Category Archives: Articles

Guardian poetry workshop with Aidan Andrew Dun: everyday objects

Posted on February 16, 2007 by Keren

There’s a twist in the exercise. (which I’ve used in Ode to a Postbox). And it’s this.

The most common object in the modern world is potentially the most sacred because its restoration to sanctity is totally unexpected. The poet has traditionally helped to keep the sacred alive by associating the world’s great symbols – a tree, the ocean, the sky – with simple feelings of compassion, humanity, love, non-violence, noble resonance. Big ideas have most often been expressed in straightforward language (naturally I mean the direct intensity of Shakespeare, not the gibberish of a lawyer or a government). But as oceans, trees and skies die in front of us, and the world and all its strange wonders are desanctified, our exercise is to seek out the overfamiliar and disregarded, the rejected, marginalized and faceless even, and to load these obscure players in life with larger significance. Here is a work of unification and of ‘invisible legislation’, to paraphrase Shelley.

Email your entries, with ‘Poetry workshop’ in the title field, to books.editor@guardianunlimited.co.uk by midnight on Sunday February 25. The shortlisted poems, and Aidan’s responses, will appear on the site soon afterwards.

Link to the Guardian article

Posted in Articles, Authors, Contests, Poetry |

Pamuk believed to be in exile in US

Posted on February 16, 2007 by Keren

The Turkish author Orhan Pamuk has reportedly left his home country to live in America amid fears for his life. The Nobel laureate is believed to be at risk of assassination in Turkey following the murder of Turkish-Armenian editor Hrant Dink last month. Threats appeared to have been made against Pamuk by the man who confessed to orchestrating the murder.

The International Herald Tribune reported on Thursday February 1 that Pamuk had boarded a plane for New York to begin a lecture tour of American universities and, according to Fatih Altayli, a prominent columnist writing for the Turkish daily newspaper Sabah, he has no plans to return to Turkey.

“What I was told was more than mere rumour: Pamuk recently withdrew $400,000 from his bank account and said he would leave Turkey and would not be returning to his country anytime soon,” wrote Altayli. According to the Daily Telegraph, those close to Pamuk have declined to comment publicly on the report because of the “sensitivity of Mr Pamuk’s position”.

In 2005 he was tried in an Istanbul court for the crime of “insulting Turkishness” under the controversial Article 301 of the Turkish penal code, but was acquitted on a technicality a month later. This week, Turkey’s foreign minister backed calls to amend the article, but not to repeal it.

Link to the Guardian article

Previously:
Orhan Pamuk wins Nobel literature prize
Nobel winner recounts tumultuous writing career
Nobel laureate Pamuk runs Turkish paper for a day

Posted in Articles, Authors |

Literary readings in NYC laundromats

Posted on February 16, 2007 by Keren

Instead of burying their head in a book or heading to the nearest coffee shop to beat the boredom of laundry, New York writer Emily Rubin has organised a series of readings called “Dirty Laundry: Loads of Prose,” at laundromats in New York.

“Just mixing laundry and writing seemed completely natural to me because truly in life and metaphorically as a writer, everyone has dirty laundry,” said the Brooklyn native who started the series last year.

She contemplated holding the readings in various neighborhood venues including shops but said a laundromat seemed “a natural fit.”

People can wash their dirty laundry while listening to a poem or short story or just attend the readings. During the first of the 2007 series writer Carolyn Turgeon read some of her work while people loaded the dryers and washing machines.

Link to the Yahoo! News article

Posted in Articles, Events, Reading |

'Not Published Yet' prize: for booksellers who write

Posted on February 12, 2007 by Keren

Inspired by the example of Sarah Waters and David Mitchell, who both worked as booksellers before becoming bestsellers, the Not Published Yet competition invites submissions from unpublished authors working in the book trade to win a publishing contract with Faber and Faber, and an advance of at least £2,000.

The competition is open to writers of both fiction and non-fiction, whether they work for a chain or an independent bookshop. First-time authors working full- or part-time for organisations that are members of the Booksellers Association can send in 10,000-word extracts, proposals, outlines or synopses of their work by June 29 2007.

Link to the rest of the Guardian article

Posted in Articles, Awards, Booksellers, Contests |

Free copies of Kidnapped distributed in Edinburgh

Posted on February 12, 2007 by Keren

In a program to promote awareness of the importance of Edinburgh on the current and historical literary scene, copies of Robert Louis Stevenson’s book Kidnapped are being given away for free this month in the city.

All this February, readers can pick up one of 25,000 free copies of the book from a variety of public libraries across Edinburgh, with plans afoot to leave further copies on buses and park benches and in cafes and bars. Added to this, a month-long events programme encompasses talks, readings, storytelling, drama workshops, film shows, discussions and puppetry.

Copies of Kidnapped will be available in an abridged version, in an unabridged version, and as a specially-commissioned graphic novel.

Read the full Guardian article here.

Posted in Articles, Events, Graphic novels, Reading |

Article at IGMS details the pros and woes of book to movie adaptations

Posted on February 11, 2007 by Heidi Kathleen

Here’s how it works: a producer or production company “options” a book — that is, buys the rights (typically for several thousand dollars) to adapt the book for a period of time (typically from eighteen months to two years). If the producers have not adapted the book when agreed-upon the period of time lapses, the rights revert back to the author. [3] Books are optioned far more than they are produced, and some books have been optioned more than once. But sometimes, a book manages to slog its way through the development process and get filmed.

Is this a good experience for an author?

The rest of the article can be read here.

Posted in Articles, Film, Movie Adaptations, Science fiction/fantasy |

Director hopes Tolkien approves of Lord of the Rings musical adaptation

Posted on February 11, 2007 by Heidi Kathleen

“That was a magical moment,” director Matthew Warchus told reporters on Thursday when presenting to the press the 50-strong cast of what is being billed as the most expensive musical ever staged in London.

“I visited his grave in Oxford to apologize and get his seal of approval. I apologized in case he didn’t like the idea of a stage show,” the British director said.

Link to the rest of the Yahoo! news article.

Posted in Articles, Plays, Science fiction/fantasy |

Library of Congress gets digitization grant

Posted on February 5, 2007 by Keren

The Library of Congress has received a $2-million grant from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation to digitize public domain works. The grant emphasizes digitizing “at-risk” titles—or books that are falling apart—and volumes about American history. Dubbed “Digitizing American Imprints at the Library of Congress,” the project will also allow the LoC to invest in such technology as, according to a statement from the organization, “suitable page-turner display” along with a program dedicated to quickly indexing and capturing chapters and other sections of a work.

Article from Publisher’s Weekly.

Posted in Articles, E-books |

Author Cussler sues over film treatment of Sahara

Posted on February 4, 2007 by Keren

Best-selling writer Cussler, who has featured Pitt in 19 of his 32 books, is suing Crusader Entertainment, owned by Denver billionaire Phil Anschutz, for making so many script and plot changes to the film version of his book “Sahara” that it was doomed to box-office failure.

“This was not the dramatic, gripping story Clive Cussler told. As a result, the audience just didn’t care,” Fields said in his opening statement. He added that the movie “Sahara” released in 2005 with Matthew McConaughey and Penelope Cruz lost between $60 million and $70 million.

In a countersuit, Crusader said Cussler had overstated by tens of millions the number of books he had sold to induce them to enter the agreement.

Cussler is seeking millions of dollars in damages.

Link to the Yahoo News article

Posted in Articles, Authors, Film, Movie Adaptations |

Penguin launches wiki novel project

Posted on February 4, 2007 by Keren

Based on the principles of Wikipedia, the free online encyclopedia, the novel, called A Million Penguins, is open to anyone to join in, write and edit. None of the words, characters or plot twists will be attributed to any individual and – and this is the element of the project most likely to bruise delicate egos – participants are free to edit, chop and change other writers’ work.

“To be honest, we don’t know exactly what is going to happen or how this will turn out,” says Jeremy Ettinghausen, Penguin’s digital publisher. “We hope people will enter into it in the spirit we intend and leave their egos at the door. It’s not about individual work and individual brilliance – it’s about people working together as a community”.

Link to the Guardian article; link to the A Million Penguins wiki.

Posted in Articles, Publishers, Websites |