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.
Emma Bowman reports on the recent push for public libraries to eliminate late fees. “Lifting fines has had a surprising dual effect: More patrons are returning to the library, with their late materials in hand.” (NPR)
Literary agents Anna Sproul-Latimer and Kent D. Wolf have announced the launch of their own agency, Neon Literary. Sproul-Latimer and Wolf previously worked at the Ross-Yoon Agency and Friedrich Agency, respectively. Their combined client list includes Carmen Maria Machado, Samantha Irby, and Amber Sparks, among others. (Publishers Weekly)
Wolf appeared in the July/August issue of Poets & Writers Magazine earlier this year: “Four Lunches and a Breakfast: What I Learned About the Book Business While Breaking Bread With Five Hungry Agents.”
At the Paris Review Daily, Lucy Scholes considers an out-of-print work of fiction she argues shouldn’t be forgotten: Frances Frenaye’s translation of The Mischief by the Algerian writer Assia Djebar.
“I don’t think we’ll ever reach liberation—as women, or as queer people—without affirming our true erotic selves, or our right to joy.” Carolina De Robertis discusses her novel Cantoras, and representing the variousness of queer life on the page.
Naja Marie Aidt talks to John Freeman about her book When Death Takes Something from You Give It Back, and turning to writing in a time of overwhelming grief. (Literary Hub)
Shawn Wong remembers his early efforts to help get John Okada’s No-No Boy back in print in the 1970s. (Margins)
Justine Jordan, fiction editor for the Guardian, selects the best fiction of 2019.
And in more best books news, Katy Waldman selects her ten favorite reads of 2019. (New Yorker)
