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:
To mark the fiftieth anniversary of the Man Booker Prize this year, the Man Booker Foundation has announced the first ever Golden Man Booker Prize, which will be awarded to the best work of fiction published since the award’s inception in 1969. The winner will be chosen from the fifty-one winners of the Man Booker Prize.
After landing a $150,000 book deal with Scribner for his debut story collection, which came out to critical acclaim last year, Curtis Dawkins, a felon who is serving a life sentence in Michigan, is being sued by the state for the cost of his incarceration. (New York Times)
This April HarperAudio will kick off a new series of “vinyl-first” audiobooks with the release of Joe Hill’s short story “Dark Carousel.” The vinyl package includes original artwork, a cover of the Rolling Stones song “Wild Horses,” and a full-length audiobook download. (Entertainment Weekly)
In honor of President’s Day, the Washington Post considers poetry written by presidents George Washington and Abraham Lincoln. The Library of Congress maintains a catalogue of all presidential poetry.
A recent study published in the Journal of Cultural Analytics examined author and character genders in 104,000 works of fiction dating from 1780 to 2007. Researchers expected the prominence of female characters to increase over time, but instead found that the proportion of female authors and characters declined after the nineteenth century. (Guardian)
“Murray belongs to a radical arc of American metaphysical women poets, most of whom still remain unsung,” writes poet Farnoosh Fathi in her introduction to a new collection of Murray’s poetry she edited. Joan Murray: Drafts, Fragments, and Poems is out now from NYRB Poets. (Paris Review)
“The e-book is a stupid product…There is no creativity, no enhancement, no real digital experience.” Arnaud Nourry, CEO of Hachette Livre, comments on the future—or perhaps lack thereof—of digital publishing. (Guardian)
