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:
Why is poetry currently trending in the commercial fine art world? Perhaps its anti-commercial quality makes it the last continent for the art world to—gasp!—exploit. “[Poetry] offers artists and curators a mode of communication that seems the opposite of artspeak SEO because it has no instrumental value.” Hey, now. (New Inquiry)
Musician Jeff Tweedy has contributed a song to a new tribute album that commemorates the hundredth anniversary of Carl Sandburg’s landmark collection, Chicago Poems. On the album, Tweedy musically interprets Sandburg’s “Theme in Yellow.” (Consequence of Sound)
Late Night Library interviews poet Tyehimba Jess about his latest collection, Olio, and how it examines the complex and intertwined themes of exhibitionism, performance, exploitation, and oppression.
Acclaimed fiction writer Colson Whitehead discusses how he got the idea for his new book, The Underground Railroad; the limits of racial progress; and his decision to write a book that scares him. “I find the last pages very hopeful, but still, wherever we go, we’re still in America, which is an imperfect place.” The Underground Railroad was released yesterday—one month early—to coincide with the announcement that Oprah had chosen the title for her book club. (New York Times, Entertainment Weekly)
Speaking of Colson Whitehead, fiction writer Brit Bennett looks at the history of slave narratives and how a new generation of writers, including Whitehead, forces readers “to see through the veil to witness the violence a nineteenth-century narrator might have been forced to hide.” (New Republic)
Novelist Aaron Their writes at the Nation about the various translations of Irish author Máirtín Ó Cadhain’s 1949 novel Cré na Cille, often considered the “greatest Irish-language novel of the twentieth century.”
In her monthly writer advice column, Blunt Instrument, poet Elisa Gabbert answers reader questions about writing towards trends and whether or not publishers are looking to only publish project-based poetry books. (Electric Literature)
Actor and comedian Patton Oswalt announced that he will publish his wife’s unfinished book about the Golden State Killer. Oswalt’s wife, Michelle McNamara, was a true crime writer who died unexpectedly in April. (Splitsider)
