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.
Today is the first day of the U.S. Book Show, a new trade fair hosted by Publishers Weekly, which runs through Thursday. Oprah Winfrey delivered the opening keynote and reflected on the difficulty of the past year, stating, “I hold onto the stories of great resilience and action.” Upcoming events include conversations about the publishing industry, such as “Hiring: How to Prioritize Inclusivity in Your Workforce,” and numerous author discussions and panels.
Longtime Pantheon editor Dan Frank died yesterday at age sixty-seven. He edited many highly acclaimed books over the course of his career, including works by Jill Lepore, Oliver Sacks, and Cormac McCarthy. Reacting to the news of his death, Lepore described him as “the finest of men, and the best of editors. He found delight in ideas and beauty in prose, and he helped put them there.” (Washington Post)
“Does the inevitable forgetfulness make the work done less valuable in the long run? Do I need a certain level of constant recall to validate that it was all time well spent?” Recalling his experience reading War and Peace in his twenties, Bryan VanDyke considers how books both endure in and fade from our memories. (Millions)
“Soup is incredible because I love—as any of my friends will say—I love tedium. Tell me anything in excruciating detail, all the steps, every step, and the many reasons why something interacts with something else.” Author T Kira Mahealani Madden discusses the joys and life lessons gleaned from cooking. (Don’t Write Alone)
The winner of this year’s International Prize for Arabic Fiction is Jalal Barjas for his novel Notebooks of the Bookseller. Sponsored by the Abu Dhabi Arabic Language Centre, the prize includes a purse of $50,000 and funding for an English translation. (Bookseller)
Meanwhile, the twenty-fifth annual Helen & Kurt Wolff Translator’s Prize, which honors “an outstanding literary translation from German into English,” has gone to Jackie Smith for her translation of Judith Schalansky’s An Inventory of Losses. Smith receives a prize of $10,000. (Publishers Weekly)
Entertainment Weekly invited Aja Gabel, Simon Han, Pitchaya Sudbanthad, and C Pam Zhang to share some of their favorite books by fellow AAPI writers.
Tina Jordan and Noor Qasim uncover when the New York Times Book Review first mentioned various distinguished authors.
