Literature festival crippled by politics

The BBC reports that Israeli police have shut down a Palestinian theatre in East Jerusalem, preventing the closing event of an international literature festival from being staged.

Police said they were acting on a court order, initiated by Israel's internal security minister. Saturday's opening event was also closed down.

East Jerusalem has been occupied by Israel since 1967, when the area was annexed.

The British consul-general in Jerusalem, Richard Makepeace (an ironic name, if there ever was one), was attending the event. "I think all lovers of literature would regard this as a very regrettable moment and regrettable decision," he said.

He added that the closing event will now be staged at the British Council in Jerusalem.

Groundbreaking writers' conference in NYC

The Mercantile Library Center for Fiction is proud to announce its first Writers’ Conference, a full day of presentations dedicated to helping writers understand and thrive in the rapidly changing world of publishing.

The one-day conference will be held June 27, 2009 at Fordham University’s Lincoln Center Campus, 113W 60th St.. All conference attendees will receive one month free writing space at the Center’s Writing Studio at 17 East 47th Street and 10% off the first 3 months thereafter, a $130 value. The cost to attend is $200.

The event’s keynote address will be given by Daniel Menaker, a veteran New Yorker fiction editor, former Random House executive editor-in-chief, accomplished short story author and novelist and host of the groundbreaking Internet talk show Titlepage.

Featured authors will include New Yorker editor Ben Greenman, author of Please Step Back, Jennifer Weiner, author of In Her Shoes, Marlon James, author of The Book of Night Women, Stefan Merrill Block, author of The Story of Forgetting, Amanda Stern, founder of the Happy Ending Music and Reading Series and author of The Long Haul, Peter Cameron, author of Someday This Pain Will Be Useful to You, Touré, author of the novel Soul City and Maryann McFadden, author of So Happy Together.

Featured editors will include Jonathan Karp, Publisher and Editor-in-Chief of Twelve, Richard Nash, consultant and former publisher of Soft Skull Press, Sara Nelson, former Editor-in-Chief of Publishers Weekly, Laurie Chittenden, executive editor at William Morrow, Sarah Crichton, publisher of Sarah Crichton Books at Farrar, Straus and Giroux.

Featured agents will include Kate Lee of ICM, Renee Zuckerbrot and others. Panels will include topics like: Beyond the Desk: Finding Your Community of Writers, What Good Are Book Reviews, Anyway?, How To Get Your Foot in the Door, Creating Your Own Buzz, What Editors Are Looking For, and After the Book Deal.

Why couldn't they have staged this stellar event when I am in New York in August! A don't-miss event if you can make it.

Terrified to go to the loo?

Were you ever scared to go to the bathroom as a child? Well, apparently you share this phobia with the people of Japan, a country where ghosts are believed to inhabit the loo.

Koji Suzuki (pictured), a successful author of horror stories (Ring has been made into a series of films), has capitalized on this in an extremely innovative way -- he has written a horror story that is printed on toilet paper.

Drop (an appropriate title, if there ever was one) is set in a public restroom, and takes up about three feet (90 cm) of the roll. The roll costs 210 yen, and is billed as "a horror experience on the toilet."

Well, at least you are at rest while you read it. What you do with it after that is best left to the imagination.

(Story from Yahoo news.)

Digital books are the future

A couple of days ago, I mentioned a possible big sale for the story of Captain Richard Phillips, the hero who put himself in harm's way to save his crew after his ship Maersk Alabama was seized by Somali pirates.

According to Matthew Flamm of Crain's New York Business discussion site, it seems as if the day of huge (and often obscene) book advances might be drawing to an end. The top bids for Phillips's book were around half a million dollars, a big reduction on the seven-figure advance it was expected to attract.

Lesser writers are having a tough time, too. "Somebody said to me recently, '$35,000 is the new $75,000,'" said Michael Morrison, president of the general books division at Harpers.

Gone are the flash author-editor lunches, too, as the industry is cutting costs wherever it can. There is also a move to accelerate conversion to an all-digital environment, such as putting catalogues on line, or sending them by e-mail, instead of going to the expense of print. Too, electronic publishing is beginning to account for bigger book sales.

Little wonder, then, that I received a very polite and pleasant communication from Algonquin, telling me that they are to include Island of the Lost and In the Wake of Madness in the "significant number" of titles they are converting into electronic formats, "allowing all of us to benefit from new digital sales, marketing, and distribution opportunities."

As they say, these are uncharted waters. Website advertising may produce more revenue, which is another factor to be considered. (Not many publishers would think of that!) I am delighted to be part of Algonquin's plan for an exciting and innovative future.

Sydney Opera House lights up

The written word, this ain't, but I couldn't resist the picture, which popped up on the BBC arts and culture page.

The artwork of music producer Brian Eno is lighting up the sails of the Sydney Opera House, as part of a sound and light festival in the city. The swooping, "oyster-shell" roofs have become the canvas for an audio-visual show, "77 Million Paintings."

State-of-the-art software is used to manipulate three hundred of Enos's drawings.

It is supposed to be a meditative and inspiring experience. Hopefully it will inspire a poem or two. Haiku, anyone?

Autopsy of a bad book cover, and a learning experience

Latest blog post from Jacqueline Church Simonds of Beaglebay Books is a fascinating mix of disaster and success stories. And it is all to do with jackets. Book jackets, that is.


An old friend in the pirate section of my bookshelves is her year 2000 novel, Captain Mary, Buccaneer. It's Different. Read it to believe me. Captain Mary might be based on Anne Bonny and Mary Read and their bloodthirsty ilk, but she is a stand-out character on her own. And definitely adult reading, which made me feel uncomfortable about the Young Adult-style cover. Well done, yes, but inappropriate. Now, she fronts up, and tells the story of how it got that way, and how she wishes it hadn't.

One has to hand it to Jacqueline -- she's a learner. She learned from the experience, and put it to good use. Since then, her jackets have been composed with impact and relevance in mind, with such success that several have been award-winners.

You can see them here.

Have a look, and choose your favorites. I was particularly struck with two, one black and white, and the other four-color:


Now all I have to do is find out what "consilience" means.

Serial killers, take note

For four days from July 8, all New Yorkers can rest easier in their beds, because the city will be hosting 150 bestselling thriller authors, all adept at foiling murderers, tricksters, and thieves.

The list is guaranteed to send shivers up the back of even the most arrogant serial killer, including such chill-inspiring names as Robin Cook, David Baldacci, James Rollins, Lee Child, Jeffery Deaver, and Eric Van Lustbader. Click here.

..........

Actually, the very idea of all those devious minds in just one room sends shivers up mine.

Railroad Haiku

I've been hearing a lot about twittering and tweeting lately. Now, according to the BBC, the London public is being invited to write haiku on their cellphones, and submit them to a competition.

And, it's a good idea to tweet with grace and originality, because every entry will be displayed on a huge outdoor screen at King's Cross Station.

The poem is limited to 140 characters (or less) and must be in the traditional Japanese haiku style, with seventeen syllables spread over three lines.

While all entries will get their twenty-minute exposure, they will also be judged, by a panel that includes Yoko Ono and Jackie Kay.

The prize is free entry to a spoken word event every week for a year.

Book deal for Maersk Alabama hero

In this grim age of revelations about greedy financiers and CEOs, the world loves a hero. Hard on the heels of the three-million Morrow book deal for airline captain "Sully" Sullenberger, comes the news that another media sensation is on the verge of selling his story.

Captain Richard Phillips leapt to fame after selflessly handing himself over to Somali pirates to save his crew, after the Maersk Alabama was attacked. His life story rights are being sold at auction, in a bidding war that began last week. The price, we hear, has already reached $500,000.

Success upon success for Scottish author

Spy Mouse is delighted that Glaswegian Caro Ramsay has just shot to no 4 in the Scottish bestseller lists with Singing to the Dead (that was yesterday - maybe No 3, even No 1, today), a few days after publication.

Singing to the Dead is second in the Anderson & Costello crime series, which is set in Glasgow -- probably one good reason Ramsay is often dubbed the female Ian Rankin. Her first, I gather, was called Absolution, an intriguing novel about a policeman who is haunted by the tragic outcome of an early case.

She will deliver her third in the series to Penguin UK in August.