Friday Fridge Clean-Out: Long Weekend Edition

Hope you find something of interest here for your long weekend.

•Short story writer extraordinaire Alice Munro has withdrawn her latest collection from the running for Canada’s largest (and richest) literary prize, “clearing the way for younger writers,” and some wonder if that’s really such a good thing.

• Say it isn’t so. After 26 years, Reading Rainbow ends its PBS run.

• I just discovered that one of my favorite writers/editors/agents, Betsy Lerner, keeps a blog on her site. She’s the author of The Forest for the Trees, not exactly a new book for writers, but a must-read.

• Etude is an online journal with a special emphasis on the craft of literary nonfiction.

• Want to play with type and fonts and the like on your site or blog?

• Five female authors whose books will debut in 2010 are blogging about their experiences in the run-up to publication, over at the Debutante Ball.

• Protagonists in young adult fiction who happen to be plus-size: Does this even have to be an issue?

• Check out the Editorrent blog for interesting examples, advice, tips, musings, do & don’t, and rants from two acquisition editors.

• Beginning tomorrow through January 3, the Myrtle Beach Art Museum presents Faces and Stories: A Portrait of Southern Writers.

• If you are a fan of Maurice Sendak’s Where the Wild Things Are, and eagerly awaiting its theatrical release, with a screenplay by (McSweeney’s editor & memoirist) Dave Eggers, you may like New York Magazine’s interview with Eggers, here.

• Why should writers care about Twitter? A lot of reasons.

• And finally, having trouble finding the words to explain to some recalcitrant publisher or clueless prospective client why writers should get paid? Well, you may not be able to use these exact words, but I guarantee you will enjoy listening to Harlan Ellison explain it all.

Have a great weekend.