B&N “Athena” Device Expected Next Week, Dracula Returns, and More

by
Adrian Versteegh
10.15.09

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:

Details leaked so far about the upcoming Barnes & Noble e-reader—which is expected to launch as early as next week—include the device’s name (“Athena”), photographs (courtesy of Gizmodo), and word that its designers have a history with Amazon and Apple (BusinessWeek).

Thousands of public libraries across the country have begun experimenting with digital lending (New York Times).

German firm txtr is releasing what it says is the first “open-source” e-reader—a device that comes preloaded with several e-books and allows access to about a million other free documents (Press Release).

As digital readers become increasingly prominent, experts debate the effects of electronic books on the brain (New York Times). Meanwhile, Oxford neurologist and director of the Royal Institution Susan Greenfield questions the cognitive consequences of new media (BBC).

Nick Trautwein, formerly an editor at Penguin Press, has joined the New Yorker as the magazine’s newest senior editor (New York Observer).

A graphic novel by late pop star Michael Jackson has been garnering attention this week at the Frankfurt Book Fair (Publishers Weekly).

A Scottish politician is asking the EU to bestow “protected geographical status” on Edinburgh’s famous Chambers Dictionary in order to stop the publication from moving to London (Scotsman).

112 years after being stabbed through the heart, Dracula is returning in an “official” sequel penned by Bram Stoker’s great-grandnephew (USA Today).

A church in North Carolina is planning to celebrate Halloween the old-fashioned way: by holding a book-burning (Associated Press).