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:
Amazon has finally come to its own defense in an article in the Wall Street Journal, available to online subscribers. The Internet retailer’s senior vice president of Kindle content, Russ Grandinetti, explains that the ongoing battle between Amazon and Hachette has to do with profits over e-books and that Amazon’s stance is “in the long-term interest of our customers.” (Business Insider)
After three years sponsoring World Book Night in the United States on April 23, the organization has announced it will suspend operations after failing to find funding for the charitable event. (Bookseller)
John Freeman, a former president of the National Book Critics Circle and previously the editor of Granta, will edit a new biannual series of anthologies through a partnership with Grove/Atlantic and the New School. Called Freeman’s, the anthologies will feature original fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and photography organized around a theme and will privilege long-form writing. (Washington Post)
Schuler Books, a chain of independent booksellers based in Grand Rapids, Michigan, has purchased Nicola’s Books in Ann Arbor, Michigan, following the announcement of owner Nicola Rooney’s retirement. (Publishers Weekly)
The New York Public Library will begin lending Wi-Fi devices to low-income patrons enrolled in the library’s adult-education and after-school programs. (New York Post)
London newspaper the Guardian has selected its second winner, Jude Starling’s The Right of the Subjects, for the Guardian Legend Self-Published Book of the Month, a new award for independent authors based in the United Kingdom. See our exclusive online interview with the Guardian’s literary editor Claire Armitstead about the new award.
Authors Pankaj Mishra and Francine Prose consider the category of “immigrant fiction,” and examine whether such classification helps or hurts writers and their work. (New York Times)
After shows in San Francisco and Sydney, Neil Gaiman’s performance of music, art, and storytelling based on his illustrated short novel The Truth Is a Cave in the Black Mountains, will next take the stage in Edinburgh. (Skinny)
