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:
No Wi-Fi? No Problem. The New York Times profiles several bookstores in London that are “rebelling against frenzied online engagement.”
Meanwhile, at JStor Daily, technology writer Alexandra Samuel examines nineteenth-century concerns about novel reading that echo contemporary complaints about the Internet.
Authors Ann Patchett and James Patterson have been named the inaugural ambassadors of the Book Industry Charitable Foundation, a twenty-year-old nonprofit dedicated to assisting booksellers in need.
“I think when you have a good vehicle to transport and transmit the work to those who want it, that’s kind of like the end goal for me as an artist, to find the necessary bridges so that we can communicate with one another.” In an interview with the Poetry Foundation, poet Ocean Vuong discusses the public reception of his first collection, Night Sky With Exit Wounds, and the evolution of his work.
From Roxane Gay to Eula Biss, Bustle lists nine women authors who are breaking new ground in the nonfiction world.
Both NPR and the Wall Street Journal feature interviews with author Colson Whitehead about his new novel, The Underground Railroad, which was recently chosen by Oprah for her book club.
“With Ozick, you can count on being in the hands of a critic who knows exactly what she thinks of something and refuses to balk or hedge.” Author and editor William Giraldi praises Cynthia Ozick’s new collection of critical nonfiction, Critics, Monsters, Fanatics, and Other Literary Essays, and her influential role as a literary critic for more than thirty years. (New Republic)
“Half book and half mind-boggling challenge,” the Codex Silenda is made entirely of laser-cut wood, and each page can only be turned after solving a unique puzzle. (Gizmodo)
