The Writer’s News
The Writer’s News keeps you informed about new developments in the writing world, including award and publication announcements, news from AWP and the field, and updates about important literary figures.
-
January 26, 2015
James Patterson’s $300,000 Self-Destructing Book
James Patterson is offering an exploding version of his next title, Private Vegas, due out January 26th from Little, Brown and Company, for just under $300,000. Read more...
-
January 26, 2015
National Book Critics Circle Announces Finalists for 2014 Prizes
The National Book Critics Circle (NBCC) announced its 30 nominees for awards in six categories of books published in 2014 (memoir, biography, criticism, fiction, nonfiction, and poetry) on Monday night. Read more...
-
January 26, 2015
Online Magazines Now Eligible for Pulitzer Prize
The Pulitzer Prizes, which are administered at Columbia University, have expanded eligibility for the categories of Investigative Reporting and Feature Writing to include online and print magazines. Read more...
-
January 26, 2015
YA Books Boost Solid Publishing Year in 2014
Book publishers had a profitable year last year according to statistics released by the Association of American Publishers (AAP), which showed that all categories of publishing saw a 4.9% rise in sales for the first three quarters of 2014, while the overall Trade publishing sector saw a sales increase of 2.8%. Read more...
-
January 15, 2015
The Massacre at Charlie Hebdo and the Debate over Satire in Publishing
The massacre of twelve people at French satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo by three gunmen—which left eleven other victims wounded—has incited a worldwide debate about the use of satire in publishing. Read more...
-
January 15, 2015
Big Book Orgs Team Up to Host First National Readathon Day
The first-ever National Readathon Day, organized by the National Book Foundation, Penguin Random House, Goodreads, and Mashable, will take place on Saturday, January 24th from 12 p.m. to 4 p.m. Read more...
-
January 15, 2015
Oxford Junior Dictionary’s Removal of Fifty Words Sparks Outcry from Authors
A group of twenty-eight authors including Margaret Atwood and poet Andrew Motion are “profoundly alarmed” at the loss of fifty nature-related words from the Oxford Junior Dictionary, and replacement with technology-oriented words such as “broadband” and “chatroom.” Read more...
-
January 15, 2015
Former MIT Professor Robs Bank, Cites Rimbaud as Influence
Inspired by the French poet Arthur Rimbaud—who died over a century ago—former MIT professor Joseph Gibbons, 61, robbed a Capital One bank (his second such heist!) in New York. As he made off with $1,000, Gibbons filmed the entire crime with a camcorder. Read more...
-
January 8, 2015
Tomaž Šalamun has Died
Slovenian poet Tomaž Šalamun died on December 27. He was 73 and lived in Ljubljana. Read more...
-
January 8, 2015
Miller Williams, Poet at Clinton’s Second Inauguration, has Died
Miller Williams, renowned Arkansas poet and editor, died of complications of Alzheimer’s on January 1 in a hospital in Fayetteville. Read more...