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The nominees for the 2003 Caine Prize for African writing were recently announced. The annual prize is given for the best short story published in English by an African writer whose work reflects African sensibilities.
Two of the world's most famous bookstores are celebrating fifty years of business in June.
The Publishing Triangle, a 15 year-old New York-based association of lesbian and gay authors, is sponsoring PINK INK: The Queer Book Expo on June 7.
The American Academy of Arts and Letters recently inducted poets Lawrence Ferlinghetti and C.K. Williams into the 250-member organization. The two poets were among eight artists, composers, and photographers to enter the Academy, which was founded in 1898 to "foster, assist, and sustain an interest in literature, music, and the fine arts."
On April 19, eleven poets in four different U.S. time zones will contribute to a transcontinental poetry reading dedicated to the late Kenneth Koch. The 90-minute event will be streamed live on the Internet using videoconferencing technology.
French and American poets, writers, and editors will meet at the Festival of Literary Magazines in New York City to discuss translation, tradition, funding, and cross-cultural and cross-genre influences on their publication practices.
Banned Books Week 2002, a "celebration of your freedom to read," is September 21 to September 28.
Billy Collins, who is serving his second one-year term as U.S. poet laureate, read a poem during a special session of Congress held in New York City on Friday, September 6.
The BBC World Service recently launched what could be the world's largest book club. Each month a new book of fiction will be selected, and a live discussion, led by Harriett Gilbert, will be broadcast to the BBC's radio audience of 150 million listeners on six continents.
The nominees for the 2002 Man Booker Prize were recently announced. The annual prize is given for the best novel published in the current year and is open to writers from the United Kingdom, Ireland, and the British Commonwealth.
When Amazon began selling used books alongside new titles in November 2000, top executives at the Authors Guild and the Association of American Publishers protested the practice, arguing that it pays nothing to writers and publishers. Nearly two years later, the online retail giant's successful marketing of used books has renewed the dispute.
The seventh annual Firecracker Alternative Book Awards, celebrating "insurrectionary culture that lights a fire under the complacent mainstream booty," were announced on May 3 at a ceremony in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.
The Library of Congress announced on April 25 that Billy Collins will serve a second term as U.S. poet laureate.
It all started in Seattle: Starbucks, grunge, and ... the "one book, one city" program. In the four years since Nancy Pearl organized a Seattle-based reading of Russell Banks's The Sweet Hereafter, the idea has spread across the country.
The New York Times began publishing original poetry in the Book Review on February 17. New York City poet Nathanial Bellows's "Harm's Woods" was the first entry in what will be a regular feature of the Sunday edition of the newspaper.
Nominees for the annual National Book Critics Circle Awards were announced on January 28.
Michael P. Hammond, the chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts, died on January 29 of what appeared to be natural causes. He was 69. Hammond had officially assumed his duties as chairman on January 22.
The big just got bigger in the book distribution industry.
Historian Stephen Ambrose has had a lot of explaining to do lately. The bestselling author is accused of copying passages from a source without attribution in four of his more than 20 published books.
