The contest will be judged by a former Best American Poetry guest editor, who’s name will be announced along with the winning poem.

The winning poet’s name will appear on the Best American Poetry website and blog, along with the winning poem. Prizes include a cloth bound copy of The Best American Poetry 2008, signed by the series editor and several contributors, as well as other Scribner title. The poem will also be featured in a broadside created by artist Jenny Grassl.

There is no entry fee or purchase necessary to enter and win the contest.

Contest deadline is Midnight EST on December 5, 2008.

For more details and full information on how to enter, visit The Best American Poetry Blog.

Crichton started on he path a career as a medical doctor, but turned to writing his science-fiction novels while he was in medical school in 1969. He has written more than 20 novels on a wide range of topics–from time travel to genetic engineering to nanotechnology, most of which have been on numerous bestseller lists and over a dozen which have been made into films. His most recent novel will be published posthumously on May 4, 2009.

The author, who has been privately struggling with cancer, is survived by his wife Sherri and daughter Taylor.

The suit was filed when Google began scanning books in their entirety and making copies of these books available online through Google Book Search. Most of the books were out-of-print and public domain, however Google was also displaying copy’s of books which will still in print.

The settlement that has been reached, which still must be approved by a Federal Judge, will allot at least $45 million for authors and publishers whose work was scanned and displayed without permission.

Additionally, there is an included proposal that Google continue to scan books, with permission, and make these books available for persons with paid subscriptions. This would allow for libraries to access an enormous amount of books and, academically, expedite the research of students across the country as they would be able to view and print any book that has been made available. The project would also make many out-of-print books easily accessible.

For more information visit the Authors Guild official statement and Google’s Book Search Copyright Settlement page.

The website, currently, is not accepting any submissions, and it is unclear whether or not they will open submissions in the future. It appears that it may simply act as a one-time online anthology.

The site contains writing “for and by those [who are] under 35″ and includes an interview with a survivor of the Iraq war as well a very interesting analysis of “The Splinter Generation”–the name the editors of The Splinter Generationhave given to the generation commonly referred to as “Generation Y,” the “Google Generation,” “Generation DotNet,” etc…

Check out the writings at http://splintergeneration.com/index.html.

Previous winners of the competition include Instructions from the Narwhal by Allison Titus, and Novas by Ryan Flaherty.

For complete contest guidelines please visit http://bateaupress.org/index.php?page=boom

Scanning library collections has become more and more commonplace with the spread of technology–last month the European Union announced the appropriation of $175 million to digitize European libraries. The advantages are clearly seen when looking at the history of libraries being destroyed by fire, flood, or negligence: a history that by no means has ended. As recently as 2002, floods demolished a number of books and artworks in Dresden, Germany. Of course, the digitizing of these files makes them more accessible to scholars and bibliophiles around the world.

200 manuscripts are already in the database, and 144 already available online at the library’s website, www.cesg.unifr.ch.

On November 19, at a ceremony in New York, the winners will be announced. One winner in each category will receive a bronze sculpture and a $10,000 cash prize.

Non-Fiction Finalists

• Jane Mayer, The Dark Side: The Inside Story of How the War on Terror Turned Into a War on American Ideals
• Drew Gilpin Faust, This Republic of Suffering: Death and the American Civil War
• Annette Gordon-Reed, Hemingses of Monticello: An American Family
• Jim Sheeler, Final Salute: A Story of Unfinished Lives
• Joan Wickersham, The Suicide Index: Putting My Father’s Death in Order

Fiction Finalists

• Marilynne Robinson, Home
• Peter Matthiessen, Shadow Country
• Aleksandar Hemon, The Lazarus Project
• Rachel Kushner, Telex From Cuba
• Salvatore Scibona, The End

Poetry Finalists

• Frank Bidart, Watching the Spring Festival
• Mark Doty, Fire to Fire: New and Collected Poems
• Reginald Gibbons, Creatures of a Day
• Richard Howard, Without Saying
• Patricia Smith, Blood Dazzler

Young People’s Literature Finalists

• Laurie Halse Anderson, Chains
• Kathi Appelt, The Underneath
• Judy Blundell, What I Saw and How I Lied
• E. Lockhart, The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks
• Tim Tharp, The Spectacular Now

For more information please see the The New York Times article or visit the National Book Foundation’s website.

Jörn Schütrumpf, the manager of Karl-Dietz, the Berlin publishing house responsible for the German works of Marx and Engels said that “We’re seeing a very distinct increase in demand for his books, a demand which we expect to rise even more steeply before the year’s end.”

Schütrumpf also noted that those purchasing Marx’s books are generally “those of a young academic generation, who have come to recognise that the neoliberal promises of happiness have not proved to be true.”

Some German political figures have even recently outed themselves as Marxist sympathisers. Oskar Lafontaine, the head of Germany’s rising left-wing party, Die Linke, said he planned to write Marxist theory into the party’s manifest and Peer Steinbrück, Germany’s finance minister, was quoted saying “Generally one has to admit that certain parts of Marx’s theory are really not so bad.”

For more information visit the original article at The Guardian.

Prior winners of the Man Booker prize include Yann Martel (Life of Pi), Roddy Doyle (Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha), and V.S. Naipaul (In A Free State), among many others.

The journal accepts fiction, creative non-fiction and memoir, poetry, cross-genre, and multi-media submissions. The editors have put forth change as a suggested theme for the upcoming issue.

Deadline for submissions is 31 October 2008.

For more information, or to view an archive of all the journal’s previous publications, please visit Two Hawks Quarterly online at www.aulapress.com.