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:
On Sunday, journalist Claudio Gatti published a piece in the New York Review of Books that claimed to make a “powerful case” for the true identity of Italian novelist Elena Ferrante. The article prompted many authors and readers to respond to the moral implications of revealing the identity of a writer who wishes to remain anonymous. Dayna Totorici writes at N+1 about the “latest unmasking” of Ferrante, and the controversy surrounding privacy and what readers want from authors. (Guardian, Literary Hub, N + 1)
The first trailer for Paterson, adapted from William Carlos Williams’s epic poem of the same title, has been released. Jim Jarmusch wrote and directed the film, which stars Adam Driver playing the role of Paterson, a bus driver and poet. The film premieres on December 28.
Two new novels about art forgeries—Dominic Smith’s The Last Painting of Sara de Vos and Martin Suter’s The Last Weynfeldt—join “a growing list of contemporary fiction that uses great works of art to propel plots of mystery and intrigue.” (Public Books)
The U.K.’s Royal Mail has issued a series of Agatha Christie–themed stamps to commemorate the centennial of Christie’s first novel, The Mysterious Affair at Styles. (Electric Literature)
Speaking of our friends across the pond, Thursday is National Poetry Day in the U.K. To celebrate, the British Library is sharing articles and poetry from its collection this week, including a piece by Frieda Hughes on her mother Sylvia Plath’s collection Ariel.
Twenty years after the publication of Arundhati Roy’s Booker prize–winning first novel, The God of Small Things, Roy is set to publish her second novel, The Ministry of Utmost Happiness, in 2017. (Guardian)
At the Times Literary Supplement, Kafka translator Michael Hoffman offers translation advice: Don’t overthink it. “Translation, at least in my practice of it, is instinct, is nerve, is (by now) experience, is pre- or anti-rational. In any case, everything is casuistry.”
