Litblog Roundup 2014-10-12

The weekly liblog roundup features the latest highlights from the world of literary blogs.

2014 Nobel Prize for Literature

This week, the 2014 Nobel Prize for Literature went to Patrick Modiano. Earlier, a member of the Nobel academy made some critical remarks about writers who have support from grants and institutions . Iain Broome frowns in response . The New Republic has 5 Steps to Getting Over Your Ignorance of the Nobel Winner for Literature .

Alternative Alternatives

For several weeks, there’s been an ongoing controversy in the Alt Lit community. It started with allegations of rape and of (statutory) rape . Gossip blog Gawker surmises, “the web’s most earnest purveyors of navel-gazing self-examination may have to start looking a little harder at themselves.” Another blogger asks “why didn’t anybody do anything to stop this before” and is this “the death of Alt Lit” ? At HTMLgiant, Emily Swanson has a fair-minded overview of the events . Speaking of HTMLgiant, for six years, it has been for many a favorite litblog, but HTMLgiant will shut down at the end of this month . The announcement isn’t clear about reasons for the shut-down, but the comments suggest that it’s due to the complicated situation in the Alt Lit community right now.

The Magazine is Shutting Down

A pioneering digital periodical called The Magazine is a notable example of a new kind of online publishing called subcompact publishing . The trouble is, The Magazine is shutting down at the end of the year because of diminishing subscriber numbers. Is it the content or the platform? It’s hard to tell, but this year, it seems that print books may out-sell e-books .

Poetry’s Hot 100

On Scarriet, there’s a great list of “ Poetry’s Hot 100 ” with an excellent overview of 100 names of people associated with contemporary poetry and poetics. It could serve as an excellent introduction to those topics.

The Second Draft’s a Devil

Chuck Wendig offers some amusing advice to writers struggling with a second draft . “By the time you get to the second draft, your best way forward is to somehow convince yourself that Some Other Asshole wrote this book. You can be cold, clinical, dispassionate when you’re attacking the draft if you think it’s not yours.”

Truman Capote

Truman Capote fans: the good news is a recent publication of “lost” stories by Capote . The bad news is that they’re published in German, but that is good news, if you read German.

Book Tube How-to

Last week I mentioned Book Tube , the community of book lovers on You Tube. This week, Book Tube News has a post with everything you need to know to start your own Book Tube channel .

Dodge Poetry Festival

The 15th biennial Geraldine R. Dodge Poetry Festival will be held in downtown Newark from Oct. 23 through 26. It should be a good place to be if you like poetry but you’re tired of “ poet voice .”