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:

GalleyCat reports adult hardcover sales were down [2] over 20 percent this past November.

In a recent lecture, Oxford professor of poetry Geoffrey Hill had choice words for Carol Ann Duffy [3], the United Kingdom's first female poet laureate, who in an newspaper interview compared poetry to texting. (Guardian)

The Millions examines the history of book blurbing, replete with "excesses and scandals [4]."

Novelist and poet Sherman Alexie responds [5] to the new Arizona law that bans ethnic studies [6] in Tucson schools.

Barnes & Noble announced it would not sell Amazon Publishing's books [7]. (New York Daily News)

Poet and journalist Eliza Griswold writes of leaving a secluded artists’ colony in Italy to report on the influx of thirty-seven thousand Arab Spring refugees arriving on the small island of Lampedusa, and the poetry she turns to in an attempt to make sense of the crisis [8]. (Poetry)

Huffington Post lists reasons self-published authors aren't taken seriously [9].

Discussing topics such as Amazon rankings, fear, bullies, bad teachers, and depression [10], Other People with Brad Listi interviews New York Times bestselling author Caroline Leavitt.

Flavorwire lists the twenty most beautiful bookstores in the world [11].