Melville House withdraws from Amazon’s Best Translated Book Awards

Lemony Snicket curated a “children’s poetry portfolio” for Poetry, however the poems contained therein “are not made for children.” Take a look for yourself. There are selections from Maram al-Massri, Carl Sandburg, Katerina Rudcenkova, Ron Padgett, and more.

“The real world is massive and chaotic beyond the scope of any story, but the novel has always been the storytelling medium that could come closest to capturing it. And the novels that dared to really try – from Hugo to Tolstoy – are often the ones that have endured.” That’s not to say, of course, that bigger is always better, and in an article for The Guardian Damien Walter argues against the current glut of epic, serialized fantasy novels taking their cues from George R.R. Martin‘s A Song of Ice and Fire. As Walter puts it, “There are great fantasy short stories, novellas and single novels that deserve much wider audiences, but are sidelined by the industry’s unhealthy fixation with the serial format. It’s time for the fantasy genre to tell some new – shorter – stories.”

Hear ye, hear ye! The annual Morning News Tournament of Books has begun! (ICYMI: I wrote about their bracket last week.)

Ben Purkert reviews Year in Reading alum Ben Lerner’s The Hatred of Poetry. If you like the title, check out ten poems for people who hate poetry.