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:
Has William Shakespeare’s true likeness been revealed at last? Botanist and historian Mark Griffiths asserts that an engraving made in a 16th-century botany book is the only portrait of Shakespeare made during his lifetime. Griffiths claims he decoded Shakespeare’s resemblance through decorative motifs and emblems surrounding the engraved figure. (BBC News)
“In its abrupt closure of a small program, City University has chosen to make the act of writing a political battle.…Language can diminish and language can enlarge. For our young people, to read and to be read matters.” At the Guardian, novelist and creative writing professor Madeleine Thien weighs in on the decision of the City University of Hong Kong to shut down its MFA program in creative writing last month. Thien, who feels the decision intends to limit free speech, is one of the founding faculty members of the program.
The pencil is getting a closer look. Opening in London this week, a new art exhibition called “The Secret Life of the Pencil” features large-scale photographs of the beloved writing instruments of famous authors and artists. Proceeds from the exhibit will be donated to the international charity Children in Crisis, which aids children in countries experiencing conflict and civil war. (T Magazine)
Independent publisher Restless Books has started a Kickstarter campaign to publish classic literary texts with accompanying scholarly videos. Miguel de Cervantes’s Don Quixote will be the first in the Restless Classics series, as this year marks the 400th anniversary of the book’s original publication.
At the New York Times, Margaret Sullivan considers how close a book reviewer should be to her subject: “What editors may see as compelling expertise, readers may see as bias.”
Upon completion of its two-year commitment, the Folio Society confirmed it would not renew its title sponsorship of the Folio Prize for Literature. The annual £40,000 award, which was originally established to rival the Man Booker Prize, recognizes the best English-language fiction published in the United Kingdom during the previous year, “regardless of form, genre, or an author’s country of origin.” (Bookseller)
Here’s a somewhat unlikely writing pair: A poet and a soldier-turned-attorney have published a novel. (Seattle Times)
