Every day Poets & Writers Magazine scans the headlines—publishing reports, literary dispatches, academic announcements, and more—for all the news that creative writers need to know. Here are today’s stories.
The Community of Literary Magazines and Presses has revealed the winners of this year’s Firecracker Awards, which celebrate independently published books and magazines. The poetry, nonfiction, and fiction honorees are The Malevolent Volume by Justin Phillip Reed, The Names of All the Flowers by Melissa Valentine, and Where the Wild Ladies Are by Aoko Matsuda, translated by Polly Barton. Meanwhile, Lucky Jefferson earned the prize for best debut magazine and Mizna received the prize for general excellence. CHAX Press and its founder, Charles Alexander, were honored with the Lord Nose Award, which is given “in recognition of a lifetime of work in literary publishing.”
Mariana Oliver and Julia Sanches, the author and the translator of Migratory Birds, discuss the collaborative art of translation. “I always read out loud whatever I am writing,” says Oliver. “I remember vividly an afternoon when Julia was asking me questions about the text. I asked her to read her translation to decide which version I liked better.” (Rumpus)
“After we move down a certain point in the natural arch of our life spans, we accrue less instead of the more that we spent decades gathering. Companions die, bodies soften, slowing minds become outpaced.” Kristen Radtke shares a graphic short on family, loneliness, and aging. (Vox)
“We’re not content just to feed ourselves and reproduce and then die. We’ve got to keep asking ourselves, ‘Have I made a contribution? Have I been a good…?’” Kazuo Ishiguro muses on the nature of human beings and human endeavor. (Washington Post)
“I always wanted to write a whodunit. This is a confession! I would come across ideas and think, this would make a good mystery.” Wole Soyinka reflects on returning to the novel form with his new book, Chronicles From the Land of the Happiest People on Earth. (Millions)
“Now seems like a good time to move forward, into a new, more exciting world. We’ve seen hatred; what does love look like?” Cody Lee discusses adopting and subverting the sitcom form in his debut screenplay, The Everys. (Chicago Review of Books)
Poet and scholar Judith Farr, highly regarded for her academic writing on Emily Dickinson, died last week at age eighty-five. (Washington Post)
Orion has shared a poetry reading list for Pride Month, with recommendations from Camille T. Dungy, Rigoberto González, and Ellen Bass, among others.
