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 muse only shows up when you bait her by putting your ass in the chair. She can only be lured to your side by the sound of pounding keys, the smell of paper and ink.” At Slice, Maria Gagliano interviews Elissa Schappell, author, editor, book reviewer, and cofounder of Tin House, about finding her muse.
Meanwhile, in the New York Times, author Bill Hayes makes a case for not writing, which he argues “can be good for one’s writing; indeed, it can make one a better writer." A fitness trainer, Hayes likens the writing process to exercise: “Don’t work through the pain; it will only hurt. Give yourself sufficient time to refresh.”
The National Book Foundation has announced a new partnership with NPR. The twenty finalists for the 2014 National Book Award will be announced on the morning of October 15 during NPR's Morning Edition.
Stephen King has announced the dates of an upcoming book tour to promote his latest novel, Revival. The six-city tour will kick off in New York City on November 11. (ABC News)
Using 3-D printing technology, researchers at the University of Colorado in Boulder have designed a series of children’s books for the visually impaired. (GalleyCat)
New York Magazine profiles Cloud Atlas author David Mitchell, whose latest novel, The Bone Clocks, will be published September 2. (An excerpt of the new book can be read at NPR.)
Publishers Weekly’s Judith Rosen rounds up thirty-five big indie books coming out this fall, including On Immunity: An Inoculation by Eula Biss (Graywolf Press), Wittgenstein Jr by Lars Iyer (Melville House), A Girl Is a Half-Formed Thing by Eimear McBride (Coffee House Press), and Cold Sweat: My Father James Brown and Me by Yamma Brown (Chicago Review Press).
“Comic dogs don’t talk in Times New Roman,” says Vincent Connare, creator of Comic Sans. At HiLo Brow, Jessamyn West writes in defense of that most reviled of fonts.
