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Every day the editors of Poets & Writers Magazine scan the headlines—publishing reports, literary dispatches, academic announcements, and more—for all the news that creative writers need to know.
A group show currently on display at the Flag Art Foundation in New York City features artworks based on John Cheever’s short story “The Swimmer,” which was published by the New Yorker sixty years ago this summer. According to New York Times critic Walker Mimms, the show is “a model for how to handle literature in an art gallery.”
Poet and critic Stephanie Burt writes in Vanity Fair about the Taylor Swift class she taught at Harvard University.
Alta interviews the founder of Betty, a new publishing venture that seeks to publish women authors who “often face multiple, intersecting challenges in the literary world, including ageism.”
A study by the University of Colorado in Boulder of recent efforts to ban books “found that more than half of all banned books were children’s books about historical figures and those featuring diverse characters, including LGBTQ+ and people of color," reports Colorado Public Radio. “Authors of color were 4.5 times more likely to be banned than white authors, particularly women of color who were more likely to write children’s books that feature diverse characters.”
Author Paul Theroux offers advice to aspiring writers in the New York Times. “When someone confides to me that they think they might have an ambition to write, I suggest they leave home—go away, get a job. Never enter a ‘writing program.’”
One of six privately held copies of the original productions of Romantic poet William Blake’s Songs of Innocence and of Experience sold at auction last week for $4.3 million, more than twice the expected price, reports Barron’s. The book—which came with a letter by fellow Romantic poet Samuel Coleridge, who once borrowed it from its first owner, Blake’s friend and patron Charles Augustus Tulk—contains some of Blake’s most famous poems, including “The Tyger.”
More than three months after Small Press Distribution closed, leaving hundreds of small presses scrambling to find ways to distribute their books, indie publishers are finding their way. According to Publishers Weekly, “[a]pproximately 25% of the stranded publishers have found new distributors: Asterism Books has signed about 80 presses, Itasca Books has onboarded 21, and Independent Publishers Group has taken on 11.”
Waywiser Press, a literary press based in the U.K. that distributes in the U.S. and publishes U.S.-based authors, has announced that its editor in chief, Philip Hoy, will retire at the end of next year while its associate editors are in the process of forming a nonprofit organization called Waywiser Books in the U.S. The nonprofit publisher will continue its annual Anthony Hecht Poetry Prize as well as establish the Hoy-Harrison Prize in honor of Hoy and the late Joseph Harrison, the press’s American editor, who died this year.
Keys Weekly reports on the upcoming festivities in Key West, Florida, planned for Hemingway Days, to be held July 16 to July 21. The literary festival celebrates the life and legacy of author Ernest Hemingway, who lived in Key West for nearly a decade, until late 1939.
After a campaign in the U.K. called Fossil Free Books pressured the literary world to divest from fossil fuels in an effort to fight climate change, nine book festivals cut ties with sponsor Baillie Gifford, an investment company with links to the fossil fuel industry. Those nine festivals are now looking for new funding to support their work, reports the Guardian; the publisher Bloomsbury has already stepped in to help cover costs.
Publishers Weekly offers a dispatch from the annual American Library Association conference, held last week in San Diego. Fighting for the right to read amid book-banning efforts nationwide was at the top of the agenda.
The New Yorker’s annual fiction issue has words by Edwidge Danticat, Haruki Murakami, Annie Proulx, Sally Rooney, and a look at the U.K. publisher Fitzcarraldo Editions.
Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment, which is connected to the Chicken Soup for the Soul series of motivational books, has filed for bankruptcy. The publishing arm of the business—which also owns Redbox, the DVD rental kiosk chain—is separate from the larger company and is “unaffected by the bankruptcy filing,” reports the New York Times.
A very rare copy of Edgar Allan Poe’s first poetry collection, Tamerlane and Other Poems, sold at auction last week for $420,000. On Literary Hub Bradford Morrow contemplates how it stacks up against other bookish auction items, including the cover art for Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, which sold for $1.92 million.
In an initiative called “Books Not Bans,” a worker at Fabulosa Books in San Francisco's Castro District is “shipping LGBTQ+ books to places where they are banned” in the U.S., reports NPR.
Publishers Weekly explores a “quiet crisis” at public libraries, where visits are half what they were ten years ago.
How to Come Alive With Norman Mailer, a new documentary about the author of The Naked and the Dead and The Executioner’s Song, who died in 2007, garners praise from the New York Times. “I’m impressed by how well the film balances criticism and fondness,” writes Alissa Wilkinson.
On JSTOR Daily Patricia Fancher considers how a love letter generator dating to 1952 anticipated the rise of generative AI chatbots like ChatGPT.
Melanie Tortoroli is the new executive editor of W. W. Norton. “Tortoroli first joined Norton in 2008 as an editorial assistant, rising to the position of assistant editor. She left in 2012, spending five years at Viking and doing a stint at Amazon, where she was a senior editor. In 2017 she returned returned to Norton as a senior editor, working to expand the trade department's cookbook line and to acquire general nonfiction. She was named a VP in 2023,” writes Publishers Weekly.
The New York Times speaks with romance novelist Emily Henry about how she has managed to publish five consecutive best-selling novels with little presence at live events or on social media.
In the Grio, actress Rosario Dawson discusses Our Words Collide, a new documentary she produced that profiles five Los Angeles poets.
Peter Chinman, known as the “Park Poet” of New York City, is pursuing a new line of work after seven years of making his “‘entire living writing poems for strangers,’” he tells People. “‘The thing is, I sort of hate all of the other street poets. They make me feel so bad about what I’m doing,’ he says. ‘I like some of them, but a few of them I find to be really clownish in a way that feels like it destabilizes my ability to do it wholeheartedly.’”
Authors Against Book Bans has officially launched. According to Publishers Weekly, “the group of ‘writers, illustrators, and creators’ in both the children’s and adult sectors will work to ‘organize authors on the national and local levels’ to support ‘grassroots groups already fighting book bans and challenges’ around the country.”
American Ballet Theater is performing Woolf Works at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York City this week, a three-act ballet based on Virginia Woolf’s novels. The New York Times calls the show “notably unmemorable.”
The Community of Literary Magazines and Presses (CLMP) has announced a round of grants from its Literary Magazine Fund, made with support from Amazon Literary Partnership, to twenty literary magazines, including to A Public Space, Alaska Quarterly Review, Callaloo Literary Journal, and Electric Literature. Applications for next year’s Literary Magazine Fund grants will open during spring 2025.
Novelist David Wroblewski, whose books have twice been picked for Oprah’s Book Club, explores his unconventional path to becoming a writer after a career as a computer programmer.
Celebrations of the life of James Baldwin are gearing up this summer as August 2, which would have been the author’s one hundredth birthday, approaches. Among upcoming centennial events this summer are an exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C., which author Hilton Als helped conceptualize; an evening of readings and performances at the Mechanics’ Institute in San Francisco; special publications by Baldwin’s publishers; and more.
“An historic bibliophilic event” will unfold this month when one of only two known private copies of Edgar Allan Poe’s debut poetry collection, Tamerlane and Other Poems, goes up for auction, Bradford Morrow writes on Literary Hub. With only forty or fifty copies published in 1827, Tamerlane is “the rarest book in American literature.”
Amid an unprecedented rise in attempts to ban books from school and public libraries, particularly those with queer themes, LGBTQ library workers have been feeling stressed and unsafe, reports the Christian Science Monitor.
A startup company called Created by Humans is pitching itself as help for book authors who wish to license their work to AI companies, writes Axios. The company promises to solve “authors’ key challenges with AI: control over if and how our work is used by AI companies, the accuracy of outputs referencing our work, and getting compensation for our work’s use,” says journalist and author Walter Isaacson, who is the company’s creative advisor and “founding author.”
After the closure of Small Press Distribution, indie publishers are considering forming cooperatives to distribute their books, reports Publishers Weekly. Read more about the closure of Small Press Distribution in the current issue of Poets & Writers Magazine.
Willamette Week explores Kwame Dawes’s appointment as poet laureate of Jamaica, which was announced in April. A native of Ghana, Dawes immigrated to Jamaica in 1971. He is a chancellor of the Academy of American Poets, editor in chief of Prairie Schooner, and an English professor at the University of Nebraska in Lincoln.
The Guardian reports on the exclusion of writers from the northern part of England in the nation’s literary world, which revolves around London.
The Daily, a podcast from the New York Times, reports on the “army of poets and students” that have joined Myanmar’s civil war to fight the Southeast Asian nation’s military dictatorship.
Sadie Stein, an editor of the New York Times Book Review, offers a love letter to Cricket, a literary magazine for children founded in 1973.
Literary Hub considers the financial plight of freelance book critics, who reportedly make less than minimum wage.
Business Insider reports on Amazon’s book sales, which are apparently booming. The company, which had bookselling at the center of its business model when it was founded in 1994, reportedly sold $16.9 billion worth of books in the first ten months of 2022.
Publishers Weekly reports on strong book sales over the past several months, reversing a difficult start to the year in the book business.
Mariner Books has announced that its Best American Series for 2024 will be published in October. The guest editors of the anthologies, which collect the year’s standout fiction and nonfiction, are S. A. Cosby for mystery and suspense, Lauren Groff for short stories, Hugh Howey for science fiction and fantasy, Padma Lakshmi for food and travel writing, Bill McKibben for science and nature writing, and Wesley Morris for essays. The Best American Poetry series is published by Scribner.
In the Atlantic scholars Dan Sinykin and Richard Jean So ask whether positive movements toward diversity in publishing will continue or may slow due to a backlash.
The New York Times delves into the role of Black women librarians during the Harlem Renaissance.
A beloved bookstore chain in Denver, Tattered Cover, has been purchased by Barnes & Noble, reports Publishers Weekly. “Tattered Cover will keep its name and branding, and B&N anticipates that it will retain a majority of the 70 people currently employed at the four locations.”
Publishers Weekly reports on the International Book Arsenal Festival, held last week in Kyiv, Ukraine. “Despite the recent tragedy and the ongoing challenges posed by the war, the 12th International Book Arsenal Festival saw an impressive turnout, attracting 35,000 visitors. The expanded program featured more than 260 participants across 160 events involving upwards of 100 publishers and five bookstores.”
On Literary Hub Maris Kreizman considers how more authors are enlisting publicists outside their publishing houses to get their books in front of readers and whether this is the only path forward to build an audience.
On JSTOR Daily Jess Romeo considers the early influences on the work of science-fiction legend Octavia Butler.
Two Dollar Radio Headquarters, the bookstore and café owned by publisher Two Dollar Radio in Columbus, Ohio, is welcoming a new co-owner, reports Publishers Weekly. Gary Lovely, who currently works as the store manager of Prologue Bookshop in Columbus, “will steer the day-to-day operations of the storefront, and plans to bump the store’s inventory from 1,000 titles to 3,000.”
Author Arundhati Roy is being prosecuted by the Indian government due to her public statements in 2010 critiquing India’s treatment of Kashmir, reports the Guardian. “While Roy, 62, is one of India’s most famous living authors, her activism and outspoken criticism of [Narendra] Modi’s government, including over laws targeting minorities, have made her a polarising figure in India.”
The Star Tribune reports on changes at the Loft Literary Center in Minneapolis, including the replacement of its annual Wordplay festival with a series of quarterly author events. Read an interview with the Loft’s executive director, Arleta Little, in the current issue of Poets & Writers Magazine.
Restless Books has launched a poetry line of works in translation and English originals emphasizing international, immigrant, and Indigenous poets, reports Publishers Weekly.
A new biography of Thom Gunn is out this week, shedding light on the acclaimed late poet who “has always been a puzzle.”
Why are books suddenly the go-to accessory for fashion brands? Vogue investigates.
Esquire reports on the movement to ban books inside prisons.
Tomorrow the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture in New York City will host its sixth annual literary festival, with author talks, readings, a marketplace, and more. Also tomorrow, the city’s Strand Book Store will be hosting its ninety-seventh anniversary celebration, with author events, a documentary screening, and more.
In the New York Review of Books Isabella Hammad considers why so many writers have “treated pro-Palestine speech as a threat.”
The New York Times reports from inside High Valley Books, a vintage bookshop with more than fifty thousand books and magazines located in Bill Hall’s home in the Greenpoint neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York.
Harper’s Bazaar profiles Joyce Carol Oates, who at eighty-six has published more than sixty novels.
The Lambda Literary Awards ceremony took place this week. The organization, which supports LGBTQ literature, awarded authors in twenty-six categories, including Catherine Lacey for Biography of X in Lesbian Fiction, Myriam Gurba for Creep: Accusations and Confessions in Bisexual Nonfiction, and Teeter by Kimberly Alidio in Lesbian Poetry. Read the full list in People.
Authors Equity, a new publishing company run by former Big Five publishing executives that promises to send more profits to writers, has announced its first ten titles, including a novel by James Frey, a self-help book by Rachel Hollis, and an anthology of short fiction by contributors to Kweli Journal, among others. The startup has been criticized by those in the literary community who see the company’s structure as a symptom of the gig economy that undercompensates part-time workers.
The Association of Writers & Writing Programs (AWP) has announced the retirement of executive director Cynthia Sherman after twelve years in the role. AWP has launched a national search for Sherman’s successor.
Axios explores “a new Latin American literary boom” and the role of women translators in the phenomenon.
In Harper’s Bazaar novelist Kaitlyn Greenidge interviews Nikole Hannah-Jones, author of The 1619 Project, about the expansion of a Black literary salon Hannah-Jones runs in Brooklyn, New York.
Author Emily Gould, the Cut’s advice columnist, considers whether a writer’s family should be warned about the sex scenes in their book.
NPR considers the nuances of the term book ban; its meaning “depends on who you ask.”
UNESCO has named Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, as the World Book Capital for 2025. The designation reflects the city’s “clearly defined vision and action plan to promote literature, sustainable publishing and reading among young people tapping into digital technologies,” according to a statement. This year’s World Book Capital is Strasbourg, France, where the New York Times recently reported on the local literary scene.
After establishing itself as a literary hotspot in the City of Brotherly Love, hosting more than one hundred author and book events a year, the Free Library of Philadelphia has fired its entire author-events team, leading to the cancellation of book launches and other scheduled dates this month, reports Publishers Weekly.
The New York Times reports on the rise of worker-owned bookstores with social-justice missions.
The Boston Globe reports on U.S. Poet Laureate Ada Limón’s signature project, You Are Here: Poetry in Parks. The project will launch Friday in Provincetown, Massachusetts, where Limón will unveil a picnic table at the trailhead of the Beech Forest Trail that has been overlaid with Mary Oliver’s poem “Can You Imagine?” The Beech Forest Trail picnic table will be one of seven tables nationwide transformed into public art installations emblazoned with poetry.
The Guardian reports on the work of Fossil Free Books, a U.K. organization that has been advocating for literary-festival organizers to pressure a major financial supporter—Baillie Gifford, an asset-management company—to terminate investments in fossil fuels and companies with ties to Israel, due to the nation’s war in Gaza that has reportedly killed nearly thirty-five thousand Palestinians. “Despite its role in bringing the asset manager’s sponsorships to an end, the activist group has faced criticism that ‘not a dime has been divested from fossil fuels’.”
In the New Republic, author Emma Copley Eisenberg considers the ubiquity of fatphobia in American fiction.
The Cut reports on the vibes at last week’s twentieth anniversary gala for the literary magazine n+1, ranking elements from atmosphere to celebrity esteem.
The three-story house in Portland, Oregon, where Ursula K. Le Guin wrote some of her most beloved books will become the Ursula K. Le Guin Writers Residency, reports the Associated Press. The house was donated to the Portland nonprofit Literary Arts by the family of Le Guin, who died in 2018 at age eighty-eight. Le Guin “had a clear vision for her home to become a creative space for writers and a beacon for the broader literary community,” says Andrew Proctor, director of Literary Arts, which will manage the residency.
The New York Times explores how TikTok is contributing to more English books selling in Europe.
