A roundup of literary stories from the web.

A roundup of the most interesting literary news from around the web.

A roundup of recent updates from the world of poetry, including the election of Philip Levine as American Poet Laureate and the response of Syrian poet Adonis to recent unrest in his native country.

The Syrian poet Adonis, who has been featured in several Colophon posts and articles in The Prague Post, has always been divisive, as a poet, literary scholar and as an outspoken critic against what he sees as a lack of innovation in Arab culture. Adonis has written several editorials and open letters since uprisings occurring throughout the Arab world have also taken hold in Syria. Sinan Antoon has written a scathing response to Adonis’ response to the Arab Spring, saying that the uprisings have rendered Adonis “irrelevant.”

Reza Aslan is an associate professor of creative writing at the University of California, Riverside and the author of No God But God and Beyond Fundamentalism. He is also a regular contributor to The Daily Beast. Most recently, Aslan edited Tablet and Pen: Modern Literary Landscapes from the Middle East. He recently spoke with The Prague Post by phone from New York City.

As The Prague Post reported March 3, Syrian poet Adonis has recently been deftly translated into English by Khaled Mattawa in a Selected Poems published by Yale University Press. Readers interested in finding more of this vital poet’s work don’t need to look far, as several collections and selections of Adonis’ work have previously been published in English translation. Here are some of the highlights.