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.
A new sculpture honoring writer and feminist icon Mary Wollstonecraft has been unveiled in London. Designed by the artist Maggie Hambling, the statue—which shows a naked woman perched upon a wave of abstract feminine forms—has been met with mixed reactions from the public. Writer Bee Rowlatt, one of the organizers behind the statue, defended the monument: “It’s a challenging artwork, and it’s meant to be.” (Guardian)
PEN America has announced the winners of its inaugural PEN America/L’Engle-Rahman Prize, which celebrates outstanding mentor-mentee pairs from the organization’s writing mentorship program for incarcerated people. (ABC News)
“My strategy, whenever I reached a point of hesitation, was to ask the surrounding features of the poem to suggest a continuity that might guide me forward.” Tracy K. Smith describes translating the work of Chinese poet Yi Lei. (Literary Hub)
“All you really want is for it is to find the reader in the world.” In a profile at Vulture, Douglas Stuart considers the breakout success of his debut novel, Shuggie Bain.
“Wailers disrupt the social order through the public use of their voice. They refuse to remain silent about tragedy or loss.” Examining literature, film, and personal memory, Renee Simms writes about the act of wailing. (Guernica)
“The most important poems end up being the ones I haven’t written yet.” Michael Torres reflects on the images and lines that aren’t yet poems. (Harriet)
A new podcast called Love and War examines the queer identities of a number of British poets who served in World War I. (Forbes)
The Los Angeles Times reports on “one of publishing’s most thriving genres”: books about Donald Trump.
