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:

Amazon announced releases of upgraded versions of its Kindle Fire tablet devices [2]. (Publishers Weekly)

Meanwhile, Mashable chats with a smiling Jeff Bezos about the future of the retail giant [3].

Peter Matthiessen, octogenarian, former CIA agent, and co-founder of the Paris Review [4], will publish a new novel called In Paradise. (New York Times)

Sony has optioned screen rights to David Baldacci’s new novel [5], six months before its release. (GalleyCat)

“My own candidate for Punctuation Mark of the Year would be the much-maligned apostrophe.” Mary Norris explains that today is National Punctuation Day [6]. (New Yorker)

The Portland Press Herald looks at the life and work of author Nicholson Baker [7], who makes his home in South Berwick, Maine.

Author Roxane Gay considers new books by writers of color, including Milk & Filth [8] by Carmen Giménez Smith [8], and Diriye Osman’s Fairytales for Lost Children, and more. (Nation)

For the New York Times, Zoë Heller and Mohsin Hamid debate [9] whether fictional characters should be likable.

On his blog, Andrew Scott shares his thoughts with authors on self-promotion [10].