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 president of the European Union, often referred to in the media as "Haiku Herman," published his first collection of poetry yesterday. (Independent)
The London Book Fair, one of the largest book-publishing trade fairs on the planet, is facing significant disruptions ahead of the fair next week because of the giant volcanic ash cloud hovering over much of northern Europe. (Bookseller)
One Kenyan author's book is so politically controversial that bookstores in the country refuse to carry it for fear of libel lawsuits. They have good reason: In 2000, "a Kenyan court fined three major bookshops a total of $380,000" for selling a controversial book by a British author. (Washington Post)
President Obama made a lot of money from book sales last year. (NBC)
Alice Walker, Jodi Picoult, and Harper Lee all have titles on the American Library Association's Top Ten Most Frequently Challenged Books of 2009. The list is compiled from reports of challenges in public libraries and schools, but the ALA's Office of Intellectual Freedom estimates that its statistics reflect only a quarter of actual challenges, as most go unreported.
The London Review of Books is celebrating its thirtieth anniversary with a series of events in New York City next week.
The manuscript for this year's Pulitzer Prize winning novel by Paul Harding sat in a drawer for three years and was almost never published. (Boston Globe)
Yoko Ono was spotted at this year's New York Antiquarian Book Fair. Apparently she picked up the rare book bug from her father and, of course, John Lennon. (Seattle Post-Intelligencer)
