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:
Human-rights groups, international cultural figures, and arts organizations have joined together to call for the release of Palestinian artist and poet Ashraf Fayadh, who faces execution in Saudi Arabia after being convicted of renouncing Islam. Organizations and individuals including British poet laureate Carol Ann Duffy, playwright David Hare, and Egyptian novelist Ahdaf Soueif have signed a statement condemning Fayadh’s conviction; the letter will be delivered to the Saudi embassy in London on Friday. (Guardian)
Random House is set to publish English translations of three books by Belarusian writer Svetlana Alexievich, winner of the 2015 Nobel Prize in Literature. The first translation, Second-Hand Time, will be released in the summer of 2016; the following two works, War’s Unwomanly Face and Last Witnesses, will be published in 2017. Each work features “oral histories compiled from extensive interviews.” (GalleyCat)
From hybrid nonfiction to short stories in translation, Flavorwire offers its picks for the fifty best books published by independent presses in 2015.
Ta-Nahesi Coates—winner of this year’s National Book Award in nonfiction—writes about the virtues of creating art that does not make hope its central mission. “Hope for hope’s sake, hope as tautology, hope because hope, hope because ‘I said so,’ is the enemy of intelligence. One can say the same about the opposing pole of despair. Neither of these—hope or despair—are ‘wrong.’ They each reflect human sentiment, much like anger, sadness, love, and joy. Art that uses any of these to say something larger interests me. Art that takes any of these as its aim does not.” (Atlantic)
St. Martin’s Press has announced that it will publish “Adnan’s Story,” a book about Adnan Syed, the subject of the hit podcast “Serial,” in September. Rabia Chaudry, a friend of Syed who was featured in the podcast, will write the book. (Los Angeles Times)
At Electric Literature, John Freeman profiles the work of poet and novelist Ben Lerner, who received a MacArthur “Genius Grant” earlier this year.
Are you ready for tomorrow’s time-honored American tradition of gluttonous feasting ? Consume these passages to excess with this Thanksgiving reading list provided by Literary Hub.
