Monthly Archives: April 2007

Author tries to interest Canada's president in the arts

Posted on April 17, 2007 by Keren

Concerned that Canadian president Stephen Harper lacks interest in the arts, Yann Martel, bestselling author of Life of Pi, has vowed to send him a book every two weeks.

“For as long as Stephen Harper is Prime Minister of Canada, I vow to send him every two weeks, mailed on a Monday, a book that has been known to expand stillness.”

The first book Martel sent Harper was “The Death of Ivan Ilyich” by Russian author Leo Tolstoy. Those wishing to keep in touch with Martel’s campaign can log on to http://whatisstephenharperreading.ca.

No one in Harper’s press office was immediately available for comment.

Link to the Yahoo News article

Posted in Authors |

Pulitzer winners announced

Posted on April 17, 2007 by Keren

The results of 2007′s ultra-prestigious Pulitzer prize have been announced.  Here are the winners in the literary categories:

  • Fiction: The Road by Cormac McCarthy (Alfred A. Knopf)
  • Drama: Rabbit Hole by David Lindsay-Abaire
  • History: The Race Beat by Gene Roberts and Hank Klibanoff
  • Biography: The Most Famous Man in America by Debby Applegate
  • Poetry: Native Guard by Natasha Trethewey
  • General non-fiction: The Looming Tower by Lawrence Wright
Each winner takes home $10,000 (£5,000), except for the recipient of the public service journalism award, who gets a gold medal.

Read the BBC article here; see the complete list of winners on the Pulitzer site here.  The journalism categories are also worth a look.

Posted in Authors, Awards |

76th Annual Writer's Digest Writing Competition

Posted on April 17, 2007 by Kimberly Dawn Wells

Writer’s Digest online is offering 101 people the opportunity to win great prizes in one of ten writing categories with their 76th Annual Writing Competition. Writers of children’s fiction, poetry, movie scripts and more will compete with their short entries for a chance to win $3,000 cash and a trip to New York.

Unlike other contests that offer just a few prizes, this one is offering 101! Your chances to get recognized are great, so don’t delay in polishing your entry.

Title: Writer’s Digest Writing Competition
Award: Grand-100th place prizes offer cash, a trip, critiques, certificates, and books
Deadline: May 15th, 2007
Entry Fee: $10-15 depending on entry
Length Limit: 2,000-4,000 words depending on entry
More information: https://www.writersdigest.com/contests/annual/76th/

Posted in Contests |

Last chance to vote in Locus award

Posted on April 14, 2007 by Keren

The Locus Magazine poll for the best science fiction of 2006 is closing tomorrow – this is your last chance to help decide the winners of one of the most prestigious sf awards of the year.

Voting is open to everyone – you can fill out a ballot on their website here (via BoingBoing).

Posted in Awards, Science fiction/fantasy |

Vonnegut's rules for short stories

Posted on April 14, 2007 by Keren

Some excellent short-story-writing advice from recently deceased author Kurt Vonnegut, most of which is applicable to all writing, not just short fiction:

1. Use the time of a total stranger in such a way that he or she will not feel the time was wasted.

2. Give the reader at least one character he or she can root for.

3. Every character should want something, even if it is only a glass of water.

4. Every sentence must do one of two things — reveal character or advance the action.

5. Start as close to the end as possible.

6. Be a sadist. No matter how sweet and innocent your leading characters, make awful things happen to them — in order that the reader may see what they are made of.

7. Write to please just one person. If you open a window and make love to the world, so to speak, your story will get pneumonia.

8. Give your readers as much information as possible as soon as possible. To heck with suspense. Readers should have such complete understanding of what is going on, where and why, that they could finish the story themselves, should cockroaches eat the last few pages.

Link (via BoingBoing)

Posted in Articles, Authors, Resources, Short stories |

Writers discuss their inspirations

Posted on April 14, 2007 by Keren

As a preview for the upcoming book How I Write: The Secret Lives Of Authors, the Guardian has released an interesting excerpt in which several authors write about “what gets their creative juices flowing”.  The list includes some unlikely things (including earplugs, chocolate and a squeaky chair) as well as the more usual pictures, music and taking a bath.

Read it here.

Posted in Articles, Authors |

Booker International shortlist released

Posted on April 13, 2007 by Keren

The shortlist for the second Man Booker International award was announced yesterday.  15 authors from all over the world are in the running for this prestigious award; some well known (Margaret Atwood, Salman Rushdie and Ian McEwan) and some more obscure.

The judges said: “With this list, we offer a gift to readers all over the world, an opportunity to join a conversation on 15 writers, diverse in nationality, language, themes and techniques, but united in their dedication to the power of the word.”

The award, designed “to highlight one writer’s continued creativity, development and overall contribution to fiction on the world stage,” is presented to a living author who has published fiction either originally in English or whose work is available in translation in the English language.

The International Booker prize, unlike the annual Booker prize, is open to English-language authors of any nationality and is awarded for an author’s entire body of work rather than a specific title.  The 60,000-pound prize is awarded every two years.

Link to the Guardian article.  Yahoo News has two articles on the subject: 1 2

Posted in Articles, Authors, Awards |

Shortlist for British National Short Story Prize announced

Posted on April 13, 2007 by Keren

The shortlist for the British National Short Story prize has been announced.  The prize, only in its second year, is the world’s richest short story prize, with £15,000 going to the winner, a prize of £3,000 for the runner-up and £500 going to each of the other finalists.
The five finalists are:

  • ‘Slog’s Dad’ by David Almond
  • ‘The Morena’ by Jonathan Falla
  • ‘The Orphan and the Mob’ by Julian Gough
  • ‘How to Get Away with Suicide’ by Jackie Kay
  • ‘Weddings and Beheadings’ by Hanif Kureishi

The prize exists to raise the profile of the often-neglected short story in Britain.  The chair of the judges, Mark Lawson, said:

“This prize exists partly because many – perhaps even most – publishers and literary editors still regard the novel as the most important form of story-telling and are suspicious of short stories,” he said. “But this year’s selection makes very clear that there is no connection at all between word-count and the scale of subject matter or characterisation that can be achieved.”

Link to the Yahoo News article

Posted in Articles, Awards, Contests, Short stories |

Mother's Day writing contest

Posted on April 12, 2007 by Keren

Borders, Gather.com and Mitch Albom are teaming up to run a writing contest for this spring’s Mother’s Day.  The challenge is to write “an original story that relays a childhood memory of a particular moment in which their mother stood up for them.”

The first prize is a seven-day cruise for two.

Essays must be 300 words or less and will appear on Gather.com, where the top 10 picks will be selected. The winner, chosen by Albom, will be announced May 10 on “The Early Show.” The nine finalists each will receive a $100 Borders gift card.

Submissions will be accepted starting Wednesday, and continuing through April 25.

Link to the Yahoo News article

Posted in Authors, Contests |

Writing It Real Essay Contest

Posted on April 12, 2007 by Kimberly Dawn Wells

Can you write a great personal essay? Are you a master at telling the story from within? The Writing It Real Essay Contest is looking for authors who can share their experiences with others. Essays of any and all themes are welcome.
Title: Writing It Real Essay Contest

Award: Cash prize, publication, and free software for writers

Deadline: June 30th, 2007

Entry Fee: $15 (includes a subscription)

Length Limit: 10 typed, double-spaced pages (Times New Roman)

More information: http://www.writingitreal.com/contest.html

Posted in Contests |