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:
Legendary songwriter Lou Reed passed away yesterday, and among many remembrances across the media, the Paris Review made available a poem Reed published in 1972 [2].
Adam Gopnik considers the fiftieth anniversary of John F. Kennedy’s assassination, and that tragedy’s intersection with America’s poets and writers—including John Berryman, Randall Jarrell, and Norman Mailer [3]. Gopnik writes, Kennedy’s death “marked the last time the highbrow reaches of the American imagination were complicit in the dignity of the Presidency.” (New Yorker)
Grub Street is using a grant from the Massachusetts Cultural Council to spearhead the creation of a literary cultural district in Boston [4]. (Shelf Awareness)
The New York Times visits with legendary poet Ntozake Shange [5] at the Nuyorican Poets Café. In recent years, Ms. Shange has suffered strokes, and a neurological disorder that caused great difficulty writing.
Canadian poet David McFadden announced that he has Alzheimer’s [6]. (Globe and Mail)
Casey N. Cep looks at the unique relationships of the Brontës, the Wordsworths [7], and other literary siblings. (Poetry Foundation)
William Bradley argues that if we read essays—especially by writers such as Ira Sukrungruang, Eula Biss, and Jill Talbott [8]—it will increase our ability to empathize. (Utne Reader)
Mental Floss lists nine books everyone should read [9], including The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins, and Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice.
And Erika Dreifus lists ten ways to celebrate Jewish Book Month [10]. (Forward)