Canada Needs a Poet Laureate December 15, 2011: It's true. According to this article from The Globe and Mail, Canadian Parliament is breaking its own law by not electing a Poet Laureate. Going to bat for a poet laureate might seem odd, given the fiscal issues facing Canada. But the fact is that Parliament is in violation of its own law. Furthermore, the debate about spending tax dollars [...] by Harriet Staff

George Whitman, 1913 – 2011 December 15, 2011: George Whitman, the owner of Shakespeare & Company, a legendary English language bookshop on the Left Bank in Paris, died yesterday at the age of 98. From his recent obituary in the New York Times: More than a distributor of books, Mr. Whitman saw himself as patron of a literary haven, above all in the lean years after World War II, and the [...] by Harriet Staff

History repeats itself? Helen Vendler’s 1973 review of America a Prophecy December 15, 2011: Charles Bernstein has posted a fascinating historical document at Jacket2: Helen Vendler's 1973 review of an anthology called America a Prophesy: A New Reading of American Poetry from Pre-Columbian Times to the Present. Her piece, now almost forty years old, sounds -- at least in parts -- strikingly similar to her recent trashing of The Penguin [...] by Harriet Staff

Roger McGough, new Poetry Society President December 15, 2011: The UK Poetry Society, whose recent doings we covered here and here, has a new president in Roger McGough, according to this Guardian article. A bit more on "the patron saint of poetry": Roger McGough, the one-time pop star with the Liverpool band The Scaffold – famed for its 1968 Christmas No1 Lily the Pink – has been drafted in as [...] by Harriet Staff

Amazon vs. The Shop Around the Corner December 15, 2011: Richard Russo attempts to right the misinformation being spread after Amazon's holiday price-check debacle writing in the New York Times that books in fact were not included in the site's discount, should you take them up on hunting down small businesses. To be clear: Books, interestingly enough, were excluded, but you could use your [...] by Harriet Staff

The Guardian‘s Close-up Series Kicks Off December 14, 2011: It's been a busy week for Simon Armitage and the Guardian. First this article, and now he's leading off Close-Up Poetry, a series of videos featuring poets choosing a favorite poem of their own and then reading it. You can watch his here and when you return to it, more videos emerge! Crazy! by Harriet Staff

Lake Antiquity, Rebecca Wolff, and the Futility and Future of Poetry December 14, 2011: Take a look at this piece at Jacket2 by poet Luke Bloomfield on Brandon Downing's wondrous colossus Lake Antiquity--which, if you haven't perused, is "one hundred and ninety pages, full color, about one square foot, numerous X-Acto blades, sticks of glue, ephemera, twelve years of labor" and subtitled “Poems: 1996–2008,” as Bloomfield [...] by Harriet Staff

The T.S. Eliot prize saga continues: John Kinsella issues manifesto December 14, 2011: John Kinsella, who withdrew from the T.S. Eliot prize competition a week ago after learning the award was funded by hedge fund manager Aurum, has published a piece in the New Statesman about activism and poetry. "I have been a vegan and pacifist for over 25 years, an anarchist for 30 years and a poet since I was a small child," he writes. "Over a [...] by Harriet Staff

T.R. Hummer in conversation with The Rumpus December 14, 2011: Over at The Rumpus, there's a long conversation between the members of the site's Poetry Book Club and poet T.R. Hummer (a.k.a. Terry) who was recently praised as "awesome dipped in awesome sauce". Among other topics, they discussed Hummer's poem "Bald Man Fallacy" from his recent collection Ephemeron (you can read the poem here). Brian S: [...] by Harriet Staff

Virginia Quarterly Review gets a new publisher and deputy editor December 14, 2011: In the wake of last year's controversy, Virginia Quarterly now has a new publisher and deputy editor. From the Daily Progressive: Jon Parrish Peede will take over as publisher and Donovan Webster will take on the role of deputy editor for the award-winning literary journal. The appointments come more than a year after the university [...] by Harriet Staff