Eula Biss Book Picked for Facebook Book Club, #TwitterFiction Festival, and More

by
Staff
2.19.15

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:

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg stated that Eula Biss’s On Immunity: An Inoculation (Graywolf Press, 2014) is his next selection for his Facebook book club “A Year of Books.” Biss’s book, which has been widely praised by critics, explores the cultural fear of vaccines. “Vaccination is an important and timely topic,” said Zuckerberg. (Business Insider)

In more social media news, the 2015 #TwitterFiction Festival will take place May 11-15. The festival is presented by the Association of American Publishers and Penguin Random House, and is about “embracing, exploring, and developing the art of storytelling on Twitter.” This year, featured participating authors include Margaret Atwood, Celeste Ng, Daniel Handler (a.k.a. Lemony Snicket), and Eric Jerome Dickey, among others.

In response to a 2011 survey that reported less than 10 percent of Wikipedia’s online contributors identify as female, Art+Feminism will host the second annual Wikipedia Edit-a-thon March 7-8. A complete list of participating cities and editing session information can be found on the Art+Feminism website. (Melville House)

Simon & Schuster will reprint a run of ten thousand copies of New York Times critic David Carr’s 2008 memoir The Night of the Gun. Carr passed away last week at the age of fifty-eight. (Publishers Weekly)

“The arts are important. They can only be a part of a much broader effort, but should not be neglected. Nothing will make everyone happy but you can reduce the intensity of grief and anger.” In the aftermath of Sri Lanka’s twenty-six-year civil war, minister for higher education Rajiva Wijesinha is calling upon poets to help reunite the country. (Guardian)

Meanwhile, Scottish author Ali Smith is “deeply distressed” by the Warwick Commission’s 2015 report, which noted a decrease in arts programs in state schools. Smith, whose newest novel How to Be Both won the Goldsmiths Prize, the Costa Novel Award, and is shortlisted for the 2015 Folio Prize, stated in a speech at yesterday’s Brighton festival that “around a third of kids compared to five years ago now have no contact with the arts. It is causing damage at every level and needs to be addressed.” (Bookseller)

Novelist Harriet Lane discusses Philip Larkin’s influence and anxiety-inducing fiction for the Atlantic’s By Heart series.

 

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