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.
“Dictators sense the danger of poetry, which is why poets in their regimes are routinely imprisoned, tortured, killed or forced into exile.” Tishani Doshi writes about the persecution of poets the world over, including the recent haranguing of Gujarati poet Parul Khakhar, who wrote a poem that criticized the state and prime minister Narendra Modi for failing to manage the deadly second wave of COVID-19 in India. (Guardian)
The New York Times visits the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Library, the new name for the largest circulating branch of the New York Public Library, which underwent a $200 million renovation conceived by architect Francine Houben in partnership with Elizabeth Leber.
“Having to relive some of those things by telling them in the book woke up a lot of wounds.” Brenda Myers-Powell reflects on reengaging with traumatic memories while writing her memoir, Leaving Breezy Street. (Chicago Review of Books)
“I wanted, basically, to create the sense that there are some cities, some particular places, where the air is so laden with history, it sinks into everything around it.” Musa Okwonga discusses using magical realism in his new novella, In the End, It Was All About Love. (Rumpus)
“There is a single word I associate with salmon: survival.” Novelist Juhea Kim acknowledges that her father’s sushi restaurant helped sustain their family, but also notes the disastrous environmental consequences of demand for salmon. (Guernica)
Publishers Weekly finds out how the Overlook Press, housed at Abrams, is celebrating its fiftieth anniversary.
Literary Hub has released a behemoth listicle featuring highly anticipated books forthcoming in the second half of the year.
Meanwhile, the Millions highlights five new books out today, including Wayward by Dana Spiotta and Bolla by Pajtim Statovci, translated by David Hackston.
