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:
“I’d love to see more writers getting to the point.” Six editors of literary magazines reveal what they’re tired of seeing in submissions and what they want to see more of. (Review Review)
Angolan writer José Eduardo Agualusa and Daniel Hahn have won the 2017 International Dublin Literary Award for Hahn’s translation from the Portuguese of Agualusa’s novel A General Theory of Oblivion. Agualusa will receive €75,000 and Hahn will receive €25,000 for the annual award, given by the Dublin City Council for a book of translated fiction published in the previous year. (Irish Times)
In other award news, historian Peter Paret has won the $100,000 Pritzker Literature Award for Lifetime Achievement in Military Writing. (PR Newswire)
“Any writer who is worth anything is outside for some reason.” Zinzi Clemmons speaks with Vogue, which has dubbed her book, What We Lose, the debut novel of the year. Clemmons is also one of the five debut novelists featured in “First Fiction 2017,” published in the July/August issue of Poets & Writers Magazine.
On Jane Friedman’s blog, publicist Claire McKinney outlines the difference between a book pitch and a press release, and offers tips for writing good ones.
“There is no getting out of our intertwined history.” Zadie Smith investigates the history of race in America by considering Jordan Peele’s satirical horror movie, Get Out, and Dana Schutz’s painting of Emmett Till, Open Casket. (Harper’s Magazine)
Walcott House, the museum on the site of the late Derek Walcott’s childhood home in St. Lucia, has closed due to funding issues linked to a dispute on the island over tourist developments. (Guardian)
“There is a different kind of knowledge, and a different kind of experience, to be gained when writing poems. A search for dream knowledge.” Matthew Zapruder talks with PBS NewsHour about the “intuitive, associative power” of poetry and his new book, Why Poetry Matters.
