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 Myanmar’s recent election—which signified the end of five decades of military rule in the country—poet U Tin Thit was elected to Parliament, defeating a former general and minister of defense. Tin Thit, who is also a former political prisoner, was one of ten poets-turned-politicians registered as candidates for the National League of Democracy. (New York Times)
The Oxford Dictionaries word of the year for 2015 is…not a word at all. It is instead the “Face With Tears of Joy” emoji. The Oxford selection team chose the symbol as the “word” that “best reflected the ethos, mood, and preoccupations of 2015.” Last year’s word was “vape.” Before that, “selfie.”
Meanwhile, Amazon.com has named its book of the year—an actual book: Lauren Groff’s novel Fates and Furies, which is also a finalist for the National Book Award. Amazon’s editorial team selected the year’s top ten books, among which are Jonathan Franzen’s novel Purity and Paula Hawkins’s novel The Girl on the Train. (Guardian)
Speaking of The Girl on the Train, a novel with a similar title has received an unexpected sales boost. Thousands of confused readers looking to purchase Hawkins’s best-seller have mistakenly purchased, and read, A. J. Waines’s 2013 psychological thriller, Girl on a Train. (Wall Street Journal)
Scribner announced yesterday that Don DeLillo will publish a new novel, Zero K, in May 2016. DeLillo will accept the National Book Awards Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters this week. (Los Angeles Times)
“Marginalia is a flash of insight or anger, ossified, trapped in literary amber where it can be retrieved for a later reckoning.” A writer examines the hidden life of marginalia. (Millions)
Working in a morgue at age fifteen could certainly have some influence on one’s future writing. At the New York Times, Francine Prose and Leslie Jamison discuss the early jobs that informed their later work as writers.
