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.
The winners of the thirty-third annual Publishing Triangle Awards [2], which honor LGBTQ literature, have been revealed. The seven prizewinning titles include Postcolonial Love Poem by Natalie Diaz, which won the Audre Lorde Award for Lesbian Poetry, and 13th Balloon by Mark Bibbins, which earned the Thom Gunn Award for Gay Poetry.
Literary agent and author Catherine Cho has founded a new agency [3], Paper Literary. “I chose the name Paper to reflect a commitment to storytelling and to give a nod to the possibility of the blank page,” she says. The author of the memoir Inferno, Cho most recently worked at Madeleine Milburn Literary Agency. (Bookseller)
Simon & Schuster has made a donation to the Book Industry Charitable Foundation’s Survive to Thrive campaign to honor the memory of former president and CEO Carolyn Reidy [4] on the one-year anniversary of her death. Jonathan Karp, who succeeded Reidy as president and CEO, also wrote a note to staff: “I wanted to commemorate the occasion by expressing once again my gratitude for all Carolyn has done for Simon & Schuster, and for so many of us. Rarely does a day go by that I don’t think of Carolyn and the standard of excellence that she set.” (Shelf Awareness)
Tao Lin of Muumuu House has assembled a collection of remembrances from friends of Giancarlo DiTrapano [5], the founder of Tyrant Books who died unexpectedly last month. “I wrote this story, thinking about what you would’ve liked for me to say, what you would’ve wanted people to know,” Lin writes in his tribute.
“Lahiri has shown me that there isn’t always a clear reason for change, or this relentless need to ‘find ourselves.’ It just happens, and it should be celebrated.” Arya Roshanian celebrates Jhumpa Lahiri’s ever-evolving and exploratory literary life [6]. (Bustle)
J. M. Holmes discusses “the personal confines that are placed on Black men in this country [7]” and how those confines lead to conflict in “Children of the Good Book,” his short story published this week in the New Yorker. “When we have a fuller view of why people are the way they are, empathy can creep in more. Sometimes we just gain understanding and choose to judge folks nonetheless.”
“If you close your eyes, disagreeing with Oprah is like disagreeing with anybody else. I think because we’ve known each other for such a long time, I just feel comfortable with her.” Neuroscientist Bruce D. Perry talks to the New York Times about cowriting What Happened to You? with Oprah Winfrey [8].
Elliott Investment Management, which owns Barnes & Noble, has announced it will buy stationery retailer Paper Source [9], which filed for bankruptcy earlier this year. James Daunt has been tapped to lead Paper Source on top of his existing role as CEO of Barnes & Noble. The two retailers, however, will remain distinct businesses. (Publishers Weekly)