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:
Women writers weigh in on the trickiness of taking a good author photo, and the pressure to “not come across as too girlish, or mean, or bitchy.” (Racked)
Last weekend the Museum of the Bible opened in Washington, D.C., two blocks from the Smithsonian. The $500 million museum, which was largely funded by billionaire Steve Green, the president of Hobby Lobby, includes everything from recreations of Noah’s ark and a burning bush to a motion ride and Elvis Presley’s personal Bible. (Washington Post)
Meanwhile, ABC News covers the controversy the museum has faced in its opening days, including its claims to be nonsectarian—Green is a conservative Christian who won Hobby Lobby’s 2014 Supreme Court case against Obamacare’s contraceptive mandate—and the $3 million settlement the museum reached with the U.S. Justice Department after it was caught illegally importing Iraqi artifacts.
The Tournament of Books has released the longlist for the best novel of 2017. The judges and shortlist will be announced in January; the tournament will take place during March. (Morning News)
Margaret Atwood considers the typewriters she’s used throughout her writing career, including her parents’ 1930s Remington and the German-keyboard rental she used in 1984 in West Berlin to type The Handmaid’s Tale. (Walrus)
Duke University Press will publish James Baldwin’s only children’s book, Little Man, Little Man, in August 2018. The book, which has been out of print for decades, tells the story of a young black boy growing up in 1970s Harlem and was described by Baldwin as a “celebration of the self-esteem of black children.”
We Need Diverse Books has announced Sara Luce Look, the co-owner of Charis Books & More in Atlanta, as the bookseller of the year. (Publishers Weekly)
Just in time for Thanksgiving, the Smithsonian Magazine recommends ten books about food, including Cork Dork and The Sioux Chef’s Indigenous Kitchen.
Meanwhile, if things get tense at the Thanksgiving dinner table, Bustle offers fifteen inspirational quotes from writers about family and gratitude.
