SEAMUS HEANEY SHORTLISTED FOR TS ELIOT POETRY PRIZE

The BBC reports that Nobel Prize-winner Heaney has been shortlisted for the TS Eliot for his collection of poems called Human Chain -- a collection that has already snared the Forward Prize.

Heaney is certainly consistent: he has won the TS Eliot Prize before, in 2006.

Chair judge Anne Stevenson said that the judges "have found this an exceptional year for poetry, with a record number of entries, and have agreed on a strong shortlist which is unusually eclectic in form and theme."

Others on the list are John Haynes, Pascale Petit, Robin Robertson, Brian Turner, Sam Willetts, Annie Freud, Fiona Sampson, Derek Walcott, and Simon Armitage.

All ten will take part in a poetry reading at London's Royal Festival Hall the night before the Awards ceremony, which will take place on 24 January 2011.  The prize is worth 15,000 pounds.

DIARY ENTRIES OF SEAMAN GEORGE HODGE

Follower Lee Blakey has commented on a long-ago post about a sailor's diary from Nelson's time.  He wonders about the ultimate fate of the journal kept by George Hodge, who boarded his first ship in 1790, aged 13, going on to write about his adventures from the highly unusual perspective of the lower deck.

A marvelous creation, totaling about 500 pages, Hodge's diary contains lively, primitive color paintings, including a wry self-portrait, and records his amours as well as his daily life at sea.  Partly memoir, it notes that he was born "in the Parish of Tinmouth in the County of Northumberland," and that his first ship was "brig Margerey," commanded by "Capt Edger."

The journal was held by the family until sometime before the 1980s, when it was bought at a rare book shop in London by an American who founded a maritime museum in Pennsylvania, J. Welles Henderson.  For some reason, when he died it was not endowed to the museum, but instead sold at auction by Peter Coccoluto, of Northeast Auctions in Portsmouth, New Hampshire.  Expected to attract bids up to 30,000 pounds (about $50,000), on August 16, 2008, it sold for $110,000.

But to whom?  Or what?  That is the question.  Apparently it was bought by an agent on behalf of an anonymous collector.  The rest is veiled in mystery.  As Lee Blakey suggests, it would be lovely if it were published.  Probably the best one can hope for is that it is in some repository where researchers can read it.

I did, however, find a number of beguiling quotes from the journal, courtesy of the London Telegraph.

Dec 25, 1806. Employ'd in watering ship and seting up the riger - fish for dinner.

July 16, 1807. On shore at Point [in Portsmouth] at 3pm returnd onboard from liberty brot a girl onboard MAK [initials of girl] at 5pm the girls orderd of the ship.

July 19, 1807. Light breeze at 5am picked up body of John Carter and buried him on the Isle of White

July 20, 1807. I receved prize money from the brige Ben Sprance taking of the Isle of ... 13.6.

July 24, 1807. The Donnegal mand the yards and fired a Salute the Donnegal saild clear or lighter of wine and bread.

Dec 26, 1812. A fresh breeze a strange sail in sight. Empl painting quarterdeck.  Fell from the for top mast Mathew Donelson and was drownded.

All the newspaper stories about this diary make wondering comment about the "ill-educated" spelling.  Obviously the writers have not read many early nineteenth century sea journals -- or those written by James Cook or Joseph Banks, for that matter.  If the transcriptions are correct, Hodge's spelling is amazingly accurate for an apparently self-taught seaman, considering his background, his job, and his era.

LLOYDS LIST NOW ONLINE

The digitization revolution is truly great for historians.  While looking at a faithful reproduction on the computer screen is not at all the same as handling wonderful old documents, complete with additions made by old archivists (see the penciled comments made by the editor John Hawkesworth in the margins of the log of the Dolphin kept by Captain Samuel Wallis in 1767, for instance), it is a million times better than nothing at all.

Maritime historians in particular should be enlivened to learn that the "Bible" of shipping news in 18th and 19th century England, Lloyds List, is now online.  Not only can you see it as it happened (without paying the one pound, ten shillings, annual subscription charged in 1826), but the text is searchable.

This is courtesy of the Hathi Trust, which runs a massive digital archive named after the Hindi word for "elephant," reputedly the animal with the longest memory.

HathiTrust is headed by Director John Price Wilkin, who has led large-scale digitization initiatives at the University of Michigan for more than a decade.  This is also the university which, with Indiana University, provides much of the funding for this massive archive.  Currently, it has digitized 2,465,961,400 pages, equivalent to 83 miles of books and journals, including the results of the Google Book Search Project.

A photographic history of mining in early New Zealand

Writing my commentaries on the politics threatening to affect the Alexander Turnbull Library was very pleasantly interrupted when geologist and historian Simon Nathan arrived with a pre-launch copy of his latest book, through the eyes of a miner, The Photography of Joseph Divis.

Published by Wellington bibliophile Roger Steele, this photographic history is a beautiful production, certainly worthy of its author's pride.  What always strikes me is Simon Nathan's quiet but intense enthusiasm for his project.  He radiated a real affection for Joseph Divis, a curiously lonely man who migrated to New Zealand from Bohemia (now part of the Czech Republic) via Germany in 1909, then kept body and soul together hacking at the unforgiving rock in mines with resonant names like Blackwater and Martha, while he photographed his bleakly spectacular surroundings and his companion labourers as a hobby, in the hope it would become his career.

At times he was given hope, as the now defunct Auckland Weekly News bought and boldly featured his work, but his ambitions failed, in the end.  Ultimately, this is a sad story, but there are wonderful revelations along the way.

Every good tale needs a hook, and this one is no exception.  A pioneer in the art of time lapse photography, Joseph Divis made a habit of sneaking into camera range before the shutter snapped.  Often he was holding the trusty bicycle that got him from place to place; occasionally he managed to get to the middle of a group; and sometimes he posed alone, as a marker to emphasize the immensity of the scenery.  And almost always he was wearing a hat.

His collection of hats was amazing, a testimony to male fashion of the time:  I enjoyed the array of homburgs, trilbies, and boaters almost as much as I relished the solemnity of his fixed gaze.

Most gripping, however, are his studies of his fellow miners.  They are pictured above ground, waiting for the next shift, and below ground, creeping into crannies with their candles, to hunker down by boxes of dynamite, and enjoy a mug of tea.  Through Divis, you participate in their social activities, too -- parties, school concerts, weddings, even the occasional hangi.

Strongly recommended for anyone who loves the history that was captured in fine old photography.  Simon Nathan will be talking about his book at Turnbull House, Wellington, at 5:30 pm on 10 November.

Reactions to my posts on the threat posed by the SS Management Bill ...

Excuses, excuses -- but a good one, this time.

The silence from this end has been because I have been tackling the mountain of mail that has come internationally, as well as from New Zealand readers, as a result of my posts on the State Sector Management Bill and serious concerns about the loss of the independence of the National Library of New Zealand, with the Alexander Turnbull Library.

Some have gone so far to say that they are so alarmed by the prospective legislative changes that they have decided not to donate their precious collections of New Zealand artifacts and books to the Turnbull.

Others ask why the Government appears to be determined to make government departments bigger, not smaller.  This is counter to trends overseas, and cost-savings, dubious as they are, cannot be the whole reason. 

Another correspondent has observed that linking digital technology between branches of the Department of Internal Affairs seems downright dangerous, when censorship is part of the same department.

If any of my links lead to the message "expired search," just persist by prodding links on the site.  The information is still available, though it might have been removed from the front window, as it were.

Submissions to Parliament concerning New Zealand's national library

There has been a great deal of off-list interest in my posting on the Select Committee hearing into the State Sector Management Bill, much of it from researchers, authors, and librarians overseas. 

As I described, there are serious concerns about the impact of the proposals to combine the National Library (including the internationally iconic Alexander Turnbull Library) with the National Archives and make the catch-all body a sub-department of Internal Affairs.

A submission was made by conference call from Auckland, by the head librarians of the Auckland City Library and the Library of the University of Auckland, Janet Copsey and Sue Cooper, where concerns were expressed that the full function of the National Library is not appreciated.   They likened it to the 1980s debacle of selling off the Government Printing Office.  The Government at the time, reckoning that it was just a printing business, sold it off at fire-sale rates to Graeme Hart (creating a local millionaire) and then realized belatedly that the Government Printer had been the issuer of Parliamentary printed documents, a role that no ordinary printer could ever fill. 

Read their submission here.

The application of the Guardians Kaitiaki of the Alexander Turnbull Library, with a draft of their submission, can be read here.

And an excellent summary of Dr. Donald Gilling's arguments, made in the context of his application to make a formal submission, can be read here.

For those interested in the positions of those who use the New Zealand National Archives, their thoughts are also online.  To read all the arguments made by wise historians, librarians, and archivists, trawl through the list on this page.

There are, as you will see, two pages of submissions, evidence of the deep concern felt throughout the country.  It is nice that it is all online -- that New Zealand is an open society.

My own thought is that it is very strange when the national historical and bibliographic heritage becomes part of the department that issues passports.

THE AUTONOMY OF A NATIONAL TREASURE

There is quite a history to this particular national treasure, and one modest man's name dominates the story. 

As far back as 1858, the foundations of the National Library of New Zealand were laid, when a General Assembly Library was formed in Wellington, to serve Members of Parliament.  Then, in 1918, a bibliophile by the name of Alexander Turnbull bequeathed his library to the nation.  This led to the 1965 National Library Act, where the General Assembly Library, the Alexander Turnbull Library, and the National Library Service (which interloaned books all over the country, majorly to schools) were combined, to form the National Library of New Zealand.

This was considered so important that in 2003 another Act was passed, which strengthened and clarified the relationship between the National Library and the Alexander Turnbull Library, and affirmed that their collections were a taonga -- a National Treasure.  At the same time a body called the Guardians Kaitiaki of the Alexander Turnbull Library was formed.

The Guardians expressed grave concerns about the independence of the institution they guard, at a Select Committee meeting last week.  This was because of a new Bill, the State Sector Management Bill, which threatens the autonomy of this national treasure. 

According to the website, "The purpose of the Bill is to amalgamate a number of existing agencies to achieve gains of financial efficiences ..."  In a word, it is to cut costs.  According to the testimony of one of the speakers, Dr. Donald Gilling, even this is doubtful, as the figures are controversial. 

Yet, this Bill will effectively remove the independence of the National Library, as with the National Archives, it will be integrated into the Department of Internal Affairs.  Once the integration is accomplished, the Chief Archivist and National Librarian will report to a Deputy Chief Executive, who will be in charge of a proposed catch-all Branch of Knowledge, Information, and Technology.

Elizabeth Caffin reminded the committee that the job of the Guardians Kaitiaki of the Turnbull was to advise the Government on matters relating to the integrity and status of the library collections, and the special research character of the services.  As she pointed out, the Alexander Turnbull Library was one of the world's greatest and most respected research libraries -- "Yet this treasured institution is to be embedded at a low level in a government department in a way that diminishes its status both at home and abroad."

Delegates from the Public Service Association reinforced this by expressing their concern that the Chief Archivist and the National Librarian would be downgraded to third tier management.

After pointing out that the Bill would also remove any ministerial oversight of selling off the holdings, union member (and librarian) Peter Sime said, "We're looking after the national heritage here and it's a pretty big deal to get rid of that sort of material."

 

BRETT BATTLES, PATRY FRANCIS and JASON PINTER

Not long ago, I commented on a collection of thriller shorts by debut writers who had been sponsored by veteran authors, Killer Year.  I enjoyed the stories, finding some particularly good, and have set myself a part time task of searching for books written by these fortunate souls.

Jason Pinter's short story was a stand-out for me, so I looked for him first in the library, and found that though he has produced an astonishing number of books in the meantime, they are hard to find -- simply because they are so popular.  I finally tracked down The Guilty, so was introduced to the character, Henry Parker, a rookie reporter who gets into trouble very easily.  In this one, a female superstar is killed on the red carpet outside a glamorous nightclub, and the fun begins. 

It is all very youthful.  Pinter writes with the wide-eyed zest of a winger playing for the All Blacks for the very first time, and his hero is naive to suit.  Everything is calculated to appeal to the sub-thirties set, which is obviously very successful ploy.  Not for the blue rinse set, however.

More mature ladies would prefer Patry Francis, whose the liar's diary is a thought-provoking exploration of the impact of a charismatic eccentric on a small New England community, and the violence that follows. In its way, it is as controversial as the famous Virginia Andrews Flowers in the Attic, but does not get away with it quite as well.  This is partly because Francis, aware that she was perhaps being over-ambitious, lacked confidence, and partly because there are unanswered questions that haunt the reader, but do not seem to be deliberate. Also, the main character, Jeanne Cross, is pictured as dependent on alcohol and sleeping pills, to justify her reactions, which is no substitute for good solid psychological reasons for her actions.  Judging by the acknowledgments, Francis had a lot of advice and help from people who saw great promise in her work.  Another book or two will justify this, I think.

Then I came to Brett Battles, and was astonished.  From the very first word of the very first book, this guy writes like a pro.  His protagonist, Jonathan Quinn, is a true original -- a cleaner, a crime-scene janitor, the man who clears up the mess after those who have done "the wet work" have gone.  Quinn's apprentice, Nate, is even better.  It might sound like Batman and Robin, but Battles gets away with it. Let me make a prediction -- Jeffery Deaver, his mentor, has made himself some competition.

I'd like to know more about Battles himself, but his website, while as professional as his thriller writing, doesn't reveal much.  His first book was apparently bought by a publishing house called Ugly Town, and plucked out of obscurity to be published by Bantam Dell instead.  That's a big step.  How did it happen? 

It's a mystery worthy of working into a Jonathan Quinn page-turner. 

VANDA SYMON, KIWI CRIME WRITER

Vanda Symon has been interviewed by the New Zealand Society of Authors in their NZSA Chapbook -- as the chair of the Otago-Southland Branch.

First, they ask what GENRE she writes in.

Vanda Symon's answer:
I write crime fiction, detective crime fiction to be specific. My protagonist is a young woman, Detective Sam Shephard, who starts out in this series in Mataura, but then moves to Dunedin to undertake detective training in the big smoke. I love writing my novels in a local setting, and make full use of our New Zealand way of speaking and doing things. Some people say you can’t sell books overseas if you set them in New Zealand, but my books have sold into Germany. I think international readers like to get a taste of a foreign country. I really enjoy writing crime fiction, and am very happy in that genre.

How long have you been writing?

I started writing my first novel when my youngest son was 6 months old. He’s eight now. Where did that time go! That first novel took four years from whoa to go, as life was pretty hectic with pre-schoolers. Now the kids are older I aim to write a novel a year. I have a mental image of myself when I’m old and doddery with a gin and tonic in one hand and still writing with the other.

What originally inspired you to start writing?

I have always been an avid reader, and from childhood always assumed I’d write books some day. You have to love the innocence of youth - it had never occurred to me that I couldn’t.

What is your most recent publication?

My third novel, Containment, came out in December 2009. I’m delighted that it has been named as a finalist in the inaugural Ngaio Marsh Award for best Crime Fiction. I have just finished reading the proofs of my fourth novel, Bound, which will be published in February next year. My publisher is Penguin.

What advice can you offer to new writers?

Read, read, read. And read broadly, not just in the genre you have chosen to write in. It gives you a broader picture of how the world works, and how people work. Also it makes life so much more interesting to expand your reading horizons. I have only recently discovered the wonderful world of biographies and memoirs. They provide a great insight into characters, and people dynamics, as well as being straight out inspirational.
When it comes to the writing part – nothing happens unless you sit your butt on a chair and actually write. Sometimes it can be exhilarating, other times it can be a slog, but, as Stephen King put it “If you want to be a writer, you must do two things above all others: read a lot and write a lot.”
How long have you been a NZSA Branch Chair?

I think it is five years now. Time goes so fast! The Otago Southland branch is fantastic, a really warm and supportive group of writers. It’s such a pleasure to be a part of it.

BUYING E-BOOKREADERS AND THE LENDING OUT OF BOOKS



Jon Snyder/Wired.com



Obviously, there is huge public interest in e-book reading, and, as American naval novelist and historian James L. Nelson comments below, little knowledge of the damage that lending and re-selling of "real" books does to the income of struggling authors.

Follower Don Gilling sent me a link to an interesting commentary by Victor Keegan in the UK Guardian, which deplores the fact that e-books cannot be passed around between friends, saying that reading should be a communal business. 

Keegan begins his discussion by meditating, "Books have come late to the digital party, but change is now happening at such a furious pace that even conservative members of the trade are starting to realise that their industry is being snatched away from them before their eyes."  In fact, as he goes on to comment, it is analogous to the shift from scrolls to books.  In medieval times, reading was confined to the educated few with access to the scrolls -- it was a little closed elite community that exploded when the print revolution made reading available to the masses.

Now, that reading public is going to get even bigger.  As e-books are read on devices like fancy cellphones, laptops, and i-pads, the number of those who enjoy reading will increase, probably in dramatic leaps -- "more books will be read in future as out-of-copyright ones are reprinted and 18-to-24-year-olds, the drivers of mobile adoption, take to reading on their phones and other devices."  With the right e-bookreader, you can read in bright light on the beach, or in completely unlit airplane cabins. As he says, "the product itself --­ the book -- ­ is not threatened, only the way it is read."

To which, I comment that the way it is read is going to become important, too -- even more important than the old choices we've been making, between hardbacks, mass market paperbacks, and audiobooks.  Choosing your e-bookreader is going to become as mind-taxing as deciding what kind of television you want in your lounge.  Already, manufacturers and e-bookreader retailers are competing madly for this growing market, as a recent story on wired attests, and the range of readers is widening all the time.   Don't opt blindly for a kindle, they advise (especially if you live outside the States).  Head to the experts before stopping at the store, and even then think very carefully, because it looks as if you are going to be using it a lot.

But, as Keegan points out, reading is going to be a lonelier business than it used to be, because  e-bookreaders and the folks who sell or give you the digital books make it impossible to lend a book if you don't lend the device as well. "Some publishers even ask you to state that you won't read the book aloud," he exclaims.

Well, not being allowed to read out choice bits is really rather extreme.  One wonders how they think they could possibly police it.  But, as far as authors and publishers are concerned, recommending books to friends is a very good thing, but it is hard on the pocket when they are loaned out for free.  It would be ever so much nicer if those friends paid to have those books downloaded onto their own personal readers.  And, if e-books eliminated the secondhand book market, it would be an unexpected bonus.