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:

NPR talks to Teju Cole about the origins of his new book, Every Day Is for the Thief, a novella originally published in Nigeria in 2007 that is being released in the United States today [2] by Random House.

San Francisco’s Marcus Books, a bookshop that has specialized in black literature for fifty-three years, is running an online fundraiser to avoid closure [3], having already raised $1.6 million independently. (Fine Books & Collections)

Meanwhile, Irenosen Okojie argues against the lack of diversity in British publishing [4], asking why very few writers of color are supported by the industry. (Guardian)

Three filmmakers are suing author J. L. Witterick along with Penguin Canada [5] for the publication of Witterick’s 2013 novel, My Mother’s Secret; the plaintiffs allege that the novel too closely resembles their 2009 film, No. 4 Street of Our Lady. The author admits she used the film’s historical basis as inspiration. (Globe and Mail)

The New Yorker takes a look at the forthcoming English translation of French economist Thomas Piketty’s book Capital in the Twenty-First Century; interest concerning the forthcoming treatise on inequality has prompted Belknap, an imprint of Harvard University Press, to push forward the book’s publication [6] from April to this month. 

Joseph Stromberg, a journalist at Slate, puts his undergraduate thesis through a questionable publication process [7] with an arm of the German publishing-machine VDM. 

British politicians are defending recent legislation that would prevent families from sending prisoners reading material by pointing to the availability of books in prison libraries [8]; prisons minister Jeremy Wright released a statement that describes prison cells as filled with “up to twelve books…at any one time.” (Bookseller)

Flavorwire's Jason Diamond advocates the Midwest [9] as the writer’s new playground.

Nick Ripatrazone writes of his transition from conspiracy theorist and historian to writer [10] as well as the unconventional backgrounds of many American authors. (Millions)