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:

Claire Messud—who is profiled in the May/June issue of Poets & Writers Magazine—had choice words for a Publishers Weekly interviewer [2] on the misguided notion that characters should be likable. (Salon)

Simon & Schuster's profits rose 20 percent [3] in the first quarter, although there was a slight dip in sales. (Publishers Weekly)

GalleyCat reveals how many sold books land authors on the self-published bestseller list [4].

HBO intends to adapt Elizabeth Strout's bestselling novel Olive Kitteridge as a four-hour mini-series [5] starring Frances McDormand and Richard Jenkins, with Lisa Cholodenko at the helm. (Deadline)

In other Hollywood news, Paul Thomas Anderson's adaptation of Thomas Pynchon's Inherent Vice [6] is reportedly being filmed this month in California. (Los Angeles Times)

Michelle Obama will sign her new book [7] American Grown at Politics and Prose in our nation's capital.

The Telegraph takes a look at Sylvia Plath's last poem [8], written two weeks before her death.

Luci Tapahonso has been named the Navajo nation's first poet laureate [9]. (Indian Country)