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:
English novelist Kazuo Ishiguro, author of The Remains of the Day, has won the 2017 Nobel Prize in Literature [2]. The Swedish Academy made the announcement today in Stockholm, remarking that Ishiguro, sixty-two, “in novels of great emotional force, has uncovered the abyss beneath our illusory sense of connection with the world.” (G&A: The Contest Blog)
Read a profile of Ishiguro [3], published in the May/June 2005 issue of Poets & Writers Magazine upon the release of his novel Never Let Me Go.
In honor of Ishiguro’s win, the Guardian has reposted a 2014 essay by the novelist, wherein he describes writing The Remains of the Day in four weeks [4].
Meanwhile, Hart Seely looks back on Bob Dylan’s tumultuous year since winning the 2016 Nobel Prize in Literature [5], which included a hacked Twitter account, harsh reviews of his latest albums, and speculation that he had plagiarized his Nobel acceptance speech. (New York Times)
Speaking of plagiarism, poetry critic William Logan has accused poet and Norton editor Jill Bialosky [6] of lifting content from Wikipedia and the websites of the Academy of American Poets and the Poetry Foundation [7] in her recent memoir about poetry, Poetry Will Save Your Life. (Tourniquet Review, New York Times)
“We live in a world torn apart by various ideologies. Every day, we hear about how different we are. For me, the only thing that really draws people together is the arts. And I want to be a part of that process. Because on one hand, you can despair and say, as a writer I can just write my poems or write my plays. But because I am bicultural, and bilingual, and because I am a poet and a writer, if I do not translate, it’s a sin [8].” Iranian American poet and translator Sholhe Wolpé talks with Guernica about the power of translation.
Cave Canem, an organization committed to nurturing and supporting black poets, has named poet Parneshia Jones its next board president [9].
Nicole Sealey, Cave Canem’s executive director, shares more about the organization [10] in a Q&A with Poets & Writers Magazine.
Starz Network will produce a television series of Stephanie Danler’s bestselling debut novel, Sweetbitter [11], about a young woman learning the ropes as a waitress at an upscale restaurant in New York City. (Los Angeles Times)