Every day Poets & Writers Magazine scans the headlines—publishing reports, literary dispatches, academic announcements, and more—for all the news that creative writers need to know. Here are today’s stories.
Shelf Awareness shares highlights from Independent Bookstore Day festivities [2] across the country this Saturday. “There was never not a line out the door from 10 AM to 6 PM. Folks waited patiently in the rain,” said Kris Kleindienst of Left Bank Books in Saint Louis.
Publishers and booksellers are not rushing to resume in-person author tours and events [3], according to Publishers Weekly. “We don’t expect to have a set date or one-size-fits-all approach for our plans,” said a spokesperson for Penguin Random House.
“When you take to the air, that’s the greatest feeling in the game. It’s unpredictable. That’s where improvisation, guesswork, and chance all enter.” In conversation with the Nation, John Edgar Wideman uses basketball as a metaphor to describe writing [4].
“I got to a point where I never thought publishing books was something that would happen for me. I kind of wiped my hands of it.” Anjali Enjeti recalls the years of rejection [5] that preceded the contracts for her first two books, Southbound and The Parted Earth. (Atlanta Journal–Constitution)
Kathie Coblentz, who worked at the New York Public Library for over fifty years, has died at age seventy-three [6]. Described by her supervisor as the “matriarch of our work family,” Coblentz worked as a cataloger and authored The New York Public Library Guide to Organizing a Home Library. (New York Times)
“I’m very quick, and good as a storyteller, I’m not that interested in being a craftsman.” James Patterson talks to the Guardian about his writing practice, philanthropy, and friendship with Bill Clinton [7].
“The internet says nobody will love me until I learn to love myself, but the internet never gives instructions.” In this excerpt from her debut essay collection, White Magic, Elissa Washuta writes about reclaiming the self while looking for love [8]. (Cut)
“It is desire, not despair, that will reconstitute the world. I learned this from others—from queer people and people of color.” Allison Cobb, the author of Plastic, reflects on the value of writing [9] in the fight to solve environmental and social crises. (Lambda Literary Review)