Every day Poets & Writers Magazine scans the headlines—publishing reports, literary dispatches, academic announcements, and more—for all the news that creative writers need to know. Here are today’s stories.
Jon Yaged has been tapped to serve as president of Macmillan Trade, moving up from his previous role as president of Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group. Yaged succeeds Don Weisberg, who was promoted to CEO of Macmillan Publishers last year after John Sargent stepped down. (Shelf Awareness)
The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation has awarded a $15 million grant to the Library of Congress for its new diversity initiative, “Of the People: Widening the Path.” Among its multiple facets, the program will support outreach to recruit more librarians and archivists from underrepresented backgrounds. (New York Times)
“Having stepped into stories in every state, I’ve read more than fifty-eight accounts of what it means to inhabit this country.” Heather John Fogarty concludes her United We Read project, in which she read at least one contemporary book from each state. (Los Angeles Times)
“While reading multiple declarations of the death of the City, it dawned on me: New York isn’t dying. It is going retrograde.” Writer Soumya Shankar reflects on how the pandemic has transformed New York City. (Margins)
“I very much wanted this new book to be much more aggressive, much more in-your-face.” Mark Leyner talks to BOMB about being “reckless” in his latest work, Last Orgy of the Divine Hermit.
Members of a book club in the small town of Ruidoso, New Mexico, are on the frontlines of the local vaccination effort. (Washington Post)
Vox invited seven poets, including Saeed Jones and Mahogany L. Browne, to write poems to mark the new year.
Screenwriter Michael Hirst is at work on a miniseries adaptation of The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald. (Hollywood Reporter)
