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’s Halloween, so whether your plans involve gorging on candy or watching horror flicks, these fourteen books about witches should provide just the right amount of fright before bed. (Read it Forward)
Oh, are you actually a witch? In case you’ve been accused of witchcraft recently, Lapham’s Quarterly provides a handy flowchart to help you avoid the ultimate punishment, courtesy of 1468 witch hunting manual.
The Pat Conroy Literary Center celebrated an official soft opening on October 22, and appointed Jonathan Haupt as its first executive director. Located in the Conroy’s hometown of Beaufort, South Carolina, the Pat Conroy Literary Center was constructed to honor the author’s death in March. The nonprofit center will house Conroy’s literary archives, and will begin hosting educational writing workshops and programs in 2017.
Bob Dylan has finally broken his silence over the news of his Nobel Prize win, though it remains unclear whether or not he will attend the awards ceremony. (Guardian)
Author J. D. Vance discusses his new memoir, Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis, which examines the decline of Appalachian steel mining towns including his hometown of Middletown, Ohio. (Rumpus)
Barnes & Noble interim CEO Don Boire, who was let go less than a year after his hiring in September 2015, is receiving $4.8 million severance as part of a general release agreement. CEO Leonard Riggio is still postponing his retirement while the company continues to search for a new CEO. (Shelf Awareness)
Tomorrow begins the annual National Novel Writing Month—NaNoWriMo—which challenges writers to pen a fifty-thousand-word novel in thirty days. If you’re interested in joining in, the International Business Times shares ten tips to get you started.
