Every day Poets & Writers Magazine scans the headlines—from publishing reports to academic announcements to literary dispatches—for all the news that creative writers need to know. Here are today's stories:

Details leaked so far about the upcoming Barnes & Noble e-reader—which is expected to launch as early as next week—include the device’s name (“Athena”), photographs (courtesy of Gizmodo [2]), and word that its designers have a history with Amazon and Apple (BusinessWeek [3]).

Thousands of public libraries across the country have begun experimenting with digital lending (New York Times [4]).

German firm txtr is releasing what it says is the first “open-source” e-reader—a device that comes preloaded with several e-books and allows access to about a million other free documents (Press Release [5]).

As digital readers become increasingly prominent, experts debate the effects of electronic books on the brain (New York Times [6]). Meanwhile, Oxford neurologist and director of the Royal Institution Susan Greenfield questions the cognitive consequences of new media (BBC [7]).

Nick Trautwein, formerly an editor at Penguin Press, has joined the New Yorker as the magazine’s newest senior editor (New York Observer [8]).

A graphic novel by late pop star Michael Jackson has been garnering attention this week at the Frankfurt Book Fair (Publishers Weekly [9]).

A Scottish politician is asking the EU to bestow “protected geographical status” on Edinburgh’s famous Chambers Dictionary in order to stop the publication from moving to London (Scotsman [10]).

112 years after being stabbed through the heart, Dracula is returning in an “official” sequel penned by Bram Stoker’s great-grandnephew (USA Today [11]).

A church in North Carolina is planning to celebrate Halloween the old-fashioned way: by holding a book-burning (Associated Press [12]).