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:
"...we need to examine our own assumptions and biases: Are we only handing one kind of book to one kind of customer? And if so, why? We just have to keep re-examining that." As part of its ongoing coverage of diversity in the publishing industry, NPR talks with Elizabeth Bluemle, the co-owner of the Flying Pig Bookstore in Shelburne, Vermont, about the importance of selling diverse books.
Meanwhile, Philadelphia LGBT bookstore Giovanni’s Room, which announced its closure earlier this year, has found both a new owner and a new business partner in Philly AIDS Thrift, an organization that sells thrift goods to raise money for local AIDS organizations. The renovated store, which will offer new and used books as well as thrift items, will open in September. (Publishers Weekly)
Edward Mendelson at the New York Review of Books writes about the letters of Ernest Hemingway, which reveal, among other things, the writer’s complicated sexual identity. The letters are being collected in a series of seventeen volumes by Cambridge University Press.
The New York Times reviews Matthew Thomas’s debut novel, We Are Not Ourselves, which was acquired by Simon & Schuster for more than a million dollars (a venture covered in the new September/October issue of Poets & Writers Magazine.)
Scribd has teamed up with children’s book publisher Capstone Young Readers, a partnership that will bring five hundred new titles to the e-book subscription platform. Scribd competitor Oyster added children’s books to its library earlier this year. (GalleyCat)
According to TechCrunch, a new book is added every five minutes to Amazon’s collection—which at last count totaled around 3.4 million titles.
"Innocuous and omnipresent, emoji are the social lubricant smoothing the rough edges of our digital lives." The New Inquiry considers the language of emoji, and what it can tell us about communication and capitalism.
“You frequently attend the opera to gossip about other patrons. You have never actually seen an opera.” The Toast offers clues to help you determine if you are living in an Honoré de Balzac novel.
