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:

The Department of Justice has confirmed it's looking into possible collusion between Apple and several publishers [2] over e-book pricing. (Wall Street Journal)

Poet Charles Simic reflects on his youth in war-ravaged Europe [3], growing old in America, and the sensibilities of his forebears: "Lucky for them, they are all long dead, so they can’t read some opinion piece or hear a congressman or a senator today clamor for the very same police state measures they barely escaped from." (New York Review of Books)

Shelf Awareness rounds up a few independent bookstore counter offers [4] to Amazon's recent price-check discount [5].

If you're considering creating an app for your book or magazine, which can be a prohibitively expensive proposition, GalleyCat advises on how to budget [6].

Slate's editors list their favorite books of 2011 [7], including Joan Didion's Blue Nights.

Meanwhile, Lev Grossman lists the books [8] he's most excited about for 2012. (Time)

In light of two poets withdrawing their names in protest [9] over a hedge fund's sponsorship of the T. S. Eliot Prize, the Guardian questions their response [10] considering the long history of literary patronage.

In the style of a 1939 Partisan Review interview, Full Stop speaks with novelist and writing instructor Marilynne Robinson about criticism, politics, and the "situation in American writing [11]."