Original Voices Award Goes to Nicole Krauss
Daily News from Poets & Writers
National Book Critics Circle Nominates Best Books Of 2005
The National Book Critics Circle, a nonprofit organization composed of 500 book critics and reviewers from across the country, recently announced the finalists for the 2005 book awards. The winners in each category—poetry, fiction, nonfiction, autobiography, criticism, and biography—will be named on March 3.
Harper's Editor Lewis Lapham Will Step Down
Lewis Lapham recently announced that he will step down as editor in chief of Harper’s magazine in the spring of 2006. He will remain with the monthly magazine as editor in chief emeritus, and will continue to write his “Notebook” column.
Five Fiction Writers for Original Voices Award
Borders, Inc. recently announced the nominees for the 2005 Original Voices Award in fiction. The $5,000 prize is given annually for an “innovative and ambitious work from a new and emerging talent, or a title that represents a new direction for an established author.”
AAP Files Lawsuit Against Google
In October the Association of American Publishers (AAP) filed a federal lawsuit against online search engine Google over its plans to digitally copy and distribute copyrighted works without permission of the copyright owners.
Merwin, Vollmann, and Didion Win National Book Awards
The National Book Foundation recently announced the winners of the 2005 National Book Awards.
Another Editor in Chief Decides to Leave His Post
Michael Korda, the editor in chief of Simon & Schuster since 1968, recently announced that he will leave the publishing company in December. Korda joined Simon & Schuster as editorial assistant to Henry Simon, the brother of company cofounder Richard Simon, in 1958.
Adelphi University Launches MFA Program
Adelphi University in Garden City, New York, recently announced it will
launch a graduate creative writing program in fall 2006. The MFA
program will offer workshops in poetry, fiction, and playwriting;
courses in literature and theory; and instruction for professional
development.
FSG Editor In Chief to Step Down
John Glusman, vice president and editor in chief of Farrar, Straus and Giroux, recently announced that he will leave the publishing company in December.
Microsoft Announces Online Book Search Program
Microsoft recently announced the creation of MSN Book Search, an online service for digitally searching the text of previously published “books, academic materials, periodicals, and other print resources."
John Banville Wins 2005 Booker Prize
Irish novelist John Banville recently won the 2005 Booker Prize for The Sea (Picador). He received £50,000 (approximately $87,300). The prize, sponsored by the Man Group investment company, is given for the best novel of the year by a citizen of the British Commonwealth or Ireland.
Two Archival Arrivals: Bellow and Bukowski
The University of Chicago recently acquired valuable archival material from the estate of the late Nobel laureate Saul Bellow.
University of Rochester Acquires Archive of BOA Editions, Ltd.
The Special Collections Library at the University of Rochester recently acquired the archive of BOA Editions, Ltd., a nonprofit press that was founded in 1976 and has published more than 170 books of poetry.
T. S. Eliot's Letters Sold at Auction
A collection of T. S. Eliot’s unpublished correspondence with members of the Faber publishing family was recently sold at a London auction for $436,725. The collection included a set of 50 letters addressed to Tom Faber, the son of publisher Geoffrey Faber (and Eliot’s godson), which sold for $82,300.
Jonathan Lethem Receives $500,000 "Genius" Fellowship
The MacArthur Foundation recently announced that novelist Jonathan Lethem is among the 25 recipients of this year's "genius" fellowships. Each award is worth $500,000.
Authors Offer Chance to Name A Character in Ebay Auctions
A group of sixteen authors, including Michael Chabon, Andrew Sean Greer, Jonathan Lethem, Stephen King, and ZZ Packer, have joined together to auction opportunities to name characters in their forthcoming books on eBay.
Booker Prize Shortlist Announced
Six authors were recently shortlisted for the 2005 Booker Prize. The prize, sponsored by the Man Group investment company, is given for the best novel of the year by a citizen of the British Commonwealth or Ireland.
Booker Prize Longlist Announced
The 2005 Booker Prize longlist of 17 semi-finalists was recently announced. The £50,000 (approximately $90,600) prize, sponsored by the Man Group investment company, is given for the best novel of the year by a citizen of the British Commonwealth or Ireland.
Massachusetts Family Sues Author Augusten Burroughs
A lawsuit recently filed in Massachusetts accuses author Augusten
Burroughs of defamation, invasion of privacy, emotional distress, and
fraud. The lawsuit, filed by the Turcotte family, contends that
Burroughs’s memoir, Running With Scissors ( St. Martin’s Press,
2002), includes false information about themselves and the late Dr.
Rodolph Turcotte, a psychiatrist who took custody of Burroughs at age
9. Also named in the lawsuit are Burroughs’s editor, agent, and
publisher. The Turcotte family (changed to Finch in the book) is asking
that the book no longer be published as a work of nonfiction. They are
also requesting a public statement that it is not a memoir. Burroughs
has not commented on the lawsuit. A movie adaptation of Running With Scissors, featuring Annette Bening and Gwyneth Paltrow, is set to be released next year.
Washington Post Apologizes for Negative Book Review
The Washington Post recently published an Editor’s Note apologizing for its negative review of John Irving’s novel Until I Find You (Random House).
Frank O'Connor Prize Shortlist Announced
Six fiction writers were recently named to the 2005 Frank O’Connor International Short Story Prize shortlist.
U.S. Book Production Reaches All-Time High
Total U.S. book production reached an all-time high of 195,000 titles in 2004, an increase of 14 percent from the previous year, according to a recent study by R.R. Bowker, the publisher of the Books in Print database and the official agency for assigning ISBNs in the United States.
CLMP Merges With the Literary Ventures Fund
The Council of Literary Magazines and Presses (CLMP) recently announced that it will join the newly formed Literary Ventures Fund (LVF) to support small presses with both funding and marketing expertise. The organizations hope the merger will raise the profile of literary works published by independent presses.
Cliff Becker, Director of Literature at the NEA, Dies of a Heart Attack
Cliff Becker, the director of literature at the National Endowment of the Arts, died on May 17 of a heart attack. He was 40 years old.
Ransom Center Acquires Norman Mailer Archive
The papers of Norman Mailer were recently purchased by the Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center at the University of Texas in Austin. Nearly five hundred boxes, weighing more than twenty-thousand pounds, filled with unpublished stories, journals, essays, and screenplays, as well as manuscripts of nearly all of the Pulitzer Prize-winning writer's forty books, will be shipped to the Ransom Center early in the summer.