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 Millions serves up a preview of the most anticipated books to be published during the second half of 2011, including novels by Denis Johnson, Tom Perrotta, Bonnie Jo Campbell, Haruki Murakami, Jeffrey Eugenides, and Don DeLillo.
Flannery O'Connor, considered a master of the short story and one of the greatest writers of the twentieth century, gained entry into creative life as a cartoonist. It was her first ambition, and she collected many encouraging rejections of her artwork from the New Yorker. A book of O'Connor's cartoons, which she created using linoleum cuts, will be published this year. (Guardian)
The Baffler is back, again! After publishing one issue after its revival in 2009, the much-lauded Chicago-based journal has moved to Cambridge, Massachusetts, under the helm of a new publisher, author John Summers. Asked if this time it's for keeps, he says, “Journals, like lovers, don’t deal in absolutes.” (Observer)
Joe Konrath, genre writer and self-published e-book success, offers a palliative concerning the wave of e-book titles hitting the marketplace, which he names "The Tsunami of Crap." His solution? "Don't write crap."
In the continuing Borders saga, some similar predictions from Shelf Awareness and the Economist. Also, Borders warns investors that their stock could soon be worthless. (Detroit News)
Michael Keaton will produce an adaptation of Carl Hiaasen's Skinny Dip for HBO. (Hollywood Reporter)
Darby Roach writes of the sixteen-month-long collaboration between poet Edward Mayes and painter Alberto Alfonso. (Huffington Post)
And last, if you're having a difficult Wednesday, take a look at this telegram Dorothy Parker sent to her editor.
