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:
HarperCollins plans to buy Harlequin [2], the Canadian publisher of popular romance books, for $455 million. (Publishers Weekly)
Cambridge, Massachusetts–based start-up BookBub has raised $3.8 million [3] to help publishers and authors sell e-books. (Wall Street Journal)
Prompted by a conversation with his son, novelist Will Self considers the demise of the novel [4]. (Guardian)
Actress and memoirist Diane Keaton talks with the New York Times [5] about her favorite literary genre, the last book that made her cry, and her love of audiobooks.
An online campaign calling for diversity in literature went viral [6] yesterday; authors Jodi Picoult, Chuck Wendig, and Emily M. Danforth were among many who weighed in using the hashtag #WeNeedDiverseBooks on Twitter, Tumblr, and other social media outlets. (Salon)
Meanwhile, British rock band Coldplay used Twitter to send fans on a scavenger hunt through various libraries in cities around the world, promising that lyrics to their new album would be hidden inside books [7]. (GalleyCat)
Writer Jeremy Greenfield encourages readers of Forbes to take advantage of e-books available on loan at local libraries [8]—a service that only three to six percent of Americans are currently utilizing.
George Prochnik, author of a biography of writer Stefan Zweig titled The Impossible Exile, examines the effects of travel on the creative process [9]. (New Yorker)
Electric Literature recently celebrated the one hundredth issue of its Recommended Reading [10] series, hosting an event that featured appearances by Jennifer Egan and James Hannaham.