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:
Award-winning poet Kevin Young has been named the new director of the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture in Harlem, a division of the New York Public Library. Young is currently a professor and curator of rare books at Emory University. (New York Times)
The Association of Writers and Writing Programs (AWP) has released the demographics of its scheduled participants for the 2017 conference. The association published the demographics in response to previous complaints that the annual conference lacked diversity on its panels and events. (AWP)
Andrew Holgate, literary editor of the Sunday Times, criticized the recent eligibility rule changes for the Man Booker Prize, saying that making U.S. authors eligible has been “disastrous.” The longlist for the 2016 prize includes five American authors
A new online journal called CuratedAI publishes poetry and prose written by computer algorithms. The magazine was created as part of a larger project involving neural networking; creator Karmel Allison is interested in focusing on readers’ responses to poetry in which the creator’s intent is entirely removed. (Tor.com)
Novelist and memoirist Leigh Stein talks about her new memoir, Land of Enchantment, and the complex cycle of grieving abusive relationships. “I was willing to sacrifice anything to have those flashes of high. I’ve never had that with anyone else. I thought that’s what love was. I hope a lot of women see themselves in my story and realize they don’t have to be ashamed.” (Electric Literature)
Celebrity actor Taye Diggs recently posted a poem on his social media account addressing the effects of police violence on young children. The poem is told from the perspective of a young boy who finds his parents reacting to a television clip of an officer fatally shooting a black man. (Huffington Post)
“People who say they don’t need poetry, or don’t know poetry, or don’t like poetry, don’t realize that they probably can recite hundreds of poems verbatim.” Writer and translator Liesl Schillingerr makes the case for the memorability of poetry. (Los Angeles Times)
