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:
Margaret Atwood—yes, the Booker Prize winning Margaret Atwood—recently contacted two of her more enthusiastic Twitter admirers and designed "superhero comix costumes" for their avatar alter egos. (Guardian)
Powell's Books in Portland, Oregon, just purchased seven thousand books from Anne Rice's personal library, including many signed and annotated titles, to be sold in a special section of their Web site. (Oregonian)
In celebration of Halloween, Flavorwire has pulled together a graveyard tour of memorials of famous horror writers, including such gothic scribes as Edgar Allan Poe and Mary Shelley. Boo!
The Sharjah International Book Fair opened in style on Tuesday with the ruler of the emirate on hand to welcome 789 publishers from around the world. (Publishers Weekly)
James Patterson and his team of anonymous scribes have joined Stieg Larsson as the only authors to sell over one million titles on the Kindle. (Daemon's Books)
John Grisham has been named the honorary chair of next spring's National Library Week. (American Library Association)
A local political candidate—and used-book store owner—in Maine has apologized after an ethics committee found him in violation of state rules for including discounts to his store in his election brochure. (Kennebec Journal)
What was it like to ghostwrite Keith Richards's memoir? (Daily Beast)
