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:
In response to the recent murders of several bloggers in Bangladesh, more than one hundred fifty writers, including Salman Rushdie, Margaret Atwood, and Yann Martell, have signed a letter to the Bangladeshi government demanding the bloggers’ murderers be brought to justice: “Freedom of expression is a fundamental right under Bangladesh’s constitution as well as one of the rights under the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.” The letter calls on the Bangladeshi government to “do all in their power to provide protection and support to bloggers and other writers at risk in Bangladesh, in accordance with Bangladesh’s obligations under national and international law.” (Guardian)
On May 26 Margaret Atwood will be the first of one hundred writers to contribute a manuscript to the Future Library project. Created last year by Scottish artist Katie Paterson, the Future Library will collect one hundred stories from one hundred authors; the stories will not be revealed or read until 2114. Atwood recently shared her thoughts on the project: “As a child, I was one of those who buried treasures in jars, with the idea that someone, some day, might come along and dig them up.... That is what the Future Library is like, in part: it will contain fragments of lives that were once lived, and that are now the past. But all writing is a method of preserving and transmitting the human voice.” (GalleyCat)
After building one of the most successful franchises in publishing, what’s a best-selling author to do? Jeff Kinney, whose Diary of a Wimpy Kid children’s book series has sold over one hundred fifty million copies, speaks with the New York Times about his decision to open a bookstore in Plainville, Massachusetts.
In the latest installment of the Atlantic’s By Heart series, editor and novelist Anna North, whose newest novel is The Life and Death of Sophie Stark, discusses the influence of Homer’s The Odyssey on her life and writing.
“It’s one thing whether we can know each other, it’s another thing why we should want to. The book really is interested in what it is to be alone.” The Millions interviews author Anne Enright about her role as Ireland’s inaugural fiction laureate and her new novel, The Green Road.
Learn about the creation of Literata, Google’s new typeface designed specifically for e-books, over at Fast Company.
Strapped for quality reading time this weekend? Electric Literature provides a handy infographic of twenty-four books you can finish in less than one hour. For example, if you have twenty-one minutes to spare, you can complete Edgar Alan Poe’s The Fall of the House of Usher.
