Dan Wickett, cofounder of Dzanc Books, announced today that the nonprofit publisher in Westland, Michigan, will hold a "write-a-thon" next month in order to raise money for its community-based programs. Volunteers can ask others to sponsor their writing by pledging either a specific amount of money based on the number of words written during the day-long session or a flat-rate donation. On the morning of November 15, Dzanc will e-mail participants a writing prompt or topic. Participants will then write poems, stories, and essays during the day.

The Academy of American Poets announced last week that Henri Cole received the 2008 Lenore Marshall Poetry Prize for his collection Blackbird and Wolf (Farrar, Straus and Giroux). The $25,000 prize is given annually to honor a book of poetry published in United States in the previous year. Cole’s collection was selected by poets Lucie Brock-Broido, B. H. Fairchild, and John Koethe. 

Forbes released on Wednesday the names of the ten highest payed authors. The list contains writers who have weathered the volatile market and conquered the void of big box stores to pull in eight-plus figures—not to mention spawn an array of products, from films to toys to video games—in the past fiscal year. 

Horace Engdahl, the permanent secretary for the Swedish Academy and top jury member for the Nobel Prize, sent ripples through the literary community yesterday when he criticized American writers in an interview with the Associated Press.

The National Book Foundation announced yesterday the five debut fiction writers who will be honored at the third annual 5 Under 35 celebration.

Poet Jennifer Karmin is asking for anyone and everyone to collaborate with her on a four thousand word poem to be performed in her hometown of Chicago. Each word represents one of the more than forty-one hundred American soldiers killed in Iraq.