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 Associated Press has announced that it has added “they” as a singular, gender-neutral pronoun to its updated stylebook, which will be released May 31. The Smithsonian Magazine tracks usage of the pronoun in media outlets, and how the addition is in part due to a growing public understanding of non-binary gender issues.
Bertelsmann, the parent company of Penguin Random House, reports that the publisher’s sales and earnings fell in 2016 compared to 2015, with revenue down 9.6 percent. Bertelsmann attributes the decline to currency changes, asset sales, and the lack of a breakout hit title. (Publishers Weekly)
Open Culture looks back on examples of automatons, including “The Writer,” created in 1768 by Swiss watchmaker Pierre Jaquet-Droz. An early humanoid robot made of wood, “The Writer” can be programmed to write out any short message with a goosefeather quill.
The Pulitzer Prize–winning critic William McPherson died yesterday at age eighty-four. McPherson wrote two novels and edited the Book World section of the Washington Post. (Washington Post)
The Library of Congress announced yesterday that poets Claudia Rankine and Nathaniel Mackey are the recipients of this year’s Rebekah Johnson Bobbitt National Prize for Poetry.
Da Capo Press will release a book of singer-songwriter Jeff Buckley’s journals, letters, and photos. “Jeff Buckley: His Own Voice” will be released in Spring 2019. (Los Angeles Times)
“What matters to me is the kind of implicit invisible contract between one writer and one reader, having to do with pleasure and power of the written word. And so long as the pleasure and power is there on both sides of that contract—me writing it, somebody reading it—I don’t care what they call it.” Writer Albert Goldbarth discusses his disinterest in genre classification. (Creative Independent)
Signature rounds up the fourteen best female essayists to read right now, including Roxane Gay, Elena Passarello, Durga Chew-Bose, and Jo Ann Beard.
