• AWP 2015 is ! Our own Camille Griep is wandering the venues, connecting with people and collecting swag. If you run into her, please tell her not to worry about newspapers stacking up on her porch, alerting burglars that no one’s home. She should just enjoy her trip.
• Debut novelist Atticus Lish, son of Gordon Lish, won the award.
• To MFA or not to MFA: a look at the , as the number of applications increases while the number of jobs for graduates does not.
• Is HarperCollins returning to the ? Here we go again.
• Amazon goes on the against fake reviews.
• Chuck Wendig is pulling out of the , which takes place this year in the no-pizzas-for-gay-weddings state of Indiana. Other colleagues have told me they’re pulling out as well. Good for them. After the conference director adopted a neutral position on Indiana’s recent anti-gay legislation, everyone should pull out.
• The Hugo nomination process is . Scroll down to see this year’s nominees. Oh, and read too.
• Remember What’s-Her-Name, the Rolling Stone journalist who reported on a bogus rape at UVA? The magazine is , and the editors involved, and the fact checkers too, blaming the incident instead entirely on the alleged victim, whose story the article’s author, editors, and fact checkers failed to investigate.
• Literary Hub, a , has launched.
• Self published author Jasinda Wilder signs a with Berkley Books.
• Subscription service Oyster is into online retail and will sell individual books.
• The case has been closed on whether Harper Lee was coerced into allowing to be published.
• The new features a quote that isn’t hers. That will only increase its value to philat- . . . to phil-, to philat- . . . the hell with it, to stamp collectors.
• Is it time to do away with in dialogue? Nah. But the argument is interesting.
• Library of Congress chief executive comes under fire.
• Scholastic was my hero in grade school, publishing most of the books I read at the time and helping to inspire a life-long passion for words and literature. It’s my hero.
• Finally, Jonathan Franzen has The Audubon Society. First it was Oprah, then social media, now tree huggers. What sacred institution is next—Doritos? I put it to you.
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