J. D. Salinger's Toilet for Sale on eBay, Into the Wild Fan Dies on Pilgrimage, and More

by Staff
8.18.10

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:

A fan of Jon Krakauer's Into the Wild died while trying to reach the abandoned bus in the Alaskan wilderness where Christopher McCandless—the subject of Krakauer's nonfiction story—"camped out and starved to death in 1992." (Jacket Copy

This year's Edinburgh International Festival in Scotland will feature the Blind Boys of Alabama as the stars of Gospel at Colonus, a reworking of Sophocles' tragedy Oedipus at Colonus. (Telegraph)

Sixteen authors are suing an Indiana-based self-publishing company for not delivering the promised books after receiving monies from customers. (Indianapolis Star

In late September New York City's Harlem Stage will present a dance and theater work based on Patricia Smith's Blood Dazzler, a collection of poems exploring Hurricane Katrina. (BroadwayWorld.com

After a second round of layoffs last week, Borders "is now refusing to discuss how many employees work" at its Michigan facility, according to AnnArbor.com.

Someone is selling J. D. Salinger's toilet on eBay for one million dollars. (Jacket Copy)

The reality TV star "Octomom" Nadya Suleman has, according to the New York Daily News, "just completed an autobiography, but no one wants to publish it."

From the New York Times' Arts Beat blog (and LibraryLand and the Daily What), here is a video of a remarkable three-year-old boy reciting Billy Collin's "Litany" from memory.