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:
“I felt from an early age that poetry was something mysterious, something playful and lilting. As I got older, poems began to offer me new and life-changing ways of looking at the familiar world.” In the latest installment of By the Book, poet Tracy K. Smith talks about when she became interested in poetry, what she reads to her kids, and what she’s reading next. (New York Times)
Saxophonist Benjamin Boone has released The Poetry of Jazz, a recording of the late Philip Levine reading his poetry alongside jazz musicians including Boone himself, trumpeter Tom Harrell, and saxophonists Chris Potter, Greg Osby, and Branford Marsalis. Levine recorded the sessions a few years before his death in 2015. (NPR)
Last spring, 314 books—estimated to be worth $5 million in total—were stolen from the rare book collection of the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh. In hopes of aiding the police investigation, the library has released a list of the stolen titles, which include first editions of Isaac Newton’s Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica and Adam Smith’s The Wealth of Nations. (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)
U.K. anti-racist group Hope Not Hate has published an investigation of booksellers—including Amazon, Waterstones, Foyles, and WHSmith—that sell anti-Semitic books. The group has called on the booksellers to remove the titles from their shelves. (Guardian)
In response to Kentucky governor Matt Blevin’s state budget proposal, which would force the University Press of Kentucky to close, the Great Lakes Independent Booksellers Association and the Midwest Independent Booksellers have issued a joint statement voicing their support for the press. (Publishers Weekly)
“Twin Peaks forever rewired the circuitry of the apparatus I use to scan and interpret American life.” Michael Chabon on the truths and dreams in filmmaker David Lynch’s work. (Paris Review)
Listen to Chabon discuss the writing process and his most recent novel, Moonglow, in episode 10 of Ampersand: The Poets & Writers Podcast.
Parul Sehgal considers the Bhagavad Gita—the “most enigmatic of religious texts, a masterpiece of moral ambiguity” loved by everyone from Simone Weil to Steve Bannon—and a new translation of the Hindu scripture by radiologist and writer Amit Majmudar. (New York Times)
“Esther the Wonder Pig,” “Goats of Anarchy,” and “Fiona the Hippo”: Publishers Weekly surveys the real-life animals making a splash in the world of children’s picture books.
