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.
Many authors and publishers are accusing the Internet Archive of copyright infringement, after the organization lifted access restrictions on the many scanned books in its digital library. Previously, titles were only made available to one borrower at a time, but the archive decided to move to an open-access model as more libraries across the country were ordered to close and students and teachers were left without resources. While the New Yorker and NPR praised the organization’s decision, others have argued the move might do more harm than good, especially for the writers relying on steady royalty payments as the pandemic closes off other sources of income. (New York Times)
Harryette Mullen has selected Threa Almontaser as the winner of this year’s Walt Whitman Award for her poetry manuscript, The Wild Fox of Yemen. Administered by the Academy of American Poets, the award includes publication by Graywolf Press, a six-week residency at the Civitella Ranieri Center, and a cash prize of $5,000. The academy also purchases and distributes copies of the winning title to all its members.
Although online orders may be on the rise, many independent bookstore owners say they are still struggling to stay afloat. Publishers Weekly has compiled a list of the booksellers turning to crowdfunding.
“If you’ve been feeling like it couldn’t possibly get worse than this, the novel will remind you that, actually, it could.” Seija Rankin devoured Emily St. John Mandel’s best-selling Station Eleven in a day and half. (Entertainment Weekly)
“Her poems ask again and again, What can we do with what we see and live through?” Hilton Als celebrates the capacious poetics of Carolyn Forché. (New Yorker)
Laila Lalami tracks her day-to-day in isolation, which includes reading Sylvia Plath’s The Bell Jar and watching the Hulu adaptation of Celeste Ng’s Little Fires Everywhere. (Los Angeles Times)
“What we’re living through is only partly a disaster novel; it’s also—and perhaps mostly—a grotesque political satire.” Ted Chiang reflects on the coronavirus pandemic.
At the Paris Review Daily, Maya C. Popa records herself reading a poem by Lisel Mueller.
And the Daily Shout-Out goes to Alexandra Chang whose debut novel, Days of Distraction, is out today from Ecco. George Saunders dubs the novel “a startlingly original and deeply moving debut—kaleidoscopic, funny, heart-rending, beautifully observed, and formally daring.”
