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:
Cave Canem, a national nonprofit dedicated to supporting the work of African American poets, has received the National Book Foundation’s 2016 Literarian Award for Outstanding Service to the American Literary Community. This is the first time the $10,000 award has been given to an organization rather than an individual. (Washington Post)
Archaeologists have resumed their search for poet Federico García Lorca’s burial site in southern Spain. Lorca is believed to have been executed by Franco’s forces during the first months of the Spanish Civil War. The dig for the poet’s unmarked grave was halted in 2014 due to logistical problems. (Business Insider)
“Why is it that we insist on creating a language that distances and nullifies the violence that we’re actually committing?” Poet Solmaz Sharif talks about how she interrogates violence by using the language of war in her collection, Look. (PBS NewsHour)
At Electric Literature, poet and translator Sally Ito traces the life and career of Japanese poet Misuzu Kaneko (1903–1930), whose work was mostly forgotten until Ito unearthed and translated Kaneko’s poems into English.
A home in Saint Paul, Minnesota, that once belonged to F. Scott Fitzgerald is up for sale. Fitzgerald lived in the four-bedroom Victorian in 1919, during which he penned the manuscript to This Side of Paradise. (GalleyCat)
“Part of Albee’s genius was figuring out ways to bring his brilliant gay talk to an audience that, at the time, may not have known what informed his ice-cold torrent of words against coupling, against convention.” Hilton Als reflects on the life and work of playwright Edward Albee, who died last Friday at age eighty-three. (New Yorker)
Last week, UNESCO named Athens, Greece, the World Book Capital 2018. During its tenure as World Book Capital, Athens will organize author and translator meetings as well as “themed exhibitions, poetry readings, and workshops for publishing professionals.” (Bookseller)
