10 Takeaways of the Week in How-To Format August 26, 2011: Because lists, how-tos, and “servicey” mean pageviews. 1. How To Get Punched at a Literary Reading You can read about the magic of Manhattan in springtime, and your "lover," and see what happens. Or you can check out Litpunch, the Twin Cities’ newest punchcard-based reading series. We realized we made a pun here. That’s generally [...] by Harriet Staff

Susan Stewart Looks at Women and Elegy August 26, 2011: Susan Stewart writes for The Nation this week about women and elegy, citing John Milton’s “Lycidas” and Percy Shelley’s “Adonais" as classic predecessors, along with Wordsworth, Elizabeth Bishop, and Tennyson; she also notes how "Thomas Hardy’s searching, ambivalent reflections upon the death of his first wife in his magisterial [...] by Harriet Staff

Google Also Honors Iraqui Poet Nazik al-Malaika August 26, 2011: Borges wasn't the only one to receive a "Google Doodle" for his birthday. Feministing reports that Arab poet Nazik al-Malaika was also honored with an image from Google on Tuesday, the 88th anniversary of her birth (famous for being the first Iraqui poet to employ free verse, died in 2007). As critic Salih J. Altoma put it: Nazik [...] by Harriet Staff

HuffPo’s Fave Poetry Books from the Past 15 Years August 26, 2011: A curious list, but a good one: "poet and attorney" Seth Abramson has listen ten recent books of poetry "you should read right now" for Huffington Post (and this is well in advance of Steve Evans's forthcoming Attention Span, which should also include musings from poets about poets). Abramson's reasoning for making the list is partly to defend: [...] by Harriet Staff

Notting Hill’s Famous Travel Bookshop Due to Close August 26, 2011: The Travel Bookshop, made famous in the movie Notting Hill, is looking desperately for a new buyer. If one can't be found, reports the Guardian, they are due to close in two weeks. But writers and poets are coming to the rescue, volunteering a day a week to help run it if a new buyer can be found. The Guardian writes: Poet and [...] by Harriet Staff

Stop the presses! August 25, 2011: No, really! Please! There are too many books! So says the Atlantic’s Peter Osnos: BookStats 2011,the annual comprehensive report just released by the Association of American Publishers and the Book Industry Study Group, concluded that book sales, in terms of revenues and copies sold, have steadily increased in the period of 2008-2010. [...] by Harriet Staff

Seyhan Erözçelik, 1962-2011 August 25, 2011: We are saddened to note that Turkish poet Seyhan Erözçelik has passed away at the age of 49; his work has been translated into English by Murat Nemet-Nejat (most recently, Rosestrikes and Coffee Grinds, from Talisman, 2010). Coincidentally enough, poet Joyelle McSweeney has been enthusiastically reading Erözçelik's work. As she wrote on [...] by Harriet Staff

Mathias Svalina’s discrete flights of absurd fancy August 25, 2011: Interviews abound! Right now, you might set your eyes on this one: HTMLGIANT's Christopher Higgs interviews poet Mathias Svalina, whose new book of prose I Am A Very Productive Entrepreneur (Mud Luscious Press) is hot off the wagon. The press wagon. Anyhow! Christian Hawkey said of the book that "the quixotic entrepreneurial spirit of [...] by Harriet Staff

C.D. Wright Wins Lenore Marshall Award August 25, 2011: The Academy of American Poets have announced that C.D. Wright has won this year's Lenore Marshall Award, which awards $25, 000 for the year's most outstanding book of poetry. From the Academy website: About Wright's winning book, judge Martha Ronk remarked: "'Nothing is not integral.' This phrase near the end of C.D. Wright's One With [...] by Harriet Staff

Introducing the Akilah Oliver Memorial Reading Series August 25, 2011: The Poetry Project blog announces that a new reading series has started up at Eugene Lang College of The New School in New York to honor the memory of Lang professor Akilah Oliver. So the first of the annual Akilah Oliver Memorial Readings is upon us! On September 12, the reading will feature the work of Oliver’s contemporaries Julian [...] by Harriet Staff