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:

Today at BookExpo America in New York City, Canada-based e-book company Kobo unveiled Kobo Writing Life [2]—a self-publishing platform launching at the end of this month. (GalleyCat)

Amazon intends to purchase genre publisher Avalon Books [3], including its back catalog of three thousand titles. Avalon has been a family-owned company since its founding in 1950. (CNN)

Meanwhile, the Author's Guild requests authors to write the Justice Department [4] via mail or email by June 25th regarding its lawsuit over e-book pricing.

This past weekend, United States Poet Laureate Philip Levine fielded questions for the Ethicist [5] at the New York Times Magazine.

The American Booksellers Association reports the number of independent bookstores has risen by fifty-five [6]. (Washington Post)

Filmmaker John Waters hitchhiked across the United States [7] gathering material for a new book. (New York Times)

A welcome anecdote to 2011's The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo's Lisbeth Salander-inspired fashion trends, Volume 1 Brooklyn is "totally alright" with The Great Gatsby look [8].

On the illustrated blog, Bill and Dave's Cocktail Hour, Bill and Dave ask, "What type of annoying writer are you? [9]"

Moneyball author Michael Lewis recounts to Princeton's class of 2012 how he left a high-paying job [10] to write his first book. (Byliner)

If you can't make it to BookExpo America, watch the live stream of events [11].