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 perks of flying first class now include free literature. United Airlines has partnered with Rhapsody, a literary magazine circulated exclusively to the airline’s business and first-class passengers. The publication features stories and essays by prominent literary fiction writers including Joyce Carol Oates, Emily St. John Mandel, and more. (New York Times)
“Even if someone had the perspective to really get what all the thousands of truly interesting poets are doing, and had time enough to read them, how would they possibly cohere that knowledge into something that would point relatively new readers towards the poets or traditions they really want to get into right now?” Poet Donald Dunbar and statistician Rachel Springer are in the process of creating an interactive poetry data map that, when completed, can be used for “thought experiments, scholarship...and as a teaching aid.” (Poetry Foundation)
Bestselling British crime novelist Ruth Rendell passed away on Saturday at age eighty-five. Rendell was best known for her Chief Inspector Wexford series. (Huffington Post)
To Kill a Mockingbird author Harper Lee’s hometown of Monroeville, Alabama, appears to be divided over recent controversies surrounding the release of her book Go Set a Watchman. “Some think that she didn’t ever want to publish again…others think it’s a treasure that she’s ready to put forth that’s come out of hiding,” said local bookstore owner Spencer Madrie. (NPR)
Poxwell Manor in Dorset, England, which Thomas Hardy described in his 1880 novel The Trumpet-Major as a “rambling and neglected dwelling,” is currently on the market for £3.25 million. No longer “rambling and neglected,” the manor boasts nine bedrooms, landscaped gardens, and a separate three-bedroom cottage. (Telegraph)
“Hayes’s poems are like a Pixar version of the mental marionette show, a dazzling space crammed with comic jabs.” At the New Yorker, Dan Chiasson reviews poet and MacArthur Genius Grant recipient Terrance Hayes’s new poetry collection, How to Be Drawn, as well as Deborah Landau’s new book, The Uses of the Body.
A decade ago, former English professor Jonathan Gottschall attempted to “save literary studies” by incorporating evolutionary biological concerns into English departments. Unfortunately, “Literary Darwinism” ultimately led to the demise of Gottschall’s career. (Chronicle Review)
