Every day Poets & Writers Magazine scans the headlines—publishing reports, literary dispatches, academic announcements, and more—for all the news that creative writers need to know. Here are today’s stories.
“The contemporary American book review is first and foremost an audition — for another job, another opportunity, another day in the content mine, hopefully with better lighting and tools, but at the very least with better pay.” The editors of n+1 consider the state of the book review.
TIME interviews authors who have been subject to harassment, including extortion, cyberstalking, and review bombing, on Goodreads. Many authors report that it was near impossible to get Goodreads to take action to rectify or prevent attacks.
The Mid-America Arts Alliance in Kansas City, Missouri, is amplifying poet’s voices—literally—through “Forgotten Stories,” a new exhibition in which poetry is played through speakers outside its building. Six poets, who hail from the six states the organization represents—Arkansas, Kansas, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Texas, and Missouri—were each invited to write two poems about “things that history books have neglected or forgotten” for the project. (KCUR)
Last year the Chatham Square branch of the New York Public Library and the Asian American Writers’ Workshop partnered to launch a virtual conversation series with Asian American authors. Ahead of the second season of the program, which will begin in September, Arthur Ling of Chatham Square has compiled a list of the books that the first season’s writers said “first made them feel culturally represented.”
“When I write and I reflect and process whatever is going on, sometimes it helps me have a clear vision for what needs to happen legislatively to move the city forward.” Torrance Harvey, the mayor of Newburgh, New York, reflects on his poetry practice. (Times Herald–Record)
“I’m attracted to things that I either am really good at and that I can just do comfortably, but I’ve also learned to appreciate things that are a little hard, where even the small successes become immensely rewarding.” Eve E. Ewing reflects on working in different artistic disciplines. (Creative Independent)
Jared Klegar recommends seven short stories that “affirm athletes’ humanity, capturing them in all their flawed glory.” (Electric Literature)
Insider highlights ten bookstores in unique spaces, including Word on the Water in London and Atlantis Books in Santorini, Greece.
