The Accidental Novelist, Truman Capote’s Ashes for Sale, and More

by
Staff
8.24.16

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:

Man Booker Prize–winner Marlon James is on Vanity Fair’s “Daring 25” list, which includes “the most intrepid people, companies, and innovations of 2016.”

New York Times book critic Jennifer Senior speaks with novelist Curtis Sittenfeld about how professional authors handle book reviews and criticism.

Next month, independent publisher Milkweed Editions will open a bookstore in Minneapolis. Milkweed Books has launched a Kickstarter campaign in order to “experiment with more creative models for bookselling, host more public events, and invest in the work of more independent presses and literary authors.” (Shelf Awareness)

Producer Scott Rudin has optioned Hanya Yanagihara’s acclaimed 2015 novel, A Little Life, as a limited series. (Flavorwire)

Will Evans, publisher of the nonprofit press Deep Vellum, discusses the process of publishing translated books and the importance of bringing more international literature to English readers. (Rumpus)

Poet and memoirist Tracy K. Smith speaks with Paul Holdengraber about faith, identity, parenthood, and books as friends. “That feeling of being accompanied is really what you feel when you sort of surrender to a new book or a new poem.” (Literary Hub)

Guardian journalist Keith Stuart writes about how he became a novelist “by mistake” and earned a two-book deal. His debut novel, A Boy Made of Blocks, will be published in September by St. Martin’s Press. (Publishers Weekly)

Truman Capote’s ashes will go up for auction next month. At Smithsonian Magazine, a writer considers whether selling the human remains of the author is disrespectful or worthy of Capote’s “self-pronounced obsession with fame.”