Every day Poets & Writers Magazine scans the headlines—from publishing reports to academic announcements to literary dispatches—for all the news that creative writers need to know. Here are today’s stories.

Oxford Dictionaries has announced that the 2018 word of the year is “toxic.” (NPR)

“At some point a great country has to have a great animating principle. And somewhere along the line we mistook materialism for our great animating principle.” George Saunders on politics, writing with constraints, and his hope for the future. (Guardian)

Read a profile of Saunders, “The Emotional Realist Talks to Ghosts,” in Poets & Writers Magazine.

Tommy Orange shares his ambivalence about celebrating Thanksgiving and recommends books by Indigenous writers. (Washington Post)

“Nothing ends anymore, and it’s driving me insane.” Amanda Hess on the rise of sequels, prequels, reboots, reunions, revivals, remakes, and spinoffs. (New York Times)

Rebecca Makkai, Jordy Rosenberg, Kiese Laymon, and other writers share the books that best represent America. (Nylon)

The Atlantic considers the wisdom of Isabel Allende’s speech at the National Book Awards on Wednesday; the author urged people to “realize that the similarities that bring us together are many more than the differences that separate us.”

Read more about the ceremony and the winners at the Grants & Awards blog.

At the New Yorker, Katy Waldman argues HBO’s forthcoming screen adaptation of Elena Ferrante’s novel My Brilliant Friend loses some of the “contradictory, elusive energy” and “psychological precision” of the book.

Jonathan Franzen offered ten rules for novelists and… was immediately trolled on social media. (Literary Hub, Guardian)

Jeffrey Brown interviews Susan Orlean on PBS NewsHour about her recent book, The Library Book.

Listen to Orlean read an excerpt of the book in the latest episode of Ampersand.