Cover Stories: Vintage Classics; Frankfurt Book Fair; Hosking Houses Trust

* The relaunch of Vintage Classics is being advertised in quirky ways across the country – a bed in London's Soho Square, flyposting in Whitechapel and live window displays in Edinburgh – and this week it was announced that the publisher is preparing a new collection of poems by William Blake. Perhaps surprisingly, they are being chosen by "the legendary and iconic" Patti Smith (left), "punk's poet laureate". Her selection includes poems from Songs of Innocence and Experience and Milton: A Poem. Publication will be on 1 November, marking the 250th anniversary later that month of Blake's birth.

* As plans for the Frankfurt Book Fair take shape, a row has broken out over the decision by guest "country" Catalonia to host only Catalan-language writers. What many regarded as a publicity stunt has backfired, as Carlos Ruiz Zafó*, author of The Shadow of the Wind, and Javier Cercas, author of Soldiers of Salamis, declared they would boycott the fair. Zafó* spoke of "misguided political ambition and bigotry". Ildefonso Falcones, the author of Spain's current bestseller, The Cathedral of the Sea, alleged the authorities had decided what constituted Catalan culture without consulting others. The regional government has now backtracked, but many authors are refusing to go, seeing the latest round of invitations as an insulting afterthought.

* Here's a nice gig for a writer who has "published significant work on any subject": Hosking Houses Trust seeks a writer in residence, a woman over 40, to complete "an interesting and innovative work about any subject whatsoever that might otherwise be postponed, abandoned or take a long time to complete". The package includes a £500 monthly bursary and the occupancy of Church Cottage in the village of Clifford Chambers, near Stratford-upon-Avon. Details at www.hoskinghouses.co.uk.

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