Category: publishing

“People can’t seem to let go of the Divine Comedy. You’d think that a fourteenth-century allegorical poem on sin and redemption, written in a medieval Italian vernacular and in accord with the Scholastic theology of that period, would have been turned over, long ago, to the scholars in the back carrels. But no.”

“Speculation about the shortlist began almost at once, even though the winner of this year’s Nobel prize in literature won’t be announced until October. 195 names were submitted in March for consideration, including 48 first-timers.”

“I have no plans for a digital version. Maybe at some point, but in the meantime, let people stir their sticks and go to an actual bookstore rather than a digital one.”

“As you yourself have observed, Chinua himself repudiated such a tag – he did study literature after all, bagged a degree in the subject. So, it is a tag of either literary ignorance or ‘momentary exuberance’ – ala [Nadine] Gordimer – to which we are all sometimes prone.”

“The free app, which is downloadable from the Apple store, is a multimedia experience that includes short videos of actors reciting the sonnets. New videos will be released on a rolling basis, shot on different locations throughout New York.”

“The bright yellow rectangle includes all 224 words of [teenager] Eoin Moore’s short story which strives to capture the ‘essence’ of the capital. It was chosen from a host of works completed by participants in Dublin’s Fighting Words creative writing programme.”

“The most valuable books also have to be kept away from direct sunlight, which means not-so- valuable books that were once alphabetically ordered then have to go near the window.”

“A recent edition of the Oxford Dictionary of Quotations draws from 15 stanzas and reproduces 13 of them whole.”

“What he has decided to do with this broad and influential platform is to turn inward, describing his thought process as he labors over wood fires and onions or as he lobbies for the approval of his bread-baking mentor with a ‘crumb shot’ of his homemade sourdough.”

“If professional voice actors can flop, some amateurs can be surprisingly good.”