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:
Goodnight Songs, an album of children’s songs by Margaret Wise Brown, author of Goodnight Moon, was released today, sixty-two years after the author’s death and following the discovery of the lyrics in the 1980s by a sales rep at Doubleday. (Publishers Weekly)
“Our Generation,” a poem by eighth-grader Jordan Nichols, was retweeted over 144,000 times after his older brother posted a photo of it; read top to bottom, the piece presents a pessimistic view of young adults, while a more hopeful message is presented when the piece is read in reverse. (GalleyCat)
A recording of poet Kevin Young reading the poem “Greening” from his new collection, Book of Hours, released today by Knopf, is available at the New York Times.
Kevin Cook, the author of a new book that reexamines the 1964 murder of Kitty Genovese outside her apartment building in Queens, which took place in front of thirty-eight witnesses, is interviewed at NPR.
Tom Nissley of the Millions offers a list of books to read in March that will hopefully encourage warmer weather, or at least sustain readers through the end of winter.
The Wild Detectives, a new bookstore, coffee shop, and bar, has opened in Dallas, Texas, where patrons are encouraged to “read a book and sip a beer in public.” (Shelf Awareness)
After author Scott McClanahan announced he would withdraw his novel Hill William from the Tournament of Books yesterday, novelist Kevin Guilfoile, who runs the annual competition for the online magazine the Morning News, told the Los Angeles Times that McClanahan would not be allowed to withdraw.
Novelist Anne Rice has signed a petition to remove anonymity of online reviewers at Amazon.