![]() |
|||||||||
|
Book/Calendar Publisher is looking for a Administrative Assistant to Photo Director. See the next featured job.
Lit CritWILLA Objects to Literary List
Cate Marvin (pictured, via), a writer and co-founder Women In Letters And Literary Arts (WILLA), objected in a statement: "The absence made me nearly speechless ... It continues to surprise me that literary editors are so comfortable with their bias toward male writing, despite the great and obvious contributions that women authors make to our contemporary literary culture." Founded in August, the group has already gained more than 5,400 Facebook members, including authors, journalists, and scholars. In response to the rankings, WILLA has created a wiki-list: "Great Books By Women That Publishers Weekly Missed In 2009." The growing site is already full of suggestions--what do you think? Mark Sanford Celebrates Ayn Rand
After losing his own book deal, South Carolinia Governor Mark Sanford has turned to literary criticism--singing the praises of novelist Ayn Rand in a Newsweek essay. Here's a sample: "I still believe firmly that her books deserve attention, and in that regard, Anne Heller's Ayn Rand and the World She Made provides important and meaningful insight into the evolution of Rand's world view. "The Fountainhead" is a stunning evocation of the individual and what he can achieve when unhindered by government or society." If that wasn't enough political literary criticism, The Daily Beast ran a series of video interviews with novelist, Philip Roth. The interview followed the best practices for authorial web videos: unexpected questions, simple editing, and broken into easily-watchable clips. Here's a quote from "It's a good book. "Dreams of my Father" is a good book. I read it with great interest, in part because it was written by this guy who was running for President. I found it well-done, very persuasive, and memorable too." (Via Mediaite) Counting Editors at the NYT's Book Review
The NY Observer obtained a 61-page outline from the buyout paperwork; a list outlining how many people work in different parts of the NY Times' offices. Among the many positions listed, the article counted 14 editors at the book review, 21 editors at the NYT Magazine, and 18 critics in the Culture Department. What do you think about these numbers? After reading the article, The Awl asked How Many Nice People Does It Take To Edit 24 Pages A Week?. Here's a sample: "I like the Book Review. Or at least I like it abstractly, not in the "Yay it's Sunday morning, here's the Book Review" kind of way. And yes, there is a hell of a lot of reading involved in it. But I'm pretty sure me and Maud and Lizzie and Mark Greif and a couple interns could get it done by Tuesday and then sort of just chillax on Wednesdays before starting all over again." The End of the Book Review?
That comment set off a flurry of debate around the Internet. While editing the HuffPo books section, Hertz has continued her job as an editor at Dutton. One GalleyCat commenter wrote: "Editors love books they think they can sell. Believe me, I know how this works--I've worked in publishing for over 20 years. Last thing I want to hear is some editor tooting her own horn yet again." One HuffPo reader responded: "I really hope this isn't just an opportunity for pitch and spin for agents and authors. I think the public needs an objective assessment, a good filter, not necessarily a stuffy book review, but not more loud mouth marketing. You can't trust someone trying to sell you something." Finally, novelist and GalleyCat reader Richard Melo tweeted his short and sweet response: "I agree. A poor review can kill a book." Book Club Inspires Ballet
For her first full-length ballet, Promise, veteran Chicago dancer Winifred Haun wrote a piece inspired by John Steinbeck's novel, "East of Eden." According to a Flavorwire interview, the idea was born in a book club. Unfortunately, the actual text won't appear in the upcoming show. Here's more from the interview: "I first got the idea when I read 'East of Eden' in 2003 as part of a mother's book club. The book just filled me. I can't think of another way to describe it ... I would love to use the text from the book in this but the Steinbeck literary agent, who is actually a lawyer, has been in touch with me about this and it would be very expensive for me to use some of the language in the book. We're still kind of in negotiation about it and perhaps one day I will." FTC Blogger Rules Carry $11K Fines
Literary blogger Edward Champion interviewed Bureau of Consumer Protection representative Richard Cleland about the guidelines to clarify for blogging reviewers. Cleland noted that newspaper book reviewers are exempt, because "the newspaper receives the book and it allows the reviewer to review it, it's still the property of the newspaper." These new guidelines will be put into effect on December 1, 2009. Here's a choice excerpt: "In the case of books, Cleland saw no problem with a blogger receiving a book, provided there wasn't a linked advertisement to buy the book and that the blogger did not keep the book after he had finished reviewing it. Keeping the book would, from Cleland's standpoint, count as 'compensation' and require a disclosure." The First Book Video Blooper Reel
In addition to the site and video, Penguin Classics have also started a contest for dedicated Classics readers. Here's more information: "Tell us which of the Ten Essential Penguin Classics is your favorite, and why, and you'll be entered into a sweepstakes to win all ten Essential Penguin Classics, along with a Penguin tote bag. Or, if your favorite classic book isn't on our list, tell us what it is and why you think it's essential." The contest ends on November 20, 2009. As you search for inspiration, you can watch the Penguin Classic video's blooper reel after the jump--the first book video blooper reel ever to come across this GalleyCat editor's desk. Can Poetry Reach the Common American Reader?
GalleyCat caught up with Armitage for an exclusive interview, getting his thoughts on contemporary poetry. "Poetry in the U.S. is very [college] campus-based" explained the poet. "It may become more like that in the UK as creative writing courses are beginning to flourish. But in the U.K., poetry still tends to reach out to a common reader... It still has a place in our daily lives, even if it is a small place. There's never been a golden age of poetry, it is a certain extent a marginal activity that allows you to say what you want to with out being dictate by market forces." When asked about poetry reading tips, he had this advice: "I am a practiced reader, but I don't do much more than stand there with a book. I guess what I hope is that the poems are allowed to do their work without any theatrics. Any drama that actually takes place is already in the poem. There are accomplished readers, but that's what they are--readers." Weekend Werewolves and the D.C. Book Fest
Here's more about the event: "The 2-hour video variety show features famous werewolves (and lesser-known lycanthropes) from monster movies, Saturday Morning cartoons, 70s biker flicks, a vintage view-master reel, a TV mystery (written by the creator of The Sopranos) and other footage you won’t find on YouTube or Netflix." For book-lovers in Washington D.C., tomorrow is the Library of Congress National Book Festival, gathering book-lovers from around the country at the National Mall--running between 7th and 14th streets. The show lasts from 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., and interested readers can text "BOOK" on their mobile phones to 61399 to subscribe to festival news and information about author presentations and signing schedules. Find the festival on Twitter (hashtag #nbf) and Facebook. Casting a Spell on Readers' Imaginations: Dan Brown's PredecessorEarlier this week, we outlined an unusual interpretation of Dan Brown's The Lost Symbol, playing with the idea that the novel is initiating readers into the world of noetics, convincing them that we're on the verge of a transformative breakthrough in human consciousness, and doing so through the use of an overwhelming symbolic structure akin to Masonic rituals such as Brown hints at throughout the story. (To reiterate: We are not saying he did or did not write The Lost Symbol the way he did according to the agenda we sketched; short of asking him directly, we have no way of knowing Dan Brown's intentions. We're only saying you could look at the situation this way.) Anyway, we touched briefly upon the concept of the hypersigil ("an extended work of art with magical meaning and willpower") and promised, glancingly, that if we came back to this subject, we'd talk about someone who's done this sort of thing before, to prove we weren't making it up entirely out of thin air. Ladies and gentlemen, we present to you (as we have before, and not just once) Mr. Grant Morrison. ![]() Seven Soldiers: Zatanna, 2005 Morrison has explicitly stated in various interviews over the years that his most prominent comic book series, The Invisibles, was conceived as a distillation of a mystical experience in Kathmandu (sometimes not-seriously characterized as an alien abduction) in the mid-1990s—he's referred to the series as "a unique and living transcendental object which I brought home with me from the 5th Dimension for everyone to play with"—but that's far from the only time he's used comics as a vehicle to plant mindblowing ideas about the future of human evolution in readers' minds... ideas that have a lot in common with the claims made about noetics embedded in The Lost Symbol. PreviouslyMinnPost.com Launches "Book Club Club" A Second Pass at Dan Brown's Great Work Is The Lost Symbol Dan Brown's Great Work? Gary Vaynerchuk's Literary Wine Tasting President Bill Clinton Reads a Book Blog Can Sobriety Change a Writing Career? Writers Remember Director John Hughes Richard Russo Review Draws Fire Reviewing the White American Male Two New Literary Culture Sites to Bookmark Bill O'Reilly's Anti-Book Club Literary Journal Pays Contributors $1,000 Investigating Sonia Sotomayor's Nancy Drew Love Affair 60 Years, 77 National Book Awards for Fiction Alain de Botton Explains His Critical Comments Brief History of Authors vs. Critics Another Author Stokes Book Review Debate Alice Hoffman Is Ready to Rumble Do Publishing Salaries Affect Literature? Incredible Shrinking Book Review Literary Website Readerville Closes Michael Gross: Where Is The Love? Katha Pollitt on Political Poetry Five Reviewers Walk into a Bar... The Fate of the Newspaper Science Fiction & Fantasy Review Overlook Press Founder on Obfuscation National Magazine Awards Celebrate Literary Critics Seattle P-I Books Critic Bids Farewell What Are the Emperor's Children's Children Reading? Benjamin Anastas: "Literature Is This Non-Governmental Regulatory Agency" Michiko Kakutani Drove Norman Mailer Crazy GalleyCat at the Festival of New French Writing Meet Sweden's Biggest Book Bloggers New Yorker Launches Online Book Club Our Subtle Literary Influence Continues Exclusive: The Rumpus Launch Party Tina Brown Talks About The Book Beast AvantGuild: Is There a Secret Lit Crit Lingo? Authors Respond To the WaPo Book World Closure Meet Benjamin Moser, Harper's New "New Books" Columnist Book World To Cease Stand-Alone Publication Columbia Journalism Review Launches Book Review Critics Petition To Preserve the Washington Post Book World Rumors of Washington Post Book World's "Elimination" The Next Generation of Book Critics Broadcasting on YouTube Georgia Newspaper Drops "Books" from Arts Section Title Marie Arana Leaves The Washington Post's Book World Following Staff Cuts, Texas Newspapers Share Critics Tribune Freelancers To Be Paid NPR Shutters News & Notes and Day to Day, Major Book Coverage Lost NY Times Book Review Loves Alfred A. Knopf THIS Much Here Comes the Sun's Former Book Critic Bloggers: Next Best Hope for Book Reviews? The Book Reviews That Matter Most? Should We Mourn the Dying Book Review? Take That, Horace Engdahl, And That! Smashing Our Critical Idols for Fun & (Mental) Profit We'll Make Our Own Luck, You Dumb Swede! Could Sci-Fi Get Too High-Falutin' For Its Own Good? Hitchens Take Heart: NYTBR Also Finds Women Unfunny Can Book Blogs Become Self-Sustaining? Emily Gould Is Offering You the Red Pill Wait, Blurbs Don't Flow Like Honey from the Rock? Really? One Of My Lit Crit Prophecies (Almost) Comes True Book Blogs: Surprisingly Different from Mainstream Media Is It Time for Liberals to Curl Up With a Good Book? Do Readers Really Miss the Vanishing Book Reviews? Can The Newspaper Biz Adapt, Adopt, and Improve? What If the Blogosphere Decides to Pack It In? Book Coverage Dying? The Funny Pages Will Save Us! Is This Still Your Father's Book Review? (And If So, Why?) NYTBR Finally Wakes Up to Bright Shiny Morning Guest Book Review: Ad Hudler on The Score Glenn Beck Says YA Fiction Saps and Impurifies Boys' Precious Bodily Fluids Will Video Kill the Book Review Stars? Does Science Fiction Speak to Our Condition More Than Fancy Literary Writing? Guest Essay on Memoirs by Andrew F. Altschul Are America's Book Reviewers Ignoring Our Fiction Boom? FishbowlDC: A Literary Angle on the WaPo Buyouts Recent Reading: Double Standards and Shame 'Netherland' Gets A Michiko Rave Author Attempts to Create Amazon Buzz for Just $500 "Why Can't Men Write Anymore?" An Alternate Answer! James Frey "Hit One Out Of The Park," Says Janet Maslin Which Author Remains Obscure Because of All the Ink Wasted on Barbara Walters? Book Blogger's Debut Novel Gets A 'Times' Teardown Is Augusten Burroughs' Life "Milked Dry"? What's Missing from the Bickering Over Martin Amis? |
The First Word On the Book Publishing Industry
|
||||||||
|
Legal Notices, Licensing, Reprints, Permissions, Privacy Policy.
|