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:
HarperCollins plans to buy Harlequin, the Canadian publisher of popular romance books, for $455 million. (Publishers Weekly)
Cambridge, Massachusetts–based start-up BookBub has raised $3.8 million to help publishers and authors sell e-books. (Wall Street Journal)
Prompted by a conversation with his son, novelist Will Self considers the demise of the novel. (Guardian)
Actress and memoirist Diane Keaton talks with the New York Times about her favorite literary genre, the last book that made her cry, and her love of audiobooks.
An online campaign calling for diversity in literature went viral yesterday; authors Jodi Picoult, Chuck Wendig, and Emily M. Danforth were among many who weighed in using the hashtag #WeNeedDiverseBooks on Twitter, Tumblr, and other social media outlets. (Salon)
Meanwhile, British rock band Coldplay used Twitter to send fans on a scavenger hunt through various libraries in cities around the world, promising that lyrics to their new album would be hidden inside books. (GalleyCat)
Writer Jeremy Greenfield encourages readers of Forbes to take advantage of e-books available on loan at local libraries—a service that only three to six percent of Americans are currently utilizing.
George Prochnik, author of a biography of writer Stefan Zweig titled The Impossible Exile, examines the effects of travel on the creative process. (New Yorker)
Electric Literature recently celebrated the one hundredth issue of its Recommended Reading series, hosting an event that featured appearances by Jennifer Egan and James Hannaham.
