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A Wrinkle in Time, Madeleine L’Engle’s 1962 science fiction fantasy novel about a thirteen-year-old girl who travels through space and time in search of her scientist father, has been adapted into a feature film. Directed by Ava DuVernay, the film stars Mindy Kaling, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Chris Pine, Storm Reid, Oprah Winfrey, Reese Witherspoon, and Zack Galifianakis.
“Every time someone goes to see a Shakespeare play in Russia or in Italy or in Brazil...what they’re actually getting is a version of Shakespeare that some translator has interpreted.” In this video, translator Daniel Hahn talks about the universal elements of Shakespeare’s plays. Hahn is donating part of his award money from the 2017 International Dublin Literary Award, which he won with author José Eduardo Agualusa, to help establish a new prize for debut literary translation in the U.K.
Jamia Wilson appointed executive director and publisher of Feminist Press; publishing books with gender-neutral names; an essay primer for adults; and other news.
“But now I think I hate those fairy tales.... Not really the tales, but how they end. Three words that ruin everything. ‘Happily ever after,’” says an old man in Victor LaValle’s new novel, The Changeling (Spiegel & Grau, 2017). Write a short story that revolves around this notion that the phrase “happily ever after” can involve something more complex, or even ruinous, than what’s seen at first glance. You might choose to write a continuation from the established ending of a well-known fairy tale, or concoct a brand new story in which the idea of a happy ending is just the start to ruinous consequences.
“In Borne I’m really talking about how we interact with wildlife and animals in an urban space...” Jeff VanderMeer visits the landscapes of northern Florida that inspired his novel Borne (MCD, 2017) and his novels from the Southern Reach Trilogy.
Submissions are currently open for the second annual Louise Meriwether First Book Prize, cosponsored by the Feminist Press and TAYO Literary Magazine. A prize of $5,000 and publication by the Feminist Press is given annually for a debut book of fiction or nonfiction by a woman or nonbinary writer of color.
Women and nonbinary writers of color (or those who self-identify as nonwhite) who are U.S. citizens and who have not yet published a book may submit a manuscript of 50,000 to 80,000 words by July 31. There is no entry fee. Visit the website for complete submission guidelines.
This year’s final judges are acclaimed authors Tayari Jones and Ana Castillo, Feminist Press executive director Jennifer Baumgardner, and TAYO editor in chief Melissa Sipin. Five finalists will be announced in October; the winner will be announced in February 2018.
Fiction writer YZ Chin won the inaugural book prize for her story collection, Though I Get Home. Of Chin’s manuscript, Sipin said, “The need to escape, to live, and to survive is rendered beautifully in these eclectic and visceral stories.”
The Louise Meriwether Prize was founded in 2016 to honor the legacy of novelist, journalist, and activist Louise Meriwether, whose 1970 novel Daddy Was a Number Runner was one of the first contemporary novels to feature a African American girl as the protagonist. The book went on to inspire the careers of authors such as Jacqueline Woodson and Bridgett M. Davis.
Learn more about the prize and sponsoring organizations at www.tayoliterarymag.com and www.feministpress.org, and visit the Grants & Awards database and Submission Calendar for a complete list of upcoming poetry and prose deadlines.
(Photo: YZ Chin)
U.K. Royal Mint puts Jane Austen on the £10 note; a poet travels the country in a “poetry wagon;” nominations open for the Guardian’s “Not the Booker” prize; and other news.
“Honestly I think that the reason his head was in my brain was because of that hair metal band Tesla...” Samantha Hunt reveals the inspiration behind her second novel, The Invention of Everything Else (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2008), which fictionalizes the last days of inventor and engineer Nikola Tesla’s life. Hunt’s first story collection, The Dark Dark (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2017), is featured in Page One in the July/August issue of Poets & Writers Magazine.
A web series reimagines Middlemarch through an LGBTQ lens; why Sherman Alexie canceled the rest of his book tour; Marginalia Books launches a series of annotated books; and other news.
Diksha Basu, author of the debut novel, The Windfall (Crown, 2017), answers eight book-related questions, including her favorite book to give as a gift. Basu is featured in “First Fiction 2017” in the July/August issue of Poets & Writers Magazine.
