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:
In an effort that appears to be a challenge to Amazon, as well as an easier way to track fast-paced e-book sales, three major publishers announced yesterday that they've added website features that allow authors to access book sales data directly. (New York Times)
Meanwhile, Amazon is in negotiations to enter the Japanese e-book market. (Reuters)
Today is National Day on Writing, and to celebrate, the New York Times lists myriad ways students, writers, educators, and the public can join in, including a #whyIwrite Twitter stream, videos, interviews, and more.
However, #whyIwrite is not the only Twitter feed to follow today—the Academy of American Poets' annual three-day series of readings and events, Poets Forum, begins today, and if you couldn't make it to New York City, follow along via the Twitter hashtag #PoetsForum.
In the Guardian's ongoing series, How to Write Fiction, novelist and poet Adam Foulds discusses the nuances of using description with meaning: "Description masters reality but it can only come after submission to experience, immersion in it."
Scott Rudin, the producer behind screen adaptations of No Country for Old Men, The Hours, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, and Revolutionary Road, among many others, will bring to HBO a half-hour comedy based on Karen Russell's recent novel, Swamplandia. (Hollywood Reporter)
The celebrated Canadian poet and songwriter, Leonard Cohen, now seventy-seven, will release a new album next year. (Reuters)
Reclusive American poet, Emily Dickinson, was evidently quite the baker. "Fame is a fickle food upon a shifting plate." (New York Times)
