Sean Penn Tries Writing
nationalreview.com – Thursday March 29, 2018
I’ll be the first to concede that I am sometimes — in the spirit of KDW and WFB — prone to a bit of sesquipedalian ostentation. Some call it legerdemain; some call it shtick. And, to be honest, sometimes it is shtick, but at least the reader is in on it. Anyway, I bring this up without apology, simply to head off the lazier charges of hypocrisy. But also to introduce some of the worst writing I’ve seen in a while, even if it is intended to be an homage to Thomas Pynchon.
Sean Penn has written a novel. Claire Fallon, over at the Huffington Post’s U.K. encampment, has done the heroic work of reading it. She’s posted excerpts:
Authors hit back at Self's claim 'the novel is doomed'
thebookseller.com – Monday March 19, 2018
Authors have hit back at writer Will Self's assertion that the novel is “doomed to become a marginal cultural form”.
Self’s interview in the Guardian, published on Saturday (17th March), featured insights into his thoughts on the Iraq war, e-readers, the future of fiction and female writers.
The headline of the interview with journalist Alex Clark, ‘The novel is doomed’, attracted much debate on social media with writers such as Colin Barrett, Roxane Gay and Joanne Harris disagreeing with Self.
Romance so white? Publishers grapple with race issues amid author protests
theguardian.com – Monday March 19, 2018
Readers, writers and editors of romance books are grappling with the genre’s record on diversity, after a week where a report found that books by authors of colour were on the decline, an imprint specialising in diverse romances closed, and another publisher was forced to apologise for telling a writer they avoided putting people of colour on book covers because they didn’t sell.
Queer romance writer Cole McCade came forward last week to reveal conversations with editor Sarah Lyons of the New Jersey-based publisher Riptide. McCade, who also writes as Xen Sanders, described Riptide as “at all levels hostile to me as a person of colour”. He published an email from Lyons in which she told him: “We don’t mind POC But I will warn you – and you have NO idea how much I hate having to say this – we won’t put them on the cover, because we like the book to, you know, sell :-(.”
From romance to rhetoric and from sonnets to satire: the Canterbury festival poet of the year competition 2018 is launched
firstwriter.com – Friday March 9, 2018
The Canterbury Festival Poet of the Year Competition 2018 is now open for entries.
This is the 12th year of the Competition which has grown into an internationally respected event and forms a major part of the Festival year. In 2016 there were a total of 391 entries from all over the world and in 2017 there were 311 poems submitted.
Each year around 35 poems are longlisted from the entries received and these are published in an anthology; copies are available from the Festival Office for £5 each. Poets included in the booklet receive a free copy.
Philip Pullman calls for authors to get fairer share of publisher profits
theguardian.com – Monday March 5, 2018
Philip Pullman has called on publishers to stop damaging “the ecology of the book world” and start giving authors a fairer share of the money their books earn.
Speaking in his capacity as president of the Society of Authors, the His Dark Materials author hit out at the fact that while profit margins in publishing are rising, the money authors are paid is going down.
“To allow corporate profits to be so high at a time when author earnings are markedly falling is, apart from anything else, shockingly bad husbandry. It’s perfectly possible to make a good profit and pay a fair return to all of those on whose work, after all, everything else depends. But that’s not happening at the moment,” said Pullman. “I like every individual editor, designer, marketing and publicity person I deal with; but I don’t like what publishers, corporately, are doing to the ecology of the book world. It’s damaging, and it should change.”
Owlkids Books named finalist for Bologna Prize for the Best Children’s Publishers of the Year
quillandquire.com – Sunday March 4, 2018
Toronto’s Owlkids Books has been shortlisted for this year’s Bologna Prize for the Best Children’s Publishers of the Year. The awards are given to publishers representing six international regions, as selected by publishing houses, associations, and other books institutions.
Annick Press named finalist for Bologna Prize for the Best Children’s Publishers of the Year
quillandquire.com – Friday March 2, 2018
Toronto’s Annick Press has been shortlisted for this year’s Bologna Prize for the Best Children’s Publishers of the Year. The awards are given to publishers representing six international regions, as selected by publishing houses, associations, and other books institutions. This is Annick’s second nomination since the inaugural awards in 2013.
Also nominated for this award in the North America category are Toronto’s Owlkids Books and Editions D’eux from Sherbrooke, Quebec.
SoA challenges publishers to reveal how much they pay authors
thebookseller.com – Friday March 2, 2018
The chief executive of the Society of Authors has challenged publishers to reveal how much they pay writers in their annual financial accounts.
Publishers' profits have grown while authors' pay has shrunk in recent years, Nicola Solomon has argued in an articlefor The Bookseller. As a result, the chief of the trade body is calling on publishers to state in their financial accounts how much they pay authors, illustrators and translators in advances, royalties and secondary income.
Welsh to scout for Eccles Fisher
thebookseller.com – Wednesday February 28, 2018
Rosie Welsh, previously of the Jonathan Clowes Literary Agents and The Wylie Agency, is joining Eccles Fisher Associates as a literary scout.
Welsh, most recently an agent at Jonathan Clowes for over two years, was previously a royalties manager at Wylie for over three years.
Berthoud joins Jo Unwin's agency
thebookseller.com – Wednesday February 28, 2018
Ella Berthoud is joining Jo Unwin as a literary agent at JULA, and will build a list focusing on literary, reading group and children’s fiction.
Berthoud published her co-authored books The Novel Cure (Canongate) in 2013 and The Story Cure (Canongate) in 2017 with Susan Elderkin. As well as being a successful artist, she is a bibliotherapist at The School of Life.
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