Ginsberg’s "Howl" to Echo in Film
The independent production company Werc Werk Works announced last Thursday that it has signed on to finance a feature film about the creation of and controversy surrounding Allen Ginsberg’s long poem "Howl."
Genre: Not Genre-Specific
PEN American Center Drafts Petition to Free Chinese Writer
A petition drafted by PEN American Center calling for the release of Chinese writer Liu Xiaobo, who was arrested by Chinese authorities on December 8, has received over a thousand signatures, and the organization is continuing to seek supporters.
The New Yorker Launches Online Book Club
The New Yorker on Tuesday announced the creation of a book club, or, as the editors prefer to think of it, a "readers’ cooperative—a standing invitation to roll up your sleeves and dig deep into a book, and see what together we uncover."
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Retreats on the Cheap
A sampling of budget itineraries for do-it-yourself retreats in Boston, Massachusetts; Milwaukee, Wisconsin; Savannah, Georgia; and Taos, New Mexico.
Pittsburgh’s Poetry Forum to Close
Another literary casualty of the ailing market, the International Poetry Forum (IPF) in Pittsburgh will cease its poetry programming after this season.
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Margaret Atwood Pulls Out of Festival Following Bedell Controversy
Margaret Atwood has cancelled her plans to attend the Emirates Airline International Festival of Literature (EAIFL) in Dubai after learning that British author Geraldine Bedell was told by organizers that she could not be a part of the event because one of the characters in her forthcoming novel, The Gulf Between Us, is gay.
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Writer’s Stabbing Raises Questions and Fears: Postcard From Beijing
Four days after a liberal blogger and writer was stabbed at a bookstore during a reading in Beijing, the writing community here still has more questions than answers. Xu Lai is recovering, his compatriots are actively theorizing about the motives behind the incident in their blogs, and the proprietors of the bookstore-café that sponsored the event are uneasy and hoping to avoid notoriety.
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An Editor Remembered: Postcard From New York City
Against a backdrop of snowfall and accompanied by the jazz strains of “A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square,” a memorial service for the legendary W. W. Norton editor Carol Houck Smith, who died late last year at the age of eighty-five, was held recently at St. Peter’s Church in New York City.
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British Author Banned From First Middle Eastern Book Festival
Isobel Abulhoul, director of the new Emirates Airline International Festival of Literature (EAIFL), recently informed British novelist Geraldine Bedell that she could not be a part of the event because one of the characters in her forthcoming novel is gay.
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Stimulus Bill Includes $50 Million for the NEA
After a week of uncertainty, the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) announced today that members of the House and Senate conference committee have negotiated to keep the fifty million dollars that the House of Representatives had designated for the NEA in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. The funding, which the House approved on January 28 as part of the stimulus package put forward by president Barack Obama, was cut from the Senate's version of the bill last Friday.
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