Scribner to publish Laura Bush’s memoir. Throw another couple of million on the pile.

Turkey restores the citizenship of celebrated poet Nazim Hikmet to make nice with the European Union.

Sonic Youth inspires fiction anthology.

Cuba allows scholars access to Hemingway archives.

Literary world holds its breath for “bitch tits”.

The Boston Globe examines Walt Whitman, as seen through the eyes of biographer Robert Roper.

Has the Internet actually saved literature?

Happy birthday, Carl Sandburg.

Leading historian calls Robert Burns a “racist, misogynistic drunk” unfit to represent Scotland as part of the country’s 2009 Homecoming celebrations.

Forty-seven years later, Richard Yates’ Revolutionary Road hits the bestseller list, thanks to release of the film based on the novel.

How asking for a blurb can torpedo a novel.

Novelist Victoria Hislop gets her turn in The Independent’s “My Secret Life”.

R.I.P. Inger Christensen

Novelist Julian Gough presents a “modest proposal for the publishing industry” in the New York Times.

Can you navigate your way through darkness in literature?

Nicholas Clee forecasts some of the “hottest reads for 2009″.

Guardian Book Blog’s Sam Jordison seeks the unlikely nexus of Axl Rose and Holden Caulfield.

Kafka’s Amerika to be re-introduced to the world with a new translation.

Alexander McCall Smith takes The Times on a literary journey through Edinburgh.

A look back at the life and works of Tolkien on the 117th anniversary of his birth.

The Washington Post and L.A. Times remember Donald Westlake.

The sleeper hits of a bad year in publishing.

The Guardian’s James Campbell profiles Per Patterson.

R.I.P. Johannes Mario Simmel

On the occasion of J.D. Salinger’s 90th birthday, Charles McGrath looks back at the reclusive author’s most compelling creation—the Glass family.

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Can big names save the book industry in 2009?

Unable to sustain an annual rent increase from $360,000 to a million dollars, The Librairie Française bookstore in Rockefeller Center closes after 73 years in business.

Nora Roberts becomes an innkeeper.

R.I.P. Donald E. Westlake

J.D. Salinger turns 90; still not talking.

The New Year’s resolutions of literary characters, courtesy of The Examiner.

Scientists looks at the bastard child of the five senses, smell, in literature.

On the 250th anniversary of the birth of Robert Burns, Times Online sees his “Auld Lang Syne” as a comfort in difficult times.

Amazon launches “Author Stores”.

Ali Smith, writing for The Times Literary Supplement, looks back at the compelling career of Sylvia Townsend Warner.

Knighted: that’s Sir Terry Pratchett to you.

Broadway dims the lights in honor of Harold Pinter.

ABC News looks at the Angel at the Fence hoax, focusing (at first glance) on the Oprah connection, but digging a little deeper into what it means for the future of memoirs.

While you’re there, check out the slideshow on famous literary hoaxes.

The L.A. Times talks Sandman with Neil Gaiman.

Terry Pratchett continues his good works in the battle against Alzheimer’s.

Literary Kicks offers up a randomizer for its 2008 batch of reader-submitted “Action Poetry”.

The Telegraph profiles Salman Rushdie and his ongoing penchant for making enemies.

The New Yorker dissects Laura Bush’s efforts to sell her first memoir.

The New York Times’ coverage of the cancelled Holocaust memoir.

The Columbia Tribune looks at how Edgar Allen Poe stays alive as a fictional character.

Used book business gets a shot in the arm from the Internet.

Children’s book market rush to put content online for a digital generation.

‘Melvillapalooza’ hits Broadway.

Rosenblat Holocaust memoir update (previous coverage): Publisher pulls the plug. (thanks, Michael)

The Dallas Morning News presents a look back at literature in 2008, much of it with a Texas twist.

Melanie Thernstrom, writing for the New York Times, looks back at her relationship with poet Jason Shinder and how the looming specter of death influenced his work.

After a year dominated by non-fiction, The Guardian’s William Skidelsky predicts a comeback for storytelling in 2009.

R.I.P. Hillary Waugh

Another Holocaust memoir hoax? The New Republic investigates (here, here and here); author defends.

“Revolutionary Road” brings Richard Yates back into the spotlight.

Seven novelists, six poets, five short story writers and three critics win India’s coveted National Sahitya Akademi awards.

West End actors pay on stage tribute to Harold Pinter.

R.I.P. Dale Wasserman

The Star looks at the changing of the guard in Canadian literature.

The Guardian’s John Crace presents his 2008 book quiz.

Carol Ann Duffy remembers Harold Pinter.

The New York Times examines the “intersection of poetry and politics” at inaugural readings.

The literary losses of 2008.

Harold Pinter
(1930 - 2008)

British playwright Pinter dead at 78: wife, agent (AFP)
Harold Pinter - the master of suspense - leaves the stage (TopNews)
Playwright Harold Pinter dies age 78 (Reuters)
Nobel-winning playwright Harold Pinter dies at 78 (AP)
Renowned U.K. Jewish playwright Harold Pinter dies aged 78 (Haaretz)
Harold Pinter 1930-2008 (The First Post)

The L.A. Times wades into the Newbery Medal debate.

Heavyweight writers line up to protest the detention of Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo.

The Week looks at the best non-fiction of the year.

Entertainment Weekly counts down the five worst books of the year.

Salon asks not only if the publishing industry can recover, but whether literature itself can survive.

Literary Kicks’ Bill Ectric interviews Jeff VanderMeer, “The hardest working man in Fantasy”.

On strange things tucked away in books.

Financial Times’ Anna Metcalfe presents a Q&A with Amélie Nothomb. 

Can you unravel the mystery of the authorship of a newly-discovered short story? The answer is here, but don’t look without at least taking a shot.

Adrian Mitchell remembered.

Former Harcourt publisher André Bernard offers a year-end report on the state of publishing.

Horace “American writers are ignorant” Engdahl steps down as secretary of Nobel Literature Prize academy.

The Examiner continues its series on its 10 favorite books of 2008.

Author and publisher Jane Daniel tells her side of the ‘Misha’ hoax.

R.I.P. Adrian Mitchell

Scumbag Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich tries to take cover in Kipling; NPR recounts other invocations of “If” by shady characters.

Tabatha Southey, writing for the Globe and Mail, launches a deliciously wicked attack on O. Henry’s “The Gift of the Magi”.

Graywolf ready to pounce on post-inaugural poetry sales.

The Guardian presents a new (and beautifully illustrated) Christmas poem by Carol Ann Duffy.

Times Online rolls out their “Books alternative awards” for 2008. My favorite category: “The Oedipal Sales Boost of the Year prize for publicly antagonising your mother enough to see your book through the credit crunch”.

The New Yorker runs a bizarre anti-poetry screed that simultaneously shits on contemporary American poetry and the potential for it to be a part of the national dialogue.

The Seattle Times weighs in with its top books of the year.

The New Yorker presents a compelling slideshow of imagery and excerpts from some of the year’s best short fiction.

Poetry and prostitution: closer than ever.

The L.A. Times runs down the latest book news and even includes a mention of our Midnight Poetry series.

R.I.P. Francisco Casavella

2009 Man Booker Prize judging panel announced.

Prospect dissects the culture of literary prizes as “important mechanism for ensuring literature’s future as a public art” in ‘The art of prize-fighting’.

Poetry to return to the Presidential Inauguration as Elizabeth Alexander will read for Obama’s ceremony.

Children’s book authors and illustrators join forces with indie booksellers for a day of solidarity.

The Village Voice lets its writers compile a list of the best books of 2008.

Slate rolls out its best books of 2008.

The Newbery Medal’s value is debated as the literary world asks if it’s actually turning kids off to reading.

The Dickens Fair hits the Cow Palace.

Poets & Writers gets 2 million dollars from the Liana Foundation to support its Jackson Poetry Prize.

Dara Horn shares her insights on becoming a Jewish novelist.

James Frey won’t go away; plans modern Jesus book.