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 Brazilian people’s responses to the poetry of current interim president Michel Temer range from indifference to mockery. “[Temer’s] poetry is drawing renewed attention as Brazilians try to decipher the man at the helm after a bare-knuckle power struggle that ousted President Dilma Rousseff in May. Parodies of his oeuvre are flourishing, a sign that Brazilian satire is keeping pace with the country’s political upheaval.” (New York Times)
“A novel is like a letter to the world, but a letter nobody asked you to write.” At BOMB, writer Daniel Alarcón interviews Chilean author Alejandro Zambra about his literary career, the importance of play in writing, transitioning from poetry to fiction, and his new short story collection, My Documents, out now from McSweeney’s.
Meanwhile, at Literary Hub, Margaret Atwood discusses several of her current projects, including the forthcoming adaptation of her novel The Handmaid’s Tale, a new novel that reimagines Shakespeare’s The Tempest, and a comic book series, Angel Catbird.
Technological advances allow students to access vast amounts of literature at any time. Writer and high school English teacher Abigail Walthausen considers the daunting nature of digital reading for students, and the necessity of narrowing the focus when reading in both digital and print formats. (Atlantic)
Donna Tartt’s Pulitzer Prize–winning novel The Goldfinch is to be adapted for film. Screenwriter Peter Straughan is writing the script, and John Crowley of the Oscar-nominated film Brooklyn will direct.
The Brontë Society has acquired a book that belonged to the Brontë sisters’ mother, Maria, for £200,000. The book, which includes previously unseen poetry and prose by Charlotte Brontë, will go on public display next year at the Parsonage Museum in Haworth, Britain. (Malay Mail)
NPR’s All Things Considered features reviews of three new poetry collections—Martha Collins’s Admit One, Solmaz Sharif’s Look, and Tyehimba Jess’s Olio—that “mine [journalism] to explore thorny subjects.”
