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:
Inspired by Susan Orlean’s new book, The Library Book, twelve writers—including Barbara Kingsolver, Annie Proulx, Amy Tan, and Julia Alvarez—share their favorite libraries. (New York Times)
Orlean and Kingsolver are both featured in the most recent issue of Poets & Writers and Ampersand: The Poets & Writers Podcast.
“I just feel like everything in the world encourages me to lie...and so when I’m writing, I just want to try as hard as possible not to.” Kiese Laymon talks with Bim Adewunmi about writing his new memoir, Heavy. (BuzzFeed News)
Online betting company Ladbrokes predicts that Daisy Johnson will take home the 2018 Booker Prize, which will be announced tonight in London. (Guardian)
Meanwhile, Booker Prize finalist Esi Edugyan talks with NPR about Black genius, the enduring effects of slavery, and her recent book, Washington Black.
In other award news: Jenny Allen, John Hodgman, and Patricia Lockwood have been named as the finalists for the 2018 Thurber Prize for American Humor.
José Olivarez, Jose Antonio Vargas, and Julissa Arce share their experiences writing and living undocumented in America. (New York Times)
Guernica interviews critic and writer Merve Emre about rethinking personality, holding writers to a high standard, and writing bad reviews. (Read Emre’s latest bad review at the Atlantic.)
Open Culture shares a recording of Haruki Murakami’s hour-long stint as a DJ for a Japanese radio station.
