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:
“His work explores multiple identities and multiple forms of masculinity—how to be, or become, various kinds of men—but it is also an art of evasion…Hayes works to escape not the African-American identity but the demand that he (or anyone) express that identity in the same way all the time.” At the New York Times, literary critic Stephen Burt profiles the work of poet and MacArthur Genius Grant–recipient Terrance Hayes.
Detroit-based publisher Broadside Press—the oldest African-American publishing house in the country—has received a grant from the Knight Foundation to digitize its vast archive of African-American poetry. Broadside’s collection includes work from Gwendolyn Brooks, Nikki Giovanni, Etheridge Knight, Sonia Sanchez, Margaret Walker, Dudley Randall, and others.
The latest issue of Critical Flame commemorates the third anniversary of the death of poet Adrienne Rich with a series of essays on her work by editors and contemporary writers.
At the Atlantic, Sophie Gilbert revisits the almost forgotten 1990 film adaptation of Margaret Atwood’s best-known novel The Handmaid’s Tale. Gilbert discusses the film’s poor critical and audience reception, and why Atwood’s dystopian tale may still prove too “radical” for a more faithful screen version.
Irina Balakhonova, founder of Russian publishing house Samokat, has received the 2015 Jeri Laber International Freedom to Publish Award. Samokat publishes LGBT–themed works despite Russia’s homophobic culture and ban on publications with such themes. (Shelf Awareness)
HarperCollins has agreed to provide 14,000 of its backlisted titles to a new subscription platform called Playster. HarperCollins is the first major book publisher to sign a contract with Playster, which currently offers subscribers access to music, games, TV shows, and films for a monthly fee. (Publishers Weekly)
Charles Bukowski, the “laureate of American low life,” had a surprising fondness for felines. In October, Canongate will posthumously publish On Cats, a collection of Bukowski’s previously unpublished poems that reveals a gentler side of the poet known for writing about alcohol and unhealthy relationships. Two other posthumous collections by the author, On Writing and On Love, will be published in July and next February, respectively. (Independent)
