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:

Author David Rakoff has passed away at forty-seven, after a long battle with sarcoma. Here are just a handful of the tributes published this morning—from the Forward [2], New York Times [3], Atlantic Wire [4], Slate [5], and the Awl [6].

And in memory of the great humorist and essayist, a few favorite examples of David Rakoff's recent work: early memories of New York City [7] in the Wall Street Journal; essays on the films of Woody Allen [8] in Tablet (after marathon film-festival screenings); and a video of an ill-fated book tour [9] with comedian Dave Hill.

Thomas Steinbeck, the son of author John Steinbeck, is critical of the state of Texas [10] after it used his father's writing to defend the execution of Marvin Wilson, a man with an IQ of sixty-one. (Telegraph)

Forbes lists the top-earning authors [11], and reports women writers are on the rise.

Meanwhile, the New York Times delves into the literary tastes of New York City's polyglot citizenry [12].

Poet Charles Simic laments the lost art of writing postcards [13]. (New York Review of Books)

The Academy of American Poets rounded up a sampling of what it calls the "poetry of channeling [14]," including Lorca's duende, W.B. Yeats's spiritus mundi, and Alice Notley's automatic writing.

Maria Popova, the creator of Brain Pickings, has launched Literary Jukebox, in which a daily quote from a favorite book is matched with a song [15].