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:
“It is imperative that we understand what Trump’s attack on the arts is really about. It’s not about making America a drab and miserable place, nor is it about a belief in austerity or denying resources to communities in need…. It’s about control. It’s about creating a society where propaganda reigns and dissent is silenced.” Writer and sociologist Eve L. Ewing pens an op-ed for the New York Times against the government’s proposed elimination of the National Endowment for the Arts.
Flatiron Books has acquired three books by Joe Biden—two written by the former vice president, one co-written with his wife, Dr. Jill Biden—in a deal rumored to be valued at $8 million. (Publishers Weekly)
“I found that Solnit’s faith in feminist storytelling, in the notion that amplifying women’s voices might truly have the power to transform the world, sometimes exceeded my own.” Moira Donegan considers Rebecca Solnit’s new book, The Mother of All Questions, and the impact of feminist storytelling. (New Yorker)
Guernica interviews writer Siri Hustvedt about scientific theories of mind, her interest in mysticism, and how she became a feminist at age fourteen.
Open Culture takes a look at Edgar Allen Poe’s excursion into natural philosophy with his textbook, The Conchologist’s First Book: A System of Testaceous Malacology, arranged Expressly for the Use of Schools. The textbook was Poe’s best-selling book in his lifetime, though biographer Jeffrey Meyers says it was “absolutely guaranteed to torment and discourage even the most passionately interested schoolboy.”
“When you’re confronted with your community being rendered invisible to the culture-at-large, a mission as straightforward as nurturing and promoting your community’s storytellers can, in my view, be viewed as a form of activism.” Francisco Aragón, the founder and director of the University of Notre Dame’s Letras Latinas initiative, which promotes and encourages the work of Latinx poets and writers, talks about activism and creating community. (Split This Rock)
At the New York Times, Katherine Rosman relates how publishers and writers are struggling to reconcile contradictory reporting and write accurate biographies of Donald Trump aimed towards children.
Sarah Gerard talks about her new essay collection, Sunshine State; her home state of Florida, an “endlessly rich place;” and her recovery from anorexia. (Creative Loafing Tampa Bay)
