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The Impact Library Program, an initiative of the nonprofit Little Free Library, brings free miniature libraries to communities where books are scarce to encourage a love of reading and improve literacy across the country.
The Ford Foundation and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation have launched a fellowship program that honors disabled writers and artists in a variety of disciplines with grants of $50,000 each.
Kimberly Drew and Jenna Wortham’s book, Black Futures, comprises more than five hundred pages of poetry, artwork, memes, essays, and lyrics from Black artists.
A roundtable with the editors of The Ferrante Project; Eula Biss talks analyzing capitalism from a personal lens; Aaron Benanav discusses the labor crises of the contemporary age; and other stories.
John le Carré has died at age eighty-nine; Poets & Writers Magazine investigates the Poets House dispute; poet Amy Key discovers lessons from Blue by Joni Mitchell; and other stories.
The author of Thin Places recalls failed attempt after failed attempt to maintain a strict writing schedule.
Fiction writer Anthony Veasna So has died; Daniel Halpern to leave Ecco at the end of the year; Akwaeke Emezi writes on learning to live with disability; and other stories.
The Association of Authors’ Representatives rebrands as the Association of American Literary Agents; Tattered Cover in Denver sold to new owners; Kid Cudi to adapt Brandon Taylor’s Real Life; and other stories.
Controversy brews over Spanish-language rights to Louise Glück’s work; Goodreads reveals winners of this year’s Goodreads Choice Awards; Melville House publisher Dennis Johnson speaks out against the pending merger of Penguin Random House and Simon & Schuster; and other stories.
Last month, Poets & Writers’ Readings and Workshops program, with support from the Hearst Foundation, cofunded three virtual literary events for the 2020 New Orleans Words and Music Festival. Due to the pandemic this year, instead of purchasing tickets, donations were suggested to attend virtual events. Proceeds from the four-day festival provide literacy resources for adults, education programs for incarcerated adults and teens, and free community programming in New Orleans through Words & Music’s parent organization, One Book One New Orleans. Here are the three events:
1. Queering the South: LGBTQ+ Writers on Home, Love, and History
A discussion and reading curated by New Orleans poet Brad Richard with a panel featuring Matthew Draughter, M’Bilia Meekers, and Megan Volpert.
2. Heartbreak, or Research? Poets on the Writing Process
A discussion and reading curated by Stacey Balku with panelists Elizabeth Gross, Skye Jackson, Aimee Nezhukumatathil, Melinda Palacio, and Rebecca Morgan Frank.
3. The Power of Jazz and Place in Tom Dent Poetry: A Workshop With Skye Jackson
Writers from an earlier workshop hosted by Skye Jackson were invited to read their work, including Stacey Balkun, Joshua Benitez, Liz Granite, Sonny Miro, Kiana Naquin, and Lisa O’Neill.
Bonus: Poets, Presidents, and Pandemics: A Reading for These Times
Catch our literary outreach coordinators from Houston and Detroit, Lupe Mendez and Justin Rogers, read with Pulitzer Prize–winning author Tyehimba Jess for a virtual event I curated.
If you missed the festival or any affiliated events, you can view them at the YouTube channel for One Book One New Orleans.
Find out more about funding for events through the Readings & Workshops program.
Kelly Harris is the literary outreach coordinator for Poets & Writers in New Orleans. Contact her at NOLA@pw.org or on Twitter, @NOLApworg.
