Holtzbrinck Publishers Changes Name to Macmillan
Last week Holtzbrinck Publishers, the company that includes the imprints Farrar, Straus and Giroux, St. Martin's Press, Henry Holt, and Picador, among others, officially changed its name to Macmillan.
Daily News from Poets & Writers
Doris Lessing Wins Nobel Prize in Literature
The Swedish Academy announced today that novelist Doris Lessing has won the Nobel Prize in literature. She is the eleventh woman to win literature’s biggest prize since the Nobel’s inception in 1901.
Robert Hass, Denis Johnson, Edwidge Danticat Among 2007 National Book Award Finalists
The finalists for the 58th annual National Book Awards were announced today by Camile Paglia at the Library Company in Philadelphia, the oldest circulating public library in the United States.
Paramount Delays Release of Film Version of The Kite Runner to Protect Child Actors
Paramount recently announced it will push back the release of the film version of Khaled Hosseini’s best-selling novel The Kite Runner
(Bloomsbury, 2003), directed by Marc Forster, in order to protect its
child actors whose performances, particularly in a rape scene, could
trigger violence in Kabul. Afghan and American officials, as well as
the actors’ families, have expressed concern that the film may
exacerbate hostility between ethnic groups—the politically dominant
Pashtun and the historically oppressed Hazara.
Dybek and Cole Receive $500,000 "Genius" Fellowships
The MacArthur Foundation recently announced that poet and fiction writer Stuart Dybek and poet and publisher Peter Cole are among the twenty-four recipients of this year’s “genius” fellowships.
NEA Launches Initiative to Celebrate Historic Poetry Sites
The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) unveiled yesterday a pilot initiative to celebrate national historic sites related to poetry. As part of the NEA’s Big Read, the new program will give Extraordinary Action grants to encourage communities to commemorate American poets in the regions in which they lived.
National Book Foundation Names This Year's "5 Under 35"
The National Book Foundation announced yesterday the names of five young fiction writers who will receive "5 Under 35" awards.
Fans in Los Angeles Try to Save Bukowski's Historic Bungalow
Fans of Charles Bukowski are urging the Los Angeles Cultural Heritage Commission to preserve the house the late poet and novelist rented from 1963 to 1972 in East Hollywood, California.
Palatella Succeeds Shatz as Nation's Literary Editor
The Nation recently announced that books editor Adam Shatz is stepping down after four years to take a position at the London Review of Books. Shatz will be succeeded by John Palatella, who will be the magazine's new literary editor covering books and the arts.
More Fiction From James Frey: HarperCollins to Publish Novel
Less than two years after James Frey admitted to Oprah Winfrey that he had fabricated sections of his memoir A Million Little Pieces, the infamous author is set to publish again.
HarperCollins announced yesterday that it had acquired Frey's third
book, a novel titled Bright Shiny Morning, and plans to publish it next summer.
Didion and Gross to Receive Special Honors at the National Book Awards
The National Book Foundation announced yesterday that Joan Didion and Terry Gross will receive distinguished honors at the 58th National Book Awards ceremony on November 14.
AuthorHouse Acquires Competitor iUniverse
Self-publishing company iUniverse was recently acquired by one of its competitors, the Bloomington, Indiana-based AuthorHouse, Publishers Weekly recently reported.
Judges Announce Finalists for the 2007 Man Booker Prize
On Thursday, the judges of the Man Booker Prize announced the names of the six finalists for the 2007 award.
Turcotte Family Settles With Burroughs, St. Martin's in Running With Scissors Suit
On Wednesday, the family portrayed in Augusten Burroughs’s book Running With Scissors settled their lawsuit against the author and his publisher. The Turcotte family, with whom Burroughs lived as a teenager, filed suit two years ago seeking over $2 million in damages for defamation.
Independent Magazine Distributor Closes its Doors After Sixty Years
Faye Kosmidis, the owner of Bernhard DeBoer, Inc., recently announced that the independent magazine distribution company was closing its doors after sixty years in business.
Bangladeshi Author Faces Criminal Charges After Last Week's Attack
Thirteen years after she fled her native Bangladesh when thousands of
Muslims threatened to kill her for blasphemy, author Taslima Nasrin is
being charged with "hurting Muslim feelings," the New York Times reports. The charge follows an attack last week at a book party for Nasrin's novel Shodh (Getting Even),
during which dozens of protesters shouted slogans describing the author
as "anti-Muslim" and "anti-Islam." They threw chairs, overturned
tables, and, according to a report last week in the Guardian in London, Nasrin was slapped. She escaped unhurt but told reports she was in shock.
Four Debut Novelists Among 2007 Man Booker Semifinalists
The judges of the 2007 Man Booker Prize announced their longlist of semifinalists yesterday.
Wisconsin Media Technician Wins Contest for Worst Writing
Jim Gleeson, a forty-seven-year-old media technician from Madison, Wisconsin, was recently named winner of the 25th annual Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest, but it’s unlikely that the distinction will earn him any book deals. The award, sponsored by San Jose State University, is given for the year’s worst writing.
Judge Orders Albert to Pay $350,000 to Film Company
On Tuesday, a Manhattan district court judge ordered fiction writer
Laura Albert to pay a total of $350,000 in legal fees and other costs
to Antidote International Films. Albert, who gained notoriety for
publishing and posing as her alter-ego, JT Leroy, had used the
fictitious name to sign a film contract and tax forms with Antidote
prior to the disclosure of her true identity in 2005. Last month, she
was convicted of fraud and ordered to pay $116,000 in damages.
Loft Literary Center Finds New Director
The Loft Literary Center announced yesterday that Jocelyn Hale will be the nonprofit organization's new executive director.
Mummy Love Poems Found in South Korea
Anthony Hopkins, Angelina Jolie to "Star" In Adaptation of Beowulf
A film adaptation of the Old English epic poem Beowulf is set to release on November 16. Directed by Robert Zemeckis—the man who gave audiences Back to the Future (all three parts) and Forrest Gump, for which he won an Oscar, among many others—the movie version of Beowulf owes more to the style of filmmaking he utilized in The Polar Express.
NEA Appoints Grants Director as Literature Department Expands
Jon Peede, the former counselor to the chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), was recently appointed director of grants programs, a newly created position in the organization’s literature department.
D.C. Honors HIV/AIDS Caregivers With Poetry by Whitman, Miller
The Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority and the D.C. Commission on the Arts and Humanities unveiled a public art project featuring the poetry of Walt Whitman.