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.
Sonny Mehta, the renowned editor and longtime leader of Alfred A. Knopf, died at age seventy-seven on Monday. At the New York Times, authors remember Mehta’s intelligence, emotion, and grace: “He came to literature from a place of love, and that love is evident in every book he ever touched,” writes Omar El Akkad.
A new imprint at the National Autonomous University of Mexico is highlighting works by Latin American women writers that have fallen out of print. (Guardian)
“Even if the subject matter is dark, I still want it to be an entertaining ride.” Jami Attenberg talks to the Millions about experimenting with structure in her latest novel, All This Could Be Yours.
R. O. Kwon has gathered a list of fifty-five books from women and nonbinary writers of color that are forthcoming in 2020. (Electric Literature)
Eric Baus believes drone music can serve as a generative model for reading and writing poetry. “I like to think of poetry and drone music as weird, unwieldy correspondents exerting invisible gravities on one another’s orbits.” (Harriet)
The Chicago Review of Books recommends ten books coming out in January, including one story collection, one poetry collection, and several novels and works of nonfiction.
John Yau and Albert Mobilio reflect on the year in poetry and note a few of their favorite collections. (Hyperallergic)
The staff at the New York Times select twenty books to watch out for in 2020. Two early titles include Cleanness by Garth Greenwell and Uncanny Valley by Anna Wiener.
