World's Oddest Book Title Winner, Obama Goes Book Shopping, and More

by Staff
3.26.10

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:

Crocheting Adventures with Hyperbolic Planes beat out Collectible Spoons of the Third Reich for this year's world's oddest book title prize. (Guardian)

President Obama made a suprise visit to Prairie Lights bookstore in Iowa City yesterday, perusing the nonfiction section and chatting up customers before making a few purchases. One keen participant remarked, "It's not everyday a president stops by." (New York Times) Watch the video on YouTube.

After meetings between parents and district officials, a controversial book of poems will not be banned from the libraries of the North Fond du Lac School District after a parent complained over the subject matter and language in the book. (Fond du Lac Reporter)

Geoffrey Hill was announced as the first major candidate for the Oxford poetry chair, a choice that was immediately met with controversy. (Independent

PC World is reporting that Apple's iBooks pricing may match Amazon's after all.

Former British poet laureate Andrew Motion revealed plans to write a sequel to Treasure Island. (Guardian

The shortlist for the Lost Man Booker Prize has been announced. (Yahoo)

Vanity Fair created an "interactive field guide" to illustrate how ten young authors furthered their own hopes of literary stardom by "carving out a place in the tangled, incestuous web of the publishing world."  

A New York Times cartoonist sent up the recent literary monster mash-up craze.