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:
This weekend, more than a hundred bearded men will descend upon Sloppy Joes Bar in Key West Florida to compete in the annual Ernest Hemingway look-alike contest. The competition is part of Key West’s annual Hemingway Days celebration. (Guardian)
Meanwhile, Scribner has reissued Hemingway’s 1935 work Green Hills of Africa, the author’s firsthand account of his 1933 African safari. Some readers feel the book glorifies the act of killing, which continues to complicate Hemingway’s legacy. (Daily Beast)
Laura Marsh recounts the history of how Joan Didion became the ultimate literary celebrity, one who “seems to tell everything but gives nothing away.” (New Republic)
The End of the Tour, a film based on the book Although of Course You End up Becoming Yourself: A Road Trip With David Foster Wallace by David Lipsky, opens in theaters July 31. In honor of the release, the New York Times asked a number of authors, including Junot Díaz, Tayari Jones, and Nell Zink, to recall memorable moments from their book tours.
At the New Yorker, Jon Michaud considers the “strange, unsettling fiction” of James Purdy. “It’s hard to think of a contemporary writer whose work shares this sensibility, a cool elegance laid over extreme emotion.”
Linda Kennedy gives a report of this year’s Hong Kong Book Fair, where many titles on display are banned on the Chinese mainland. (BBC News)
T. S. Eliot wore green makeup and George Bernard Shaw wrote in a revolving writing shed. The Guardian lists some quirky writing habits of famous authors.
Over the past week, several Little Free Libraries in Lincoln, Nebraska, were reportedly robbed, which begs the question, Is it considered stealing if the books are free? (Melville House)
