The state of modern poetry, a translation challenge, and emergency poetry healing
Welcome to this week’s edition of Friday Lit Links—we hope you didn't miss them too much over the holiday. To make up for our absence, links this week include more fun finds and calendar items than usual, so make sure you check them out!
News, Reviews, and Interviews
You might be surprised to discover that the most prolific publisher of books in translation isn’t really a publishing house at all—it’s Amazon.
An article recently posted in Harper’s claims that modern poetry is terrible, obviously causing a huge controversy within literary circles. (For example, a contributor to Slate penned a roaring defense of modern poetry a few days after the story first broke.)
Should future generations feel collective guilt for the actions of their predecessors?
Random House and Penguin have successfully completed their merger agreements and are now considered a single company.
Tibetan blogger Woser (see our blog post about her) has been put under house arrest in China.
Now that more and more people recognize global climate change as a real phenomenon, is it time to reclassify climate change novels as something other than science fiction?
The winner of the 2013 Caine Prize for African Writing has been announced!
As two ways of experiencing the world, physics and poetry might be more similar than originally believed. (For more on science and literature, see the January 2011 issue of WLT.)
The conversation around women in literature has resurfaced thanks to this essay from the Times Literary Supplement.
Education reform in the UK now means that children will have to be able to recite poetry by the time they leave primary school.
For Your Calendar
Something a little different this week: a translation challenge from the folks at Wales Literature Exchange to translate three poems from Spanish to English or Welsh. But hurry, the deadline is July 22!
Lemon Hound has announced its very first poetry contest, with entries due in November.
Our friends at Literature Across Frontiers have put together this wonderful tool tracking translation prizes around the world.
Iran is set to host its first Shahriar World Award, an international literary prize, this year.
Fun Finds and Inspiration
2012 Neustadt Laureate Rohinton Mistry recently gave a graduation speech to the Class of 2013 at Ryerson University in Canada.
While most reports claim that multiculturalism is lacking in children’s literature, this list of books hopes to prove people wrong.
This new app allows you to map your favorite books anywhere in the world. (We imagine it’s like Google Maps, but for books.)
Which country spends the most time reading? It’s probably not the one you would think. (And the creators of this image obviously didn’t read our blog about Icelandic reading habits.)
The Matilda Project is a blog solely dedicated to discovering and reviewing bookstores across London.
Did you notice these changes to the English language over the past few decades?
Looking for a new book? The Kirkus Review has some tips for picking out science fiction, but we think they can be applied to any genre.
In need of some spiritual or mental healing? The Emergency Poet can help you!
