The publication date for Amanda Gorman’s inaugural poem, The Hill We Climb, was originally April 27, but Penguin Random House has announced that it now plans to release the book on March 16. The edition will come with an introduction by Oprah Winfrey.
At the Letters page at the New York Review of Books, Rumaan Alam writes that while he is “delighted” by the publication’s decision to cover his latest novel, Leave the World Behind, he is “troubled by the methods” used by the reviewer, Ruth Franklin. “I can’t see what’s gained, in a review, by noting the name of my husband, except that it clarifies that I’m gay; perhaps, hence, that ‘barometer exquisitely calibrated to signifiers of social class: fashion houses, just-trendy-enough restaurants, interiors detailed with the loving eye of a copywriter for a high-end furniture catalog,’” Alam writes. “I certainly can’t see what’s gained by noting my husband’s profession. The implication is clear, but I wonder how my colleagues who are women would feel about a suggestion that a male spouse’s work had something to do with their artistic output.” The full letter, and Franklin’s response, are here.
At NPR, Craig Teicher, Ana Božičević, Ken Chen, Phillip B. Williams, and Evie Shockley have posted part 3 of their 2021 year-in-poetry preview.
George Saunders names the contemporary short stories that he thinks are “destined for posterity.”
United States Artists has announced their 2021 fellowships. Among the writers who received fellowships are Alexander Chee, Honorée Fanonne Jeffers, Elizabeth McCracken, Danez Smith, and Ocean Vuong.
Tonight at 8 PM Eastern time, the New York Public Library will host a Zoom event featuring Chang-rae Lee, who will discuss his new novel, My Year Abroad, with fiction writer Paul Yoon.