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:
Red Hot Chili Peppers’ bassist Michael Balzary, also known as Flea, has signed a contract with Grand Central Publishing to publish his memoir. (Time)
Jane Goodall discusses her long career studying chimpanzees and her latest book, Seeds of Hope, and responds to accusations by the Washington Post and others that sections of the book's first edition were plagiarized. (Mosaic)
Eighty-nine-year-old former president Jimmy Carter signed 1,600 books at Powell’s Books in Portland, Oregon, last Sunday while promoting his latest work, A Call to Action: Women, Religion, Violence, and Power. (Oregonian)
Writers in Miami are being encouraged to submit short fiction about the city to be posted on the Miami Stories Tumblr blog. The blog is part of the city’s celebration of the Big Read, a festival inspired by Jhumpa Lahiri’s novel The Namesake that began in March and continues this month at the Center for Literature and Theatre at Miami Dade College. (Miami New Times)
The board of Meridian School District, located near Boise, Idaho, has voted to remove Sherman Alexie’s young adult novel, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, from school curricula and supplementary reading lists after parents complained about the book’s frank treatment of masturbation and purportedly anti-Christian message. (Idaho Statesman)
Reviewer Darryl Pinckney takes a look at the varied history of Harlem for the New York Review of Books.
Portland, Maine–based poet and filmmaker Walter Skold, who began visiting the graves of deceased poets in 2009, will attempt to visit and film more than eighty poets' graves in eleven states during National Poetry Month in order to raise awareness of poets whose work has been overlooked. (Republic)
In celebration of National Poetry Month, the Huffington Post offers a list of thirteen poetry collections for people who think they don't like poetry, including works by Billy Collins, Li Young Lee, and Kay Ryan.
