially, are worrying about how to network and connect with one another when going out for lunch or meeting in person is no longer an option. (New York Times)
Jamel Brinkley, the author of A Lucky Man, will join the Iowa Writers’ Workshop as a permanent faculty member in fall 2020. “Jamel is an extraordinary writer and an exceptional teacher,” said program director Lan Samantha Chang. “Every member of the faculty is excited that he will be joining us.”
“I feel now that without this effect of distance—geographical distance from my hometown and linguistic distance made possible by it, as well as the in-between space opened up by the act of translation—I couldn’t have written my novel.” Masatsugu Ono, the author of Echo on the Bay, explains how the experience of foreignness has informed his craft. He notes that fellow Japanese writers Haruki Murakami and Kenzaburo Oe might feel the same. (Paris Review Daily)
The Poetry Society of America has announced the winners for a number of its individual awards. The winning poets are Atsuro Riley, Teri Ellen Cross Davis, JinJin Xu, David Keplinger, Michael Dumanis, Lillian-Yvonne Bertram, and Dai “Debby” Shi.
Darnell Moore, George M. Johnson, Sesali Bowen, and Michael Arceneaux discuss and celebrate Black queer narratives. (O, the Oprah Magazine)
“Racism has been our Achilles heel for a long time. It’s been the cancer that has just been killing us.” James McBride, the author of Deacon King Kong, talks to NPR about building solidarities.
An avid reader in south London has set up a used book swap program; nearly four hundred people have already signed up to receive and donate books. (Guardian)
Diarmuid Hester reasserts Dennis Cooper’s contributions to American letters. “Many people know him only as the scandalous creator of shocking novels.” (Irish Times)