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:
A terrorist attack at the offices of French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo has left twelve people dead, including editor Stephane Charbonnier. The magazine has faced threats over its content in the past; its headquarters were bombed in 2011 for publishing a caricature of Islamic prophet Mohammed. Novelist Salman Rushdie issued a statement to English PEN declaring, “I stand with Charlie Hebdo, as we all must, to defend the art of satire, which has always been a force for liberty and against tyranny, dishonesty and stupidity.” (NPR)
Belarusian publisher Lohvinau Publishing House is on trial this week for selling books without state registration. The publisher has been previously denied state registration eight times on grounds of “extremism.” To date, Lohvinau has published seven hundred literary titles “with a focus on work by repressed Belarusian writers,” according to the International Publishers Association. (Guardian)
Why do we hate clichés? At the New York Times Bookends blog, authors Rivka Galchen and Leslie Jamison discuss our cliché aversion.
Have a question? Ask Haruki Murakami. The media-shy novelist will write an advice column on his website to engage with his fans and answer their questions. (Los Angeles Times)
There are many psychological implications in Shakespeare’s works. In the Atlantic’s By Heart series, author and cognitive psychologist Steven Pinker discusses a passage from Shakespeare’s Measure for Measure.
At the Washington Post, Carole Burns interviews poet Donald Hall about his new book Essays After Eighty. Hall was featured in the November/December 2014 issue of Poets & Writers Magazine.
From Essays After Eighty to authors modeling at eighty: Eighty-year-old author Joan Didion is the face of French fashion line Céline’s Summer 2015 campaign. (Telegraph)
