Many people say contemporary poetry is an acquired taste—written for people in the know. But Oprah’s O magazine is trying to change that idea. In April, it will run its first poetry issue; a concept hatched during a sleepover with Maria Shriver, who will guest edit the issue. Other contributors include Matt Dillon on Yeats, Sting on Ted Hughes, and Bono in a feature called “Poetic Souls.” [Via the Book Bench]
The National Book Critics Circle awards will be announced tonight at the New School. Here, the Washington Post rounds up the poetry finalists, whose work touches on, among other things, theology, hip-hop, sex, and the death of a brother.
The $139 price tag on the latest Kindle seems pretty reasonable, but according to Kevin Kelly, by this November, Amazon could be giving their e-readers away.
"This might hurt: Which Jonathan Franzen character are you?”
The new Triple Canopy publishes editor Sam Frank’s excellent and unclassifiable work, “The Document,” which is as engaging as the best fiction, but is shot throughout with fragments from real life. Frank’s essay is written in a quietly stunning style and includes thoughts on anxiety, failure, David Markson, fathers, Beckett, reading, writing, and more. And as always, Triple Canopy has made the most of the web’s multimedia publishing possibilities: Among the deft design elements, Frank’s essay includes a footnote that expands into two embedded YouTube videos, documenting a pair of performances based on Frank’s late father Sheldon’s wonderful text “As I Was Saying.”
