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:
Last night marked “Burns Night,” the annual celebration of Scottish poet Robert Burns. If you celebrated by eating haggis and drinking Scotch, you can continue to honor the poet by following his walking routes throughout England and the Scottish Highlands. Burns scholars have mapped the poet’s eighteenth-century routes using notes from his handwritten journals and letters in hopes of “inspir[ing] people to engage with the work of Burns and consider him as a man who reacted to his surroundings.” (Guardian)
“There is no prescription for productivity, and writers must find environments that support them and lift them up.” At the Los Angeles Review of Books, Laurie Winer interviews actress, director, and author Lena Dunham about her writing, her critics, and the power of art.
Support local bookstores with ease: A new website called CityShelf allows users to search for specific books at independent bookstores in New York City. (Fast Company)
“There was life then and there is life now. And there is poetry, the bridge that carried her from one place to another.” At the New York Times, Rachel L. Swarns profiles journalist-turned-poet Patricia Smith.
Out of the 111 writers who have won the Nobel Prize in Literature, only thirteen are women. This infographic depicts the female Nobel Prize–winners, along with their “best novels and poems and words of wisdom.” (GalleyCat)
According to the Economist, e-book subscription services such as Scribd and Oyster will reduce book sales less than what publishers and authors predicted. E-book expert Andrew Rhomberg likens the services’ business model to that of gyms. “They are relying on lots of people signing up but not making much use of the service.”
Your Twitter account is about to get more poetic. The new website Poetweet allows you to turn your tweets into rondels, sonnets, and indriso poems. (Next Web)
