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:
Beware: Illegal pirate libraries, digital databases that distribute thousands of copyrighted works from books and academic journals for free, are on the rise. (Atlas Obscura)
The Hollywood Reporter features a story on the Los Angeles Review of Books, whose champions include not only the city’s literati, but also Hollywood stars such as Cameron Diaz and Tom Hanks. The article notes that the review’s success represents “recognition of L.A.’s at-long-last emergence as a world-class city.”
At BuzzFeed, Doree Shafrir profiles novelist Angela Flournoy, whose critically acclaimed debut novel, The Turner House, has made her a fiction writer to watch.
The play may be the thing, but a report at Publishers Weekly examines the reasons—financial and otherwise—that working playwrights are turning to writing fiction instead.
Somali-British poet Warsan Shire’s work has become increasing popular, especially since it was introduced to a wider audience through its use in pop musician Beyoncé’s new visual album, Lemonade, which was released over the weekend. (Good)
Famed author Salman Rushdie recently taught a master class to four exceptional high school students in New York. The author gave the young writers advice about what it takes to be a writer, cautioned them against being “overinfluenced” by one writer’s prose style, and advised them to try to get “as much truth on the page as you can.” (Wall Street Journal)
At PBS NewsHour, poet Shane McCrae discusses his technical method of creating a poem, and how pushing against questions that have already been answered allows the poem to create its own logic.
