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:
At NPR, Ta-Nahesi Coates—this year’s winner of the National Book Award in nonfiction for Between the World and Me—discusses dedicating his award to his friend Prince Jones, his writing process, and the pressures of writing about black experience.
Barnes & Noble has enlisted one hundred and twenty best-selling authors to sign five thousand copies of their latest books for the company’s second annual holiday Signed Editions program. The autographed copies will be available in Barnes & Noble stores beginning on Black Friday (November 27). Participating authors include Brian Selznick, Elizabeth Gilbert, and Veronica Roth. (GalleyCat)
Meanwhile, independent bookstores in the U.K. are gearing up for the first ever “Civilized Saturday,” the “antithesis to Black Friday,” in which bookstores offer customers a much calmer experience as a counterpoint to the chaotic Black Friday mayhem, “by serving prosecco and cake to customers while playing classical music, for example.” (Bookseller)
The New Yorker has launched an online-only novella column showcasing long-form fiction. The first featured piece is “In Hindsight,” by Callan Wink.
A papyrus fragment dating from A.D 250 to A.D. 350 believed to contain lines from the Greek New Testament has been discovered on eBay. A scholar of early Christianity at the University of Texas found the listing of the manuscript fragment and halted the online auction in order to present his research at the annual conference of the Society of Biblical Literature in Atlanta over the weekend. (New York Times)
Publishing Perspectives highlights editor John Freeman’s career transition from book critic to Granta editor and finally to starting his own literary journal, Freeman’s.
It’s late November, and that means the year-end lists are here. The authors of Publishers Weekly’s top books of 2015 share their favorite titles of the year.
