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:
To help fight off the new players in electronic publishing, two of the world's largest publishers, Random House and Penguin [2], are discussing a merger. (New York Times)
Meanwhile, Apple reports its earnings are up—the tech giant sold fourteen million iPads [3] in the last quarter.
NPR posted this week's bestsellers, with Cheryl Strayed's Wild on the [4]hardcover nonfiction list, and her collection of essays, Tiny Beautiful Things, a paperback bestseller.
"No honor, no publication proves anything. Look at an issue of the Atlantic in 1906; look at a Poetry from 1931. A Nobel Prize means nothing. Look in an almanac at the list of poets who have won a Pulitzer Prize; look at the sad parade of Poets Laureate." Donald Hall provides thoughts on the ubiquitous public poetry reading, and rich details from his career as an acclaimed poet [5]. (New Yorker)
As part of its annual International Book Festival, forty thousand posters have been placed around Mexico City to honor novelist Gabriel Garcia Marquez [6]. (Los Angeles Times)
Novelist Rick Moody was the victim of a ring of hackers [7] and identity thieves. (Time)
The Faulkner estate filed a lawsuit against Sony over a quote [8] used in the Woody Allen film Midnight In Paris. (Deadline)
The late poet Al Purdy’s house has been saved from demolition [9]. The Montreal home, built in the 1950s, is expected to host a writer-in-residence program next year. (Montreal Gazette)
It appears Chaucer coined the word "twitter." [10] (Atlantic Wire)