Category: publishing

Maybe it’s that poets tend to be such tortured souls. Or maybe the constant battle for public understanding and acceptance is just too much for some. But whatever the reason, a new study makes it perfectly clear: poets die younger than other writers. “On average, a poet had a life-expectancy of only 62… compared to playwrights’ average age 63 years, novelists’ 66 years and non-fiction writers’ 68 years.”

Canada is looking for a new poet laureate. “Officially the Parliamentary Librarian is looking for someone who can, according to their press release, ‘demonstrate literary excellence though a substantial history of published works, including poetry; have written work reflecting Canada and the Canadian experience; have made a contribution to the writing community; have influenced other writers; and be a Canadian resident.’ Not everyone thinks having a veteran as the officially endorsed face of Canadian poetry is the best idea, however.”

“The NEA this week is unveiling ‘Operation Homecoming,’ in which troops returning from Iraq and Afghanistan will attend workshops run by such writers as Tom Clancy, Tobias Wolff and James McBride. The best submissions will be published in an anthology, scheduled to come out at the end of 2005. ‘I’ve always believed that one of the signs of a healthy society is when all aspects of that society communicate with each other,’ NEA chairman Dana Gioia said.”

John W. Barr is in charge of the Poetry Foundation and caretaker of its $100 million windfall. “I don’t see any reason why a cultural organization can’t be run like a good corporation. If we can do that, we’ll not only be on the road to success ourselves but may even be able to give some ideas to other arts groups.”

According to the Hennen’s American Public Library Rating index, between 1999 and 2001, the Denver Public Library was America’s No. 1 library. But budget cuts last year have closed the library one day a week and forced other cutbacks. Does this mean the city will have to return to its past, when its first libraries were located in saloons?

For a year, someone came into the San Francisco Library and destroyed books with gay or lesbian themes. The culprit was finally caught, but until after many books were vandalized. Loath to throw out the books, librarians gave them to artists so they could make art from them. The resulting projects are now on display

Dr. Robert Fagles has spent painstaking years translating Virgil’s Aeneid – “nearly as long as it took Virgil to write the epic poem.” And why, when there are already translations available? “Every age needs classics translated into the idiom of the moment. It gives the works new vitality, new meaning. It offers to the living a connection with those who went before, the accumulated wisdom of the past, a protection from a dangerous provincialism.”

The University of Surrey has bought the personal library of writer Iris Murdoch. “The collection of more than 1,000 books – many of them with her own remarks in the margins – surrounded and influenced her from 1952, when she began writing the first of her 26 novels, until a few years before she died of Alzheimer’s disease in 1999.”

“Venerable Canadian publishing company McClelland & Stewart is shaking off its dust jackets with the announcement that Doug Pepper will replace Douglas Gibson as the company’s new publisher and president, effective May 31. Gibson, who became publisher of M&S in 1988 and president in 2000 will continue to work at M&S, returning to oversee the imprint Douglas Gibson Books, which he founded in 1986, on a full-time basis… Founded in 1906, M&S’s catalogue is often viewed as the canon of Canadian literature with a list of authors that includes Margaret Atwood, Michael Ondaatje, Rohinton Mistry, Alice Munro and Guy Vanderhaeghe, many of whom came to international prominence during Gibson’s tenure.”