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 New York Times reported this morning that "a price war is brewing in the growing market for electronic reading devices." Indeed: After the news broke earlier this week that Barnes & Noble had dropped the price of the Nook to $199, Amazon quickly responded by lowering the price of the Kindle from $259 to $189.
Publishers Weekly and Livres Hebdo have published a ranking of the world's biggest publishers.
After six years the Google Books case has no resolution in sight and, according to CNET, "at this point, Google and the Authors Guild must feel like they are in a James Joyce novel."
The inauguration of a new cultural center in Israel named after the poet Mahmoud Darwish was not enough to even momentarily bridge the divide between Jews and Arabs, according to Haaretz.
A Louisiana poet is spending her weekends reciting an original poem called "Vessels of the Bayou" to the seafood workers and fishermen on local bayous and waterways. "The words found in her poem are something the people of South Louisiana need right now," one local resident said. (Associated Press)
John Updike's Olympia typewriter is up for auction this weekend at Christie's in New York City.
In light of a new book that concludes that the Internet is making people intellectually shallow, the Christian Science Monitor asks: Should your child be learning the art of slow reading?
