California Lit Mag Threatened by Wildfires
The staff of Cadillac Cicatrix, a two-year-old literary magazine based in Carmel Valley, California, recently was forced to evacuate the magazine's office in the face of encroaching wildfires.
Daily News from Poets & Writers
Nam Le and Karen Russell Among Dylan Thomas Prize Semifinalists
The sixteen semifinalists for the 2008 Dylan Thomas Prize, which is given to a poet or fiction writer under thirty years of age for a work in English, were announced on Sunday.
Kay Ryan Named U.S. Poet Laureate
Kay Ryan has been named the sixteenth poet laureate of the United States, the Library of Congress announced today.
Forgotten García Márquez Screenplay Resurrected for Silver Screen
Mexican actor and producer Rodolfo de Anda recently announced that he has purchased the film rights to a forgotten screenplay written nearly a half century ago by Gabriel García Márquez.
Obama Stresses Importance of Reading, Writing
During a series of question and answers following his speech in Fairfax, Virginia, last Thursday, presumptive Democratic nominee Barack Obama made some comments about writing and reading.
Rushdie's Midnight's Children Wins Third Booker Honor
Salman Rushdie's 1981 novel Midnight's Children (Jonathan Cape) was recently announced winner of the Best of the Booker award, a celebratory honor given to mark the fortieth anniversary of the Man Booker Prize.
Lahiri Chosen From Longlist to Win O'Connor Short Story Award
Jhumpa Lahiri was recently named winner of the 2008 Frank O’Connor International Short Story Award, more than two months in advance of the scheduled winner announcement.
PEN Releases Failing Progress Report on Free Expression in China
Three international PEN centers have found that over the past year, as buildup to the Beijing Olympic Games has reached a crescendo, freedom of expression in China continues to be squelched by the Chinese government.
Poe's Bronx Cottage to Receive Major Facelift
The historic final home of Edgar Allan Poe, located in the Bronx, New York, will receive its first full renovation beginning next spring, the Associated Press reported. The one-and-a-half story cottage, the last house remaining from the bucolic village of Fordham, will undergo a quarter-million-dollar facelift, including restoration of the shingles, shutters, paint, and plaster. The work is expected to last one year.
Welsh Poet Wins Prize for Memoir of Wife's Death
After some initial confusion at an award ceremony on Tuesday evening, poet Dannie Abse was named winner of the Wales Book of the Year for his memoir The Presence (Hutchinson, 2007), which he wrote following his wife's death in 2005.
Margaret Atwood Wins Prince of Asturias Prize for Lifetime Achievement
Canadian poet and novelist Margaret Atwood was recently named the winner of Spain’s Prince of Asturias Prize for Letters, which carries a prize of 50,000 euros (approximately $77,750), in recognition of the author's outstanding literary achievement and contribution to the arts.
First Edition of Jane Austen Novel Sets World Record at Auction
A first edition of Jane Austen's novel Emma, published in 1816, was recently sold for the record-breaking sum of £180,000 (approximately $354,095) at a London auction.
Muslim Council of Britain Criticises Comments by Ian McEwan
British novelist Ian McEwan, whose tenth novel On Chesil Beach was published by Anchor Books earlier this month, has drawn sharp criticism from the Muslim Council of Britain for comments he made recently in an interview with the Italian newspaper Corriere Della Sera. The sixty-year-old author said that he "despises Islamism" because of its views on women and homosexuality and that it is "logically asburd and morally unacceptable" that writers who speak out against militant Islam are considered racist.
China Turns to Poetry After Wenchuan Earthquake
In the wake of China’s May 12 earthquake, both amateur and professional poets have contributed to a surge of poetry written in response to the disaster, prompting the publication of a number of anthologies, China.org.cn recently ported. The Wenchuan earthquake, named for the location of its epicenter in the nation’s Sichuan Province, killed nearly seventy thousand people and displaced an estimated five million more.
Hundreds of Volunteers Help to Rescue Iowa Library Books
Thousands of library books at the University of Iowa, home to the Writers' Workshop, were in danger of being destroyed last week when the swollen Iowa River crested and flooded Iowa City. Located in the heart of the Iowa River valley, the university has not experienced such an event since since the devastating summer floods of 1993.
Dante Cleared of Crime Seven Centuries After His Death
Nearly seven hundred years after his death, Dante Alighieri, Italy's most famous poet, finally has a clean criminal record. The city council of Florence voted earlier this week to revoke a death sentence placed on the poet in 1302.
Vermont Inn Invites Jane Austen Enthusiasts to Slip Back in Time
A Vermont inn recently announced that it will host a series of four themed weekends aimed at giving Jane Austen aficionados a taste of the author's nineteenth-century lifestyle.
Denis Johnson’s New Novel to Be Serialized in Playboy
Denis Johnson, whose epic novel Tree of Smoke (Farrar, Straus and Giroux) won the 2007 National Book Award in fiction and was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize, will begin testing new literary waters this summer with a serial novel, written on deadline for and published in installments in Playboy.