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:
The Morning News has announced the contenders for the 2011 Tournament of Books, which will see titles by Anne Carson, Jonathan Franzen, and Jennifer Egan face off in a March Madness bracket-style competition to crown a single champion. (Jacket Copy)
A collection of John Lennon's letters will be published for the first time by Orion in October 2012—on the fiftieth anniversary of the release of the hit Beatles' song "Love Me Do," according to the Guardian.
According to Time, storytelling may help lower blood pressure.
Sacha Baron Cohen will star in a film adaptation of a romance novel purportedly written by Saddam Hussein (or anyway, his ghostwriters). (Guardian)
A new book club started by a university lecturer married to a soldier encourages British soldiers on a tour of duty to read and discuss a book with family members back home. (Guardian)
A five-hundred-year-old copy of the Koran, so fragile that it has never been displayed, will soon be published online for scholarly study. (Independent)
What do we owe a dead writer? (Millions)
Celebrated Southern author Reynolds Price died on Thursday in Durham, North Carolina, at the age of seventy-seven. (New York Times)
