VP/Group Publisher for Madavor Susan Fitzgerald mentioned plans for expansion, stating: “We will continue to deliver the quality and authoritative content readers and advertisers expect, and we intend to take both magazines to new and engaging places.”

In March, The Writer celebrated its 125th year anniversary. The magazine was founded in Boston and was run independently until it was sold to Kalmbach Publishing in 2000. Since then has been run out of the Milwaukee area. Since 2007, Jeff Reich has served as the publication’s editor-in-chief. Authors who have graced the pages of the magazine include: Ray Bradbury, Patricia Cornwell, Jonathan Franzen, Gail Godwin, Pete Hamill, Stephen King, Sinclair Lewis, W. Somerset Maugham, Terry McMillan, Joyce Carol Oates, Anne Perry, May Sarton and John Updike. (Via Sarah Weinman)

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Barnes & Noble has launched a new mystery blog entitled Ransom Notes, featuring posts by Anne Perry, John Sandford, Louise Penny, and Robert Crais.

International authors sign a petition supporting the release of Roman Polanski, including Bernard-Henri Levy, Salman Rushdie and Paul Auster. A petition excerpt: “Seventy-six years old, a survivor of Nazism and of Stalinist persecutions in Poland, Roman Polanski risks spending the rest of his life in jail for deeds which would be beyond the statute-of-limitations in Europe.”

The Book Bench features an upcoming short film based on an Elmore Leonard story, directed by Joseph Gordon-Levitt from 3rd Rock from the Sun.

The Rumpus publishes a timely essay: “A Short, Personal History of Small, Independent Publishing (1995-2009).”

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.