Apple Could Pay $400 Million to Consumers, Elmore Leonard’s Unpublished Stories, and More

by
Staff
7.17.14

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:

Apple may have to pay $400 million to consumers for colluding with publishers to fix e-book prices. The company agreed last month to settle a class action lawsuit brought by attorneys general in 33 states, after losing an earlier price-fixing suit brought against the company by the U.S. Justice Department in 2012. Apple will only pay if it fails to appeal the results of the 2012 case. (New York Times)

Amazon could be preparing to join e-book subscription services Scribd and Oyster (featured in this year’s January/Feburary issue) in the race to be crowned “the Netflix of books.” Message-board discussions by Kindle users have mentioned a service called Kindle Unlimited, which will charge $9.99 per month for unlimited access to e-books. (GalleyCat)

Weidenfeld & Nicolson, the British publishers of the late writer Elmore Leonard, will release a collection of fifteen previously unpublished short stories written while the author was working in advertising for the auto industry in Detroit. (Guardian)

After naming self-published poet Valerie Macon as North Carolina’s new poet laureate without consulting the state’s Arts Council, Governor Pat McCrory has responded to criticism from the community by saying he will examine the process he used for nomination, while adding that he wants to provide opportunities for people who do not belong to “elite groups.” (News & Observer, ABC11)

A hearing is scheduled today for poet Enoh Meyomesse of Cameroon, who was imprisoned in November 2011, possibly for political reasons. PEN International is calling for Meyomesse’s release on humanitarian grounds after he was recently admitted to the hospital for malaria and amoebiasis.

A short anti-war poem written in 1937 on a fan has been identified as the work of famed Japanese poet Akiko Yosano. (Asahi Shimbun)

Meanwhile, Chin Music Press, a publisher located in Seattle and specializing in books devoted to contemporary life in Japan and China, has opened a new office, bookstore, and exhibit space in Pike Place Market. (Shelf Awareness)

Novelist Javier Marias explains seven reasons why someone should not write a novel—along with one reason to do so. (Telegraph)