Lisa Lucas Named Executive Director of National Book Foundation
Lisa Lucas, known for being the publisher of the international arts magazine Guernica, will be the third executive director of the The National Book Foundation. Lucas will be the first Black woman to hold this position. The National Book Foundation is the organization that presents the annual National Book Awards among other things. Lucas will begin her role this March, replacing Harold Augenbraum.
Controversy Arises Over Plans to Award Literary Prize to Vagas Llosa
Some within the Dominican Republic, including a member of the president’s Cabinet are angry at the plan to award the Pedro Henriquez Urena Prize to Peru’s Nobel Prize Laureate Mario Vargas Llosa. Minister of the Presidency Gustavo Montalvo said that Vargas Llosa should not receive the prize due to controversial statements he made in 2013 on a Dominican court ruling on immigration.
A New Harry Potter Story is Being Published
J.K. Rowling is publishing an eighth story about Harry Potter, which will take place directly after the epilogue of the seventh book of the series. Unlike the previous books, this one will not be a novel but rather the script of Rowling’s upcoming play “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child.” The play will be performed in London this summer.
Alice Denham Dies at 89
Alice Denham, known for her memoir “Sleeping With Bad Boys: A Juicy Tell-All of Literary New York in the Fifties and Sixties,” among other books, passed away on February 4th. Her husband John Mueller stated that complications from ovarian cancer was the cause.
Kelly Clarkson to Publish Children’s Book
This October the Grammy Award-winning singer-songwriter is releasing a children’s book via Harper Collins. The book, titled River Rose and the Magical Lullaby, is based on Clarkson’s experiences with her own daughter, and it follows the story of a little girl who dreams about going to the zoo.
Emily Ramser is an undergraduate studying English, Creative Writing, and Religion at Salem College in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. She is currently pursuing her Bachelor of Arts in English and Creative Writing, and is expected to graduate in May of 2017. Some of her inspirations include Thornton Wilder, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Bhanu Kapil, Andrea Gibson, Gabriel Gudding, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Gail Simone, and Alfred Lord Tennyson. Check out her black out poetry collection I Forgot How to Write When They Diagnosed Me. You can find more of her work at her blog.
Featured Image (Snowy Owl) via Flickr by Dave Inman
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