New Book Imagines Hitler as Stand-Up Comedian, Author Suggests Merger of U.S. and Canada, and More

by
Staff
3.24.14

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 controversial German novel by Timur Vermes will be published next month in English in the United Kingdom. Look Who’s Back, a bestselling satire originally published in 2012, imagines Adolf Hitler as a comedian in modern-day Berlin. (Guardian)

Author Diane Francis makes the case for combining the United States and Canada into a single democratic behemoth in her book Merger of the Century: Why Canada and America Should Become One Country. (Washington Times)

The New York Public Library has launched a new recommendation engine to help patrons choose books. (GalleyCat)

Meanwhile, James Atlas takes a look at the increasing popularity of book clubs. (New York Times)

Author Mark Haddon and other writers have signed a petition against a ban introduced in the U.K. in November that would prevent prisoners from having books sent to them by their families. (Guardian)

Digital publisher Open Road Integrated Media has hired Ira Silverberg, former literature director of the National Endowment for the Arts, literary agent, and editor in chief of Grove Press, as its new author brands advisor. (Digital Book World)

The Los Angeles Times celebrates City Lights Bookstore and its prominent role in San Francisco’s literary history.

Artist Jerry Puryear has created book covers and illustrations for Cormac McCarthy’s The Road and Donna Tartt’s The Goldfinch, among others, that are inspired by the style of children’s picture books.