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:
Today marks the beginning of National Poetry Month. Founded by the Academy of American Poets in 1996, National Poetry Month is the world’s largest literary celebration. The Academy’s website lists multiple ways to participate and support poetry this month.
For even more ways to celebrate National Poetry Month, the International Business Times suggests activities such as making Walt Whitman’s favorite recipe for cranberry coffee cake or hosting a screening of Dead Poets Society.
“It was work, and it was frustrating, but all in all, when you’ve finished a poem, you have this thing that didn’t exist and it exists independently of anything else. There’s nothing else in the world exactly like it.” To kick off National Poetry Month, the Boston Review has posted part one of Adam Fitzgerald’s interview with late poet Mark Strand.
Publisher HarperCollins may enter a dispute with e-tailer Amazon over new contract terms. HarperCollins’s contract with Amazon is about to expire, and according to a Business Insider source, “If HarperCollins and Amazon don’t come to an agreement, no print or digital HarperCollins books will be available on Amazon once its existing contract runs out.”
At the New York Times, Dwight Garner reviews two new books by Pulitzer Prize–winner Charles Simic: his poetry collection The Lunatic, and The Life of Images: Selected Prose.
President Obama has appointed bestselling author James Patterson to the position of Book Czar. Patterson will coordinate the Obama administration’s nationwide support of independent bookstores. (Shelf Awareness)
At the Wall Street Journal, author Alexander McCall Smith, whose latest book is a modern retelling of the Jane Austen novel Emma, writes about the continuous cultural appeal of Austen.
Online journal Someplace recently interviewed Paul Winer, also known as the “Naked Bookseller,” who has been selling books in the nude at the Reader’s Oasis bookstore in Quartzsite, Arizona, for twenty-four years. (Los Angeles Times)
