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 burning thing of how do we make things better is what makes me keep talking about feminism. And I have to tell you: doing that is not always good for my art. I’m trying to better balance my time. But talking about feminism comes from passion. I really believe we can make the world better.” Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie talks about feminism, the #MeToo movement, motherhood, and Melania Trump. (Vulture)
After nearly eight years of house arrest, Liu Xia, the widow of Chinese Nobel Peace Prize laureate Liu Xiaobo, has been freed. Liu Xia, who supported her husband through his imprisonment for “inciting subversion of state power,” has left China for Berlin. (CNN)
Listen to translations of Liu Xia's poetry in episode four of Ampersand: The Poets & Writers Podcast.
The Publishers Association released a report showing that movies based on books take in 44 percent more at the box office in the United Kingdom and 53 percent more worldwide than original screenplays. (Esquire)
NPR takes a closer look at the growing number of children’s books about refugees from the Middle East.
Ashley C. Ford talks with the Creative Independent about balancing freedom and responsibility on social media, learning to make mistakes, and what’s helping her write her book.
Publishers Weekly rounds up the best-selling books of the first half of 2018, with Michael Wolff’s Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House topping the list. Other best-sellers include James Comey’s memoir, A Higher Loyalty, and The President Is Missing, the thriller co-written by James Patterson and Bill Clinton.
What should you read this summer? Several authors, including Ali Smith, Ocean Vuong, Philip Pullman, Hilary Mantel, Sharon Olds, and Salman Rushdie, offer recommendations. (Guardian)
BBC visits the Hereford Cathedral in the United Kingdom, where the cathedral’s 229 medieval manuscripts are still chained to the shelves.
