Letters in Support of Ghassan Zaqtan, Poetry on Mars, and More

by
Evan Smith Rakoff
6.4.13

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:

New York City's Word Up Community Bookshop, which was in danger of closing, has found a new storefront. (Publishers Weekly)

GalleyCat discovered a blog called Love Reading, Hate Books, which gathers entertaining one-star book reviews of great works of literature.

The New York Times asks, “Does great literature make us better?

Meanwhile, a couple was discovered this past weekend allegedly breaking into the Emily Dickinson Museum—the famed poet's home is owned by Amherst College. A caretaker called the police, and the man and woman were arrested. (MassLive)

In support of poet Ghassan Zaqtan, who was temporarily denied a visa to appear in Canada, several writers, including Marilyn Hacker, Ron Slate, and Alan Shapiro, voiced their opinions. Shapiro wrote, “The vitality of a free society depends on the vitality of the conversation it conducts about itself.” (Los Angeles Review of Books)

If you'd like your poetry to travel to Mars, there is an online contest sponsored by NASA. (Millions)

If you missed Allen Ginsberg's birthday yesterday, check out this recording of “A Supermarket in California” at the Academy of American Poets.

Seth Fried highlights some recent communications from a poet we all know on Facebook. (New Yorker)