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:
Workers in Germany are planning a holiday-season strike at Amazon’s fulfillment centers. (Shelf Awareness)
Thin Reads editor Howard Polskin names the eight most influential players in the world of e-book singles, including Maris Kreizman, Evan Ratliff, and Laura Owen. (Huffington Post)
The Word of the Year 2013, chosen by Oxford Dictionaries, is “selfie.” OUP Blog asked several scholars to comment on the phenomenon, including José van Dijck, author of The Culture of Connectivity: A Critical History of Social Media.
Meanwhile, Julie Bosman reports Thomas Pynchon will not attend the National Book Awards, although his novel Bleeding Edge is one of this year’s finalists. The enigmatic author prefers not to be photographed. (New York Times)
Bloomberg laid off around fifty people yesterday, including Laurie Muchnick, who headed its books coverage, and is the current president of the National Book Critics Circle. (Talking Biz News)
Huffington Post discovered Kate Gavino’s Tumblr, Last Night’s Reading, which features drawings and quotes from literary events.
Jason Diamond lists fifteen great works of dystopian fiction to add to your reading list, including Vladimir Nabokov’s Invitation to a Beheading. (Flavorwire)
Today marks the one hundred and fiftieth anniversary of Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address. (Google Cultural Institute)
