Emily Dickinson's Garden, Oxford Professor of Poetry Nominees Announced, and More

by Staff
4.20.10

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:

Paula Clare and Seán Haldane joined early frontrunner Geoffrey Hill as nominees for the Oxford professor of poetry post. (Guardian

Emily Dickinson was known more for her garden than her poetry during her lifetime. The New York Botanical Garden has recreated her Victorian homestead garden for a new show opening April 30 featuring weekend poetry readings, live theatre, and gardening demonstrations. 

While stranded in Toronto, novelist Ian McEwan was already pondering the plot potential of the Icelandic volcano and its giant ash cloud. (Star

The PEN World Voices Festival has its own iPhone app.

The University of Minnesota Press has seen a nice boost in sales since one of its titles was adapted into an Oscar-nominated film last fall. (Minnesota Daily)

A Guernica critic argues that it isn't MFA programs that are killing literary fiction—as VQR editor Ted Genoways wrote in a recent Mother Jones article—but rather "blockbuster-hungry book editors and their habit of anticipating anticipations."

Oregonians are celebrating National Poetry Month in all sorts of interesting ways, including "poetry posts," a kind of street sign erected for the sole purpose of displaying a poem for passersby. (OregonLive

Speaking of National Poetry Month, Louise Glück doesn't like it. (Yale Daily News) Speaking of writers who don't like things, here is a list of the fifty best "author vs. author put-downs of all time." (Examiner)