Joyce Maynard on J. D. Salinger, Poetry Helps Dementia Patients, and More

by
Evan Smith Rakoff
9.16.13

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:

Graham Nunn, author of five collections of poetry, and former artistic director of the Queensland Poetry Festival in Australia, has been accused of serial plagiarism. (Brisbane Times)

In light of the new Salinger documentary, memoirist and novelist Joyce Maynard details her relationship with the reclusive author. (New York Times)

Jonathan Franzen discusses the work of Austrian satirist Karl Kraus, as well as unfortunate aspects of contemporary society: “Jeff Bezos of Amazon may not be the antichrist, but he surely looks like one of the four horsemen.” (Guardian)

Former New Yorker editor Tina Brown will leave the Daily Beast at the end of her contract, and has sold a memoir to Henry Holt’s Metropolitan Books entitled Media Beast. (GalleyCat)

Meanwhile, the venerable New Yorker is launching a redesign. (New York Times)

If you missed PBS NewsHour Thursday, United States Poet Laureate Natasha Trethewey took part in a poetry project that helps dementia patients. (Raw Story)

An Ohio board of education president is calling for the ban of Toni Morrison’s novel The Bluest Eye. (Huffington Post)

In an essay for T magazine, novelist Joshua Ferris explores the iconic male hero.