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 and comedian Laurie Kilmartin is live-Tweeting her father’s last days [2] as she and her family assist him through the final stages of lung cancer. (Huffington Post)

The Israeli Embassy in Japan has donated more than three hundred Anne Frank–related books [3] to Tokyo’s public libraries after hundreds were found destroyed. (BBC)

Peter Greste, an Australian journalist and children’s book author, is in solitary confinement [4] in a high-security prison in Egypt on charges of damaging the nation’s reputation. (Daily Beast)

McSweeney’s has released an activity book based on the show Portlandia [5] to coincide with the show’s new season, which premiered yesterday. (GalleyCat)

Novelist Eleanor Catton talks to the Guardian [6] about waiting for the call to create.

Author Alison Bechdel has spoken out against a ruling [7] by the South Carolina House of Representatives to cut funding to the College of Charleston for featuring her graphic memoir Fun Home—which deals with themes of sexual identity—on its summer reading list for freshmen. (Publisher’s Weekly)

At Salon, Noah Berlatsky discusses the importance of luck [8] in building a writing career.

A new biography of Louis Armstrong [9] by Thomas Brothers reexamines the jazz icon’s involvement with the Civil Rights Movement. (New Yorker)

Retail bookseller Barnes & Noble reports a $63.2 million profit [10] earned during the 2013 holiday season after experiencing a $3.7 million loss in 2012. (Los Angeles Times)