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:
Novelist Erica Kennedy, author of the 2004 hip-hop satire Bling, and 2009's Feminista, has passed away at her home in Florida. She was forty-two. (New York Times)
Writer Bassey Ikpi offers a remembrance of her friend, Erica Kennedy. (xoJane)
Best-selling author Alice Walker has refused an offer to publish a new Israeli edition of The Color Purple. In a letter to the publisher, she wrote Israel "is guilty of apartheid and persecution of the Palestinian people." (Guardian)
The latest kerfuffle in media: Newly hired staff writer Jonah Lehrer used portions of a 2011 Wall Street Journal essay (he penned) for a recent blog post at the New Yorker. Slate attempts to make sense of it all.
The American Libraries Association reports that a majority of public library technology budgets in 2012 either remained unchanged, or dropped. (AppNewser)
If you missed Riverhead Books’ first annual New York City fundraiser for VIDA, a grass-roots organization whose mission is to "explore critical and cultural perceptions of writing by women," Electric Literature has photos.
Capital was also at the VIDA party, and delivers the break down.
Laura Miller explains why a filmed adaptation of the erotic bestseller Fifty Shades of Grey may not be a bad idea, especially if David Cronenberg and Bret Easton Ellis are involved. (Salon)
Meanwhile, an October 26 release date has been announced for the film adaptation of David Mitchell's Cloud Atlas. (Hollywood Reporter)
The Wall Street Journal details the battle for proper grammar at the workplace.
