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 John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation has awarded Guggenheim Fellowships to one hundred and sixty-eight writers, scholars, and artists, including poets Carmen Giménez Smith, Robin Coste Lewis, and Shane McCrae.
After facing criticism from its authors, Curbside Splendor has gone on a publishing hiatus. Authors have accused the Chicago-based independent press of failing to honor contracts or pay royalties. (Publishers Weekly)
“Silence is the weapon, silence and people’s need to fill it up—as long as the person isn’t you, the interviewer.” Vulture highlights the best reporting advice from Robert Caro’s new book, Working.
In the sixteenth century, Christopher Columbus’s son Hernando Colón made it his life’s work to create the biggest library in the world. Of the fifteen thousand books he collected, only a quarter have survived. Now the library’s catalogue has been found in Copenhagen, revealing the titles and summaries of thousands of lost books. (Guardian)
At NPR, Susan Choi talks about taking teenagers seriously in her new novel, Trust Exercise. “It’s so hard to just decode the world. And when we’re teenagers, I think that we’re wildly improvising. We’re just sort of grabbing standards of judgment, we’re grabbing values out of the air, and hoping that they fit.”
In the United Kingdom, U.S. science fiction and fantasy imprint Tor is giving independent bookstores free copies of its titles. (Bookseller)
“The book is a homecoming—one I had to create for myself.” Poet Savannah Sipple talks to the Rumpus about self-acceptance, Jesus in Appalachia, and her debut collection, WWJD and Other Poems.
“I don’t store books on my nightstand, or I’d have even worse problems with insomnia. How can I sleep when I could be reading?” In the latest installment of By the Book, novelist Julia Alvarez recommends titles including Jenny Erpenbeck’s Go, Went, Gone, Edwidge Danticat’s The Farming of Bones¸ and Beth Ann Fennelly’s Heating & Cooling. (New York Times)
