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:
Philip Pullman has received "scores of letters condemning him to 'eternal hell'" because of certain themes in his upcoming novel, The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ. As a result, Pullman will have special security at his appearance at the Oxford Literary Festival next week. (Telegraph)
Will Ferrell and Rebecca Hall will star in an upcoming film adaptation of the Raymond Carver short story "Everything Must Go." (Variety)
For the first time, a woman poet was selected as one of the six finalists of "Million's Poet," a popular TV poetry competition broadcast out of Abu Dhabi. (Middle East Online)
Hull City, England, has commissioned sixty-five giant fiberglass toads to commemorate the twenty-fifth anniversary of Philip Larkin's death. (Telegraph)
An archive of letters concerned with the suicide of Virginia Woolf has just been made available to the public at King's College in Cambridge, England. (New York Times)
Local library supporters in North Carolina, Florida, and New Jersey are attempting to raise millions of dollars to stave off branch closings and staff layoffs. (Library Journal)
Meanwhile, a new British government study revealed that all libraries have to do to stay relevant amidst declining use and spending cuts is offer free Internet, stay open on Sundays, and provide access to any book "in the national book collection." (Guardian)
Retail book sales in Britain are on the rise for the eighth straight week. (Retail Bulletin)
