Every day Poets & Writers Magazine scans the headlines—publishing reports, literary dispatches, academic announcements, and more—for all the news that creative writers need to know. Here are today’s stories.
“Many Asian Americans still suffer from internalized racism that makes us equate happiness—and status—with proximity to Whiteness. We think that if we work hard enough and be good capitalists, we will finally find belonging.” Cathy Park Hong talks to ZORA about her new essay collection, Minor Feelings, and where she sees the path to liberation.
Writer Lee Francis IV and illustrator Weshoyot Alvitre discuss telling Native American histories through graphic narrative. The pair recently collaborated with the Library Company to create Ghost River: The Fall and Rise of the Conestoga, a graphic novel and art exhibit that depicts the 1763 massacre of the people of Conestoga Indian Town by white settlers. (NPR Code Switch)
“Words have power, and if you’re wielding that power inexpertly, particularly through humor, you’re just gonna do more damage than good.” R. Eric Thomas talks to the Washington Post about internet fame, the stakes of satire, and the right to dissent.
Jennifer Baker facilitates a roundtable with poets Anastacia-Renée, JP Howard, t’ai freedom ford, and Safiya Sinclair on building literary community and exercising the political power of art. (Electric Literature)
Emma Copley Eisenberg discusses reporting methods, and choosing to actively integrate her own story—her point-of-view and biases—into her writing about others. “I don’t like the idea of journalists hiding behind this cloak of invisibility and just being like, ‘Here’s a story I found and I’m not connected to it.’” (Longreads)
Director Dee Rees talks to ELLE about adapting Joan Didion’s novel The Last Thing He Wanted for the screen.
Book Marks recommends five reviews to read this week, including Parul Sehgal on Hilary Leichter’s Temporary and Katy Waldman on Elizabeth Tallent’s Scratched.
Sehgal appeared in Reviewers & Critics in the 2017 May/June issue of Poets & Writers Magazine.
Best-selling author and seafarer Clive Cussler died on Monday at age eighty-eight. (New York Times)
