For the first time in decades, the best book ever written about writing is back in print
vox.com – Thursday December 3, 2015
In 1948, an instructor at the University of Illinois strode into a classroom to tell his playwriting students everything he'd learned about writing for the stage and, by extension, the screen. His students were many things — ordinary college kids, men recently returned from the war, women who were the first in their families to pursue higher education. The professor had written a few plays and some screenplays. You probably wouldn't recognize his name. The book, compiled from his lectures and conversations with students, could have been a minor tome.
But it wasn't. The result was (and still is) the greatest book ever written about the craft of dramatic writing — or maybe just writing, period. Published in 1949, it's a uniquely American work, in both its preoccupations and its conception. It perfectly captures a country on the brink of a new world order that it would stand astride with relative confidence and ease.
Awards worth £40,000 available for talented writers across the region
chroniclelive.co.uk – Thursday December 3, 2015
The 2016 Northern Writers’ Awards, with £40,000 to give away to aspiring authors, poets, playwrights and screenwriters, opened for applications this week.
The awards, run by Newcastle-based New Writing North (NWN) with the support of Northumbria University and Arts Council England, are available to writers based in the north of England. They are viewed as the country’s leading talent development programme for writers.
Authors need to 'engage' in the publishing process
thebookseller.com – Tuesday December 1, 2015
Both traditionally and self-published authors need to be “engaged”, traditional publishers have to be open to new voices from different backgrounds, tricky rights issues need to be tackled, but ultimately traditional and indie author communities need to come together.
Smart: 'publishers do invest long-term in authors'
thebookseller.com – Tuesday December 1, 2015
Ebury m.d. Rebecca Smart said that traditional publishers need to “shout from the rooftops” more about the value and investment they provide for authors.
Smart was speaking at The Bookseller's Author Day after several speakers voiced frustration with traditional publishers on a number of points including author care, long-term investment and renumeration. She said that “she did not recognise” the traditional publishers that had been portrayed earlier in the day “but part of that is that we as an industry are not as always good enough at shouting from the rooftops” about the good things publishers do.
Shamsie: 'Publishers not investing in author careers'
thebookseller.com – Tuesday December 1, 2015
Novelist Kamila Shamsie has said that traditional publishers’ focus on the “bottom line value of pounds and pennies” has meant a shift away from building authors’ careers in the long-term and created a lack of diversity and new voices.
Shamsie, speaking at the The Bookseller's Author Day, compared the climate of today to that of the late 1990s, when she began her career, and was told by her then-agent Alexandra Pringle that her publisher would be hoping to invest in her in the long-term.
More publishers fail as e-books rise
independent.co.uk – Monday November 30, 2015
Readers shunning physical books for digital ones has contributed to a 58 per cent jump in the number of publishers failing, research has revealed.
J.K. Rowling vows never to work with 'rude' publisher after they rejected Harry Potter and crime novel
mirror.co.uk – Sunday November 29, 2015
Harry Potter creator J.K. Rowling has sworn never to work with one particular publisher after they rejected her twice - the second time with a very rude letter.
She is the UK's best-selling living author, with sales in excess of £238million but it seems there's at least one person who isn't a fan.
Speaking in a new interview with the Guardian Rowling revealed that one of the publishers who turned down the first Harry Potter book, The Philosopher's Stone, also rejected her crime novel The Casual Vacancy written under the pseudonym Robert Galbraith.
YA Debut Gets Six-Figure Deal, Sold to 16 Territories and Jerry Bruckheimer
publishersweekly.com – Wednesday November 25, 2015
A six-figure deal for North American rights to The Cruelty is the latest in a string of good things that have happened to Scott Bergstrom’s debut novel in just the past month. The manuscript, self-published a year ago, caught fire in October at the Frankfurt Book Fair with sales, so far, into 16 territories. “Every morning I wake up to more exciting e-mails,” said his agent, Tracey Adams of Adams Literary.
Kalyna Review: Call for Submissions
firstwriter.com – Wednesday November 25, 2015
Kalyna Review, a celebration of language and translation, is seeking submissions for its Spring 2016 issue. They are looking for articles and creative work that explore how language creates the personal universe we each inhabit. They are also interested in marginalised and minority European languages, the languages of peoples who throughout most or all of their history had no state.
Alan Moore Advises New Writers to Self-Publish Because Big Publishers Suck
io9.com – Friday November 20, 2015
At an anti-library closure protest, local magician and comics legend Alan Moore had some surprising words for those who hope to break into the wide world of published writing.
With his wild-man Merlin’s beard and distinct Northampton tones, Moore’s speaking style is oddly comforting as he holds forth. “If you write every day, you are a writer,” the co-creator of Watchmen, From Hell andLeague of Extraordinary Gentlemen (to name my favorite Moore works) tells the crowd.
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