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:
“Play and Learn” centers take story time to the next level: Public libraries are designing new early childhood programs that “lay the groundwork for literacy.” (NPR)
Salon has published its “What to Read Awards;” a “definitive list” of top critics’ picks for the best books of 2014.
“Can we talk of progress when we still sit at separate tables?” Read a selection of poems Nicholas Kristof solicited from New York Times readers about race in America.
Over at the Atlantic, Scott Porch interviews author and Harvard psychology professor Steven Pinker about his new book The Sense of Style: The Thinking Person’s Guide to Writing in the 21st Century.
“There are so many ways for a writer to play with autobiography and authorial identity that there is, effectively, no isolated element in fiction that can be called ‘autobiography.’” At the New Yorker, Elaine Blair discusses novelist Rachel Cusk’s “autobiographical” new novel, and suggests various reasons why many contemporary novelists incorporate memoir and essay into their fiction.
“Places with flourishing bookshops… have vibrant arts scenes, innovative restaurants and prospering local businesses.” Visit these six thriving independent bookstores on your next American road trip. (Wall Street Journal)
Take a “shelfie,” get a free e-book. A new app called bitlit allows users to receive a free digital version of a book they own by taking a picture of the print book’s cover. (GalleyCat)
“I wish I’d never written the story. It [has] just been the cause of hassle and problems and irritation since the film came out.” Annie Proulx, the author of Brokeback Mountain, regrets writing the story because the 2005 Ang Lee film adaptation caused so many misinterpretations and complaints about the story’s ending. (Independent)
