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:
In more nightmarish news regarding Harvard University's recent discovery that three books from its libraries were bound in human skin [2], Melville House reports on the surprisingly common historical practice of anthropodermic bibliopegy [3] and points to a number of works that were bound in human flesh, including a volume of poetry by John Milton.
The eighth annual Buffalo Small Press Book Fair kicks off today [4] with a reading by authors Lance Olsen and Shane Jones; the free event, which runs through Sunday, celebrates independent publishers and draws over 4,500 attendees each year. (Buffalo News)
Meanwhile, as part of the ongoing NYC/CUNY Chapbook Festival, Lost & Found: The CUNY Poetics Document Initiative launches its fourth poetry pamphlets series today [5], publishing or reprinting archived works by Ed Dorn, Adrienne Rich, and Helene Johnson, among others. (Harriet)
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange will publish a new book in September [6] about the future of the Internet and his clash with Google chairman Eric Schmidt; When Google Met WikiLeaks will be published by OR Books, a small press based in New York. (Guardian)
The Millions lists the perfect books to help readers celebrate warmer weather [7] and confront tax season.
Stephen Ornes of Slate argues for a merger between Mathematics Awareness Month and National Poetry Month [8].
A new online forum run by the Boston Review features poems by John Ashberry, Rae Armantrout, Cathy Park Hong [9], and others who ponder the loss of privacy in the era of monitoring by the National Security Administration.
Biographer Adam Begley writes of novelist John Updike’s sense of place [10] and its successful influence on his fiction. (Vulture)