Speaking Out Against Attacks on Books in Schools, Uncertain Future for English Graduate Programs at Purdue, and More

by Staff
12.9.21

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.

More than six hundred individuals and organizations, including numerous publishers, have signed a statement from the National Coalition Against Censorship that expresses concern over the recent wave of political attacks to books in schools across the United States. The statement notes the extremity of the censorship efforts: “Some would-be censors have gone even farther, threatening teachers, school librarians, authors, and school board members with criminal charges and even violence for allowing students access to books.” (Publishers Weekly)

The English department at the Purdue University College of Liberal Arts has been put in a precarious position due to limited funding. This year no new students will be admitted to any of the three English graduate programs: Rhetoric and Composition, Creative Writing and Literature, and Theory and Cultural Studies. Enrollment is also expected to be limited even after the one-year moratorium. Among the consequences of this announcement, the graduate student–run literary journal, Sycamore Review, is at risk of being discontinued. In an Instagram post, the publication called on the literary community to contact college administrators: “Let them know that you value the work being done by the Purdue MFA and are calling to protest the de facto closure of the Purdue MFA and Sycamore Review.” (Purdue Exponent)

The Loft Literary Center in Minneapolis has chosen Arleta Little to serve as its next executive director. Little is a veteran arts administrator, having previously led the Givens Foundation for African American Literature and, most recently, served eight years on the staff of the McKnight Foundation. She is also herself a poet and writer. (Star Tribune)

The winner of this year’s Center for Fiction First Novel Prize was announced earlier this week. Kirstin Valdez Quade earned the $15,000 award for her novel, The Five Wounds.

The Guardian has revealed its selections for the best books of the year. The fiction picks include Harlem Shuffle by Colson Whitehead and Beautiful World, Where Are You by Sally Rooney, while the poetry list includes Living Weapon by Rowan Ricardo Phillips and All the Names Given by Raymond Antrobus.

“The underlying assumption of the book is that every queer person grows up with the trauma of the AIDS crisis.” Mattilda Bernstein Sycamore discusses facilitating an intergenerational and polyphonic dialogue on the AIDS crisis as the editor of the anthology Between Certain Death and a Possible Future. (Rumpus)

The staff at Literary Hub recap some of the highlights and low points in literary news this past year: a movement to credit translators on book covers took off, an anti-trans book was included in a mailing from the American Booksellers Association, and other stories.

“Around middle school a writing mentor introduced me to the writing of Sonia Sanchez, and gave me a book of her new and selected poems, Shake Loose My Skin. I fell in love with it and reread it every day.” Amanda Gorman names writers who have inspired her in the latest installment of the New York Times By the Book interview series.

 

Editor’s note: There will be no Daily News tomorrow, December 10. Coverage will resume December 13.