Genre: Fiction
HBO to Air Television Miniseries of Ferrante Novels, Bro Books, and More
Black Mountain Institute acquires the Believer; American Prison Writing Archive receives a $262,000 grant; the public versus the private life of the writer; and other news.
Nan Talese’s Rise to Success, Litbait, and More
Bob Dylan to finally accept Nobel Prize this weekend; a recently discovered cache of letters from the suffrage movement; Christopher Soto wins Split This Rock’s social justice and poetry award; and other news.
AP Style Guide Adds “They” as Singular Pronoun, Writer Automatons, and More
Penguin Random House sales down in 2016; William McPherson has died; fourteen women essayists to read right now; and other news.
Quick Riff
NPR’s Tiny Desk Contest had over six thousand entries this year, and was unanimously won by hip-hop and R&B band Tank and the Bangas. One of the techniques the band incorporates is a kind of lyric dialogue between Tarriona “Tank” Ball and Anjelika “Jelly” Joseph who share singing roles, much like two best friends finishing each other’s sentences. Work on a piece of dialogue between two characters who interrupt each other, or riff off of a stream of consciousness flow in conversation. How might you use this technique to build tension in a story?
PEN Literary Awards, Amazon to Adapt The Underground Railroad, and More
Rigoberto González on the life of the poet outside of publications and awards; a survey of literary nonprofits fighting to protect free speech and the arts; the reality-bending writing of Julio Cortázar; and other news.
Craft Capsule: Tolstoy’s Short Chapters

A novelist explores the finer points of writing fiction in this series of micro craft essays. In the latest installment: the psychology of short chapters.
Richard Flanagan’s First Person
In this book trailer, Richard Flanagan, winner of the 2014 Man Booker Prize, narrates a selection from his forthcoming novel, First Person, to be published by Knopf in 2018. Written in the style of a memoir, the novel follows a struggling writer who has six weeks to ghostwrite the memoir of a con artist.
Chabon on Nostalgia, Brontë Sisters Movie, and More
Tournament of Books semifinals start today; Patti Smith purchases Arthur Rimbaud’s childhood home in France; KPMG gives away ten thousand books; and other news.
On Tyranny Street Installation, the Handmaid’s Tale Trailer, and More
San Francisco Renaissance poet Joanne Kyger has died; 2017 Anisfield-Wolf Awards announced; what makes poetry poetry; and more.
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