Category Archives: Events

BookExpo will move to Las Vegas in 2010

Posted on November 12, 2006 by Keren

Yahoo News reports:

BookExpo America, publishing’s annual national convention, will return to Las Vegas in 2010 after a 20-year absence, event organizers announced Friday.

The convention, which features appearances and speeches by well-known authors, educational workshops and social networking sessions that attract thousands of booksellers and publishers, was last held in Las Vegas in 1990. Organizers said the city has changed much since then, with the addition of new hotels, casinos, fine restaurants and entertainment choices.

The 2007 BookExpo America is scheduled for May 31 to June 3 in New York. The convention will move to Los Angeles in 2008 and back to New York in 2009 before heading to Las Vegas in 2010.

Convention organizers said they will continue rotating the event among New York, the Midwest and the West.

Link

Posted in Events |

Kali to showcase diversity of Asian women writing

Posted on November 5, 2006 by Aurel

London based Kali Theatre is hosting a new festival to celebrate the richness and diversity of new theatre writing by Asian women later this month.

The ‘Asian Women Talk Back’ Festival, which will run from 14th to 25th November, features productions of three new plays, readings and an innovative “vocal tapestry” created by a collaboration of artists.

With fresh new voices and surprising perspectives, Kali writers boldly address the global alongside the everyday at a time when power and traditions are shifting in the UK and worldwide. The festival includes:

  • Deadeye, by Amber Lone, Soho writer, directed by Kali’s Janet Steel.  A second generation tries to break from the morals and expectations of their parents. Amber tackles the taboo of drug use and abuse and highlights the power of women in the Asian community.

    • (more…)

    Posted in Authors, Events |

    Weeklong festival celebrates, probes nonfiction writing

    Posted on November 5, 2006 by Aurel

    The folks at Creative Nonfiction are worried that nobody believes authors anymore.

    It’s the fallout from disclosures that autobiographer James Frey exaggerated his life story and that journalists Jason Blair and Stephen Glass found it easier to make up stories than write the truth.

    To get writers back on course, the Pittsburgh-based foundation and literary journal is holding a weeklong look at “Ethics in Writing” during its third 412 Creative Nonfiction Festival, “Can You Handle The Truth?,” at spots around the city.

    “It’s the responsibility of all nonfiction writers to tell the truth,” said Lee Gutkind, foundation director.

    (more…)

    Posted in Education, Events, Non-fiction |

    Writing in the 'rhythm of the heart'

    Posted on November 5, 2006 by Aurel

    Courtesy Mary Carole McCauley, Baltimore Sun

    When Maryland poet laureate Michael Glaser seeks inspiration for his verse, he looks no further than the two-part thumping of his own heart.

    That’s true of Glaser’s chosen subject; in his most recent book of verse, 2004′s Being a Father, he chronicles the ambivalent emotions that arise while raising his three sons and two daughters, now all grown. The poems tackle experiences as diverse as comforting a preschooler after a nightmare, to a daughter’s confident first visit home from college.

    (more…)

    Posted in Articles, Authors, Events, Poetry |

    NaNoWriMo 2006 begins!

    Posted on November 2, 2006 by Keren

    National Novel Writing Month 2006 started yesterday, November 1.  For the readers who are unfamiliar with the event, the basic concept is that you write a novel of 50,000+ words in the month of November.

    What: Writing one 50,000-word novel from scratch in a month’s time.

    Who: You! We can’t do this unless we have some other people trying it as well. Let’s write laughably awful yet lengthy prose together.

    Why: The reasons are endless! To actively participate in one of our era’s most enchanting art forms! To write without having to obsess over quality. To be able to make obscure references to passages from our novels at parties. To be able to mock real novelists who dawdle on and on, taking far longer than 30 days to produce their work.

    It’s still not too late to catch up!  Join the NaNoWriMo website here.

    Posted in Contests, Events, Websites |

    Soul of Travel Workshop offers Opportunity for Travel Writers

    Posted on October 31, 2006 by Aurel

    The editors of Spirituality & Health magazine invite you to a week long retreat with travel writer Judith Fein, her photographer husband Paul Ross (see their website at www.GlobalAdventure.us), and Editor-in-Chief Steve Kiesling, at a remarkable eco-resort, Rancho Encantado (www.encantado.com), in the heart of the Yucatán, in Mexico, near Belize.

    We will go to remote Maya archeological sites, cook with Maya people, swim, go kayaking, get a massage, take a boat trip, enjoy breakfast and a three-course candlelight gourmet dinner each day, explore the remote tropical lagoon where the resort is located, and learn to transform all these experiences into travel articles and travel stories. For those interested, travel photography will be demystified.

    The best story will be published in Spirituality & Health. No experience in writing or photography necessary. Space is limited to 26, and is available on a first-come, first-served basis. All costs are included, except airfare to Cancún. The resort is three and one half hours from Cancún, and transportation from the airport is provided.

    Price per person is $1,895.
    ($100 discount for booking before December 15.)
    To reserve, call Rancho Encantado at 1.800.505 MAYA (5292).

    Soul of Travel Writing Workshop
    March 8–15, 2007
    Rancho Encantado eco-retreat & spa
    Laguna Bacalar
    Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula

    Posted in Contests, Education, Events, Non-fiction, Publishers, Websites |

    Small Press Center Honors Alice Walker

    Posted on October 30, 2006 by Aurel

    The Small Press Center will be holding its Annual Benefit and Cocktail Reception, this year in honor of Alice Walker, November 17, 2006, in NYC.

    Alice Walker is one of the most prolific and important writers of our times, known for her literary fiction including the Pulitzer Prize-winning The Color Purple, (which was later adapted i! nto a film, and is now a major Broadway musical), her many volumes of poetry, and her powerful nonfiction collections. Her advocacy on behalf of the dispossessed has spanned the globe.

    Tickets are only $75. For details and an invitation email info@smallpress.org or call 212 764-7021.

    Posted in Authors, Events |

    Symphony Space and The National Book Foundation Celebrate Mavis Gallant

    Posted on October 30, 2006 by Aurel

    Russell Banks, Jhumpa Lahiri, Michael Ondaatje, and Edward Hirsch will celebrate and read from the work of Canadian-born short-story master Mavis Gallant at Symphony Space in New York City on November 1, 2006. The program is part of the Selected Shorts: A Celebration of the Short Story series. Ms. Gallant, who lives in Paris, is acclaimed for her mastery in short story writing that has influenced American writers for nearly fifty years. She has published more than 100 short stories in the New Yorker, the third-most in the magazine’s “storied” history. Gallant will make a rare New York appearance at the event. The event is co-presented by PEN and the National Book Foundation. For more information and tickets, visit www.symphonyspace.org.

    Posted in Author Tours, Authors, Events, Uncategorized, Websites |

    Chinese author among winners of $40,000 US emerging writer prize

    Posted on October 26, 2006 by Aurel

    Chinese writer Yiyun Li is among the latest winners of the Whiting Writers’ Awards, a $40,000 US annual honour that recognizes emerging writing talent.

    A U.S.-based fiction writer, Li won acclaim for her 2005 short story collection A Thousand Years of Good Prayers, netting the PEN/Hemingway Award for debut fiction and the Frank O’Connor International Short Story Award. She was also a finalist for the Kiriyama Prize, which honours books about the Pacific Rim and South Asia.

    The other winners, announced at a ceremony in New York on Wednesday, are:

    • Navajo poet Sherwin Bitsui
    • Irish author Patrick O’Keeffe
    • Saudi Arabian novelist Micheline Aharonian Marcom
    • U.S. short story writer Charles D’Ambrosio
    • New York playwright and actor Stephen Adly Guirgis
    • South Korean poet Suji Kwock Kim
    • Mexican American fiction writer Nina Marie Martinez
    • U.S. playwright Bruce Norris
    • U.S. poet Tyehimba Jess

    (more…)

    Posted in Articles, Authors, Awards, Events |

    Ontario Offers Province-Wide Writing Contest

    Posted on October 26, 2006 by Aurel

    In honour of the recent Ontario Public Library Week, the King Township Public Libraries are inviting people to put their thoughts of the magic of libraries into words, and enter a provincewide contest.

    Library CEO Murray McCabe said the deadline for entries is Nov. 30. The contest is open to anyone 18 years of age or older, and stories must be 500 words or less.

    For more information, visit the library’s Web site at www.king-library.on.ca or contact your local library branch.

    Source: The King Township Sentinel

    Posted in Contests, Events, Reading |