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:
“Fiction was useful as a reminder of the truths under the surface of what we argue about every day and was a way of seeing and hearing the voices, the multitudes of this country.” President Barack Obama speaks with New York Times book critic Michiko Kakutani about his love of reading and writing, and the value of reading novels and short stories during his presidency.
The day after president-elect Donald Trump’s recent feud with Georgia congressman and civil rights icon John Lewis, both of Lewis’s books sold out on Amazon, including his graphic novel March and his memoir, Walking the Wind: A Memoir of the Movement. (Washington Examiner)
Nobel Prize winner Svetlana Alexievich has left Russian PEN in protest of its decision to expel journalist Sergey Parkhomenko from the organization for “provocative activity.” Alexievich joins thirty other writers in withdrawal from PEN, including novelist Boris Akunin and poet Lev Rubinstein. (Guardian)
On Sunday, thousands of writers participated in more than ninety Writers Resist “counter-inauguration” events, which took place simultaneously in forty states and abroad. The events featured readings and performances of poetry, fiction, and speeches about the rights and ideals of free expression and democracy. The flagship event, cosponsored by PEN America, was held in New York City on the steps of the New York Public Library. (NBC News)
One of the writers who participated in the flagship Writers Resist event is lawyer and poet Monica Youn. At PBS NewsHour, Youn shares a poem she wrote in response to the election, and talks about the dichotomy, as well as the intersections, of her work as a lawyer and as a poet.
At the New Yorker, Nathan Heller profiles novelist and essayist Ayelet Waldman, whose memoir, A Really Good Day: How Microdosing Made a Mega Difference in My Mood, My Marriage, and My Life, is out now from Knopf.
The finalists for the National Book Critics Circle Awards have been announced, as well as the winners of three special prizes. Margaret Atwood received a lifetime achievement award, Yaa Gyasi received a first book award for her novel Homegoing, and Michelle Dean received an award for excellence in reviewing. The winners in the other six categories will be announced March 16. (Washington Post)
NPR’s Scott Simon interviews Henry Morgenthau III, who recently published his first poetry book at age one hundred.
