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:
Last week, HarperCollins announced that a limited, signed edition of Harper Lee’s novel Go Set a Watchman will be available in retailers across the country during the holidays. However, the publisher has only printed five hundred copies, and each book—which is “leather-bound” with “gilded edges” and comes with a “velvet-lined cloth box"—will sell for $1,500. (New York Times)
At the Guardian, award-winning novelists Jeanette Winterson and Marlon James talk about confronting and fully experiencing complex and violent works, and the advice they give to their creative writing students.
Best-selling author Orhan Pamuk discusses writing about food and how it is integral to his new novel A Strangeness in My Mind. “There’s one distinction that I always make: the writers who talk about and write about food with relish, and writers who don’t mention it. You can’t see any food in Dostoevsky, while Thomas Mann enjoys going into the details of food. I am that kind of writer.” (Hazlitt)
The New York Times Notable Books of the Year list is out, featuring one hundred titles in poetry, fiction, and nonfiction selected by the editors of the New York Times Book Review.
Michael Tamblyn has been named CEO of Rakuten Kobo Inc., the global e-book company that includes Kobo, OverDrive, and Aquafadas. Tamblyn will assume his new role on January 1. “We want the best possible reading experiences for schools, libraries, institutions, corporations and consumers, enabling readers to buy or borrow digital content anywhere in the world,” said Tamblyn. (Publishers Weekly)
Over at the Los Angeles Review of Books, a writer considers the expansive work of critic Clive James, who was diagnosed with leukemia five years ago. “How is it possible to retain such youthful passion and enthusiasm, such unseemly levels of energy and vigor, in the midst of a protracted, fatal disease? The sheer range of James’s interests is enough to make even Susan Sontag seem parochial.”
Poetry and professional sports combined in a rare moment yesterday, when NBA all-star and Olympic athlete Kobe Bryant announced his retirement in a poem he wrote and published in the Players’ Tribune titled “Dear Basketball.” (Rolling Stone)
