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:
“Not once have I ever had the time to ask myself, ‘Are my songs literature?’…. So, I do thank the Swedish Academy, both for taking the time to consider that very question, and, ultimately, for providing such a wonderful answer.” Read the transcript of Bob Dylan’s Nobel Prize in Literature acceptance speech at the New York Times.
In July, HarperCollins will publish Blade actor Wesley Snipes’s first novel, a supernatural thriller titled Talon of God. (Deadline)
Vandermeer Creative, an organization managed by best-selling author Jeff VanderMeer and his wife, editor Ann Vandermeer, is funding a full year of the Octavia Project, a Brooklyn-based program for girls ages thirteen to seventeen that focuses on “girls’ passion in science fiction, fantasy, and gaming to teach them skills in science, technology, art, and writing.” (jeffvandermeer.com)
“There are historic success stories of art/life balance: William Carlos Williams was a doctor, Wallace Stevens was an executive for an insurance company…. But how feasible are any of these paths today considering the continuous and hazy professionalization of poetry, which, in essence, herds poets toward the academic world as they acquire degrees that then can no longer necessarily secure them work in that very field?” Poet Amanda Nadelberg considers how poets have few opportunities to make a living wage from their art and considers sustainable funding for poets. (Literary Hub)
Meanwhile, at the Best American Poetry blog, several contemporary poets give advice to their younger poet selves.
At the Oaxaca International Book Fair, Latin American authors including Mexican novelist Álvaro Uribe and Chilean poet Raúl Zurita reacted to the news of Donald Trump’s presidential win and expressed concern at the recent acts of violence toward minorities post-election. (Guardian)
National Book Award–winning author Ha Jin speaks with the Dallas News about his new novel, The Boat Rocker (Pantheon), which follows a “Chinese expatriate writing for a Chinese-language online news organization in New York,” who “finds purpose writing about abuses of power in his native land.”
