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.
The finalists have been revealed for the fifty-sixth annual Nebula Awards, which are administered by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America. The five finalists for the novel prize are Piranesi by Susanna Clarke, The City We Became by N. K. Jemisin, Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia, The Midnight Bargain by C. L. Polk, Black Sun by Rebecca Roanhorse, and Network Effect by Martha Wells.
“Without knowing how or why, New Directions would follow me for the next twenty-five years, or I followed them, or perhaps a little bit of both, each of us drawn to the other in that fortuitous dance that happens only in bookstores and before the internet.” Mark Haber writes in praise of New Directions, the beloved indie press. (Literary Hub)
“I did what I had done when COVID-19 first began to ravage the city a year ago: I read. If the present was unprecedented, I wanted to steep myself in the past—specifically in the history of my beloved neighborhood.” Jeremy Allen shares his discoveries from reading about the history of Greenwich Village in New York City. (New York Times)
“Is there a more back-handed compliment than to be called a ‘woman before her time’?” Sara Batkie reads recently reissued works by Bette Howland, Tove Ditlevsen, and Leonora Carrington. (Chicago Review of Books)
“I realized in the revision process that to eulogize/elegize is to remember, and to remember is to venerate and to honor.” Roberto Carlos Garcia discusses transforming grief into poetry in his third collection, [Elegies]. (Rumpus)
Oprah Winfrey has selected all four novels from Marilynne Robinson’s Gilead series for her book club. “Marilynne Robinson is one of our greatest living authors,” Winfrey said. (O, the Oprah Magazine)
Data from the U.S. Census Bureau indicates that bookstore sales in January 2021 were down 16.6 percent compared to January 2020. (Publishers Weekly)
Kirkus counts eleven book-to-screen adaptations among the films nominated for Oscars, including Nomadland, Hillbilly Elegy, and Emma.
