Americans dominated at this year’s 8th Banff International String Quartet Competition. “In music, as in the visual arts, European pre-eminence can no longer be taken for granted, in part because of the superior educational opportunities afforded on this side of the Atlantic.”
Blog
Moving Art (Different Expectations?)
“Although there has been a dialogue between film and visual art since film was invented, you can’t simply compare a feature film with static art. But put the film in an art gallery and implicitly that is what you are doing. You are inviting comparison, not with the films that struggle to survive in the hard commercial world of the cinema, but with the art forms you expect to find in the gallery. And expectation is a key part of it.”
Lawsuit Shakes American Pen Women
A bitter lawsuit has roiled the National League of American Pen Women in Washington DC. “A lawsuit between two factions in the organization alleges financial misdeeds, abuses of authority, libel and fraud. The vitriol between the opposing sides is at odds with the 4,000-member group’s refined image and has disgusted many in its 176 local chapters.”
Bookstore Giant Grows A Publisher
In the past year, bookstore giant Barnes & Noble has grown a significant publishing business of its own. This has made some publishers nervous, but the company says not to worry. “I take issue with the opinion that we are taking sales away from other publishers. This is just part of a long continuum of simply getting better at what we’re doing.”
Tate Takes On Emin
“Tracey Emin, not everybody’s cup of tea, was officially declared a great artist yesterday when the Tate galleries revealed that they had bought eight of her works in a rare bulk deal.”
First-Time Author Vs. The Publishing Machine (Is This How It Works?)
A writer spends a couple of years researching and writing a long book, only to be apalled by the process of getting it to print. Where’s the editing? The support? The promotion? Is this really the state of book publishing in the early 21st Century?
Where’s that Good Political Art?
There’s a long proud tradition of political protest art. But though passions are high in this political season, the quality of the little political art that is being produced makes little impact. So why?…
Teachout To First-Time Author: Get Real
Terry Teachout is a self-described “cynical old author with several books under his belt” and is amused by a first-time author’s expectations of how the publishing business works. Here’s “a more realistic perspective” on the way things work.
NEA Reading Report Is Misleading?
The recent NEA report on the decline of reading in America is a flawed document, writes Paul Collins. Its methodology isn’t clear, and the premise – that people aren’t reading literature any more reveals a narrow perspective and misleading…
Future Shock – Sci-Fi Goes Soft
The world of science fiction is in crisis. Declining sales and a lack of creativity has fans of the form concerned. “It’s not just an issue of whether or not the golden age of sci-fi faded with the passing of proponents such as Isaac Asimov, Robert Heinlein and Philip K. Dick, compounded by the fact that Ray Bradbury’s only recent contribution has been to complain that Michael Moore appropriated the title of his classic book Fahrenheit 411 for his documentary Fahrenheit 9/11.”