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:
LeVar Burton, the former host of the popular PBS children’s show, Reading Rainbow, has launched his own podcast, LeVar Burton Reads, through which he selects and reads short stories for an adult audience. (Huffington Post)
Speaking of childhood reading, the New York Times offers a guide to raising your child as a reader, with book recommendations and tips—from scheduling a family reading time to hosting a birthday party with a book swap.
After Neil Gaiman agreed on Twitter to read the entire Cheesecake Factory menu out loud if fans raised at least $500,000 for the United Nations Refugee Agency by June 20, the campaign has raised $100,000. (Los Angeles Times)
Atlas Obscura considers the history of the Deseret alphabet, a thirty-eight-character phonetic alphabet developed by Mormons in the mid-nineteenth century.
“King stays impervious to the whims of hipness by creating work that can be retrofitted to any period’s ‘in’ sensibility. King is like Shakespeare in the malleability of his work, the ease with which primal themes that can be styled to match the dominant mode of a given era.” With four Stephen King screen adaptations slated for release later this year, the Guardian considers the popularity and versatility of the horror writer.
M. Milks examines the refuge of book clubs, particularly for marginalized communities. (JSTOR Daily)
Musician Cyrus Shahrad discusses recording his father reciting Persian poetry and discovering that the words of ancient poets like Hafez, Saadi, and Rumi “continue to provide a moral template for his life.” (Guardian)
In the latest installment of Daily Shouts, Sarah Hutto writes cat-inspired listings of “writers looking for forever homes.” (New Yorker)
