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:
Tomorrow marks the start of the sixty-first annual Frankfurt Book Fair—the world’s largest—where hot topics are expected to include the economic crisis, the rise of electronic publishing, and the censorship controversy sparked recently by guest of honor China (AFP).
Author Neil Gaiman will begin a “crowd-sourced” short story today on Twitter, laying down an opening line and relying on fans to complete the tale with 140-character contributions. The finished work will be released as a free audiobook (BBC Audiobooks America).
Following unprecedented sales of its Chicago-themed issue, London-based quarterly Granta announced yesterday that John Freeman has been confirmed as editor (Press Release).
The Australian Booksellers Association and other industry groups have expressed reservations about supporting Amazon’s now-international Kindle, citing concerns with pricing, availability, and competition (The Age).
In other Aussie news, the country is finally getting its own Norton anthology, thanks to a six-year collaboration between International PEN Sydney Centre and Macquarie University (Sydney Morning Herald).
After months of deadlock, Pennsylvania finally has a state budget—one that includes deep cuts to public library support (Library Journal).
The “Significant Objects” project—which explores how fiction can imbue otherwise-worthless knickknacks with monetary value—has partnered with online magazine Slate to solicit stories from readers (Slate).
Harvard University and the National Library of China signed a deal on Friday to digitize—and make freely available—one of the world’s most comprehensive collections of rare Chinese books (Associated Press).
Only half of American consumers purchased a book in 2008, according to a new industry report (BookBrunch).
