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:
The trailer for the long-awaited film adaptation of Lois Lowry’s classic young-adult novel, The Giver, has been released by the Weinstein Company and features a star-studded cast. (Time)
Meg Wolitzer will try her hand at young adult fiction with her new novel, Belzhar, which takes Sylvia Plath as its inspiration, forthcoming from Dutton in September. (NPR)
After Touchstone, an imprint of Simon & Schuster, dropped its publishing deal earlier this month with John Lefevre, author of Straight to Hell: True Tales of Deviance, Debauchery, and Billion-Dollar Deals, Grove Atlantic has agreed to publish the popular Twitter-user’s book inspired by supposed experiences working for Goldman Sachs. (GalleyCat)
The Washington Post argues that books are fighting a losing battle and suggests that Boston-based start-up Spritz, which improves reading speed, could help.
A set list of poet Richard Blanco’s recent reading at the Aspen Writers’ Foundation, complete with links to the full text of poems, is available at the Huffington Post.
Liz Wood reflects on Joyce Carol Oates’s recent reading at New York University’s Lillian Vernon Creative Writing House. (Electric Literature)
Novelists Pankaj Mishra and Daniel Mendelsohn discuss Harold Bloom’s 1994 book The Western Canon: The Books and School of the Ages, and ask whether this work of literary criticism would have the same reception in today’s market. (New York Times)
The Guardian considers readers’ devotion to underrated books, while the Irish Independent lists five writers of bestsellers who toil in relative obscurity.
Britain’s Canal & River Trust has named Jo Bell the country’s first poet laureate of canals and waterways. (Independent)
