Category: publishing

“The latest novel of Germany’s hot young writer Thor Kunkel exposes the Nazis’ previously unknown trade in pornographic films. Sounds like a guaranteed bestseller. So why has the book’s publisher cancelled it and kicked up a literary storm?”

“Last week that Random House canceled the second novel by Emma McLaughlin and Nicola Kraus, the authors of the phenomenally best-selling The Nanny Diaries. As news began filtering out that the newly reconfigured little Random had canceled the reported-to-be $3 million contract, phones all over town started to ring. ‘Random House wants its money back,’ people said. ‘The book is a disaster!’ It may come as a shock to those who work in more normal businesses, but this kind of thing doesn’t happen every day.”

Roddy Doyle, Ireland’s best-known modern writer has “put literary Dublin in a tizz by confessing that he too can’t be bothered with James Joyce’s masterpiece Ulysses.”

“Experiments have shown that writing boosts health in myriad ways, including strengthened immune function, a decreased reliance upon pain medication, improved lung function in asthma patients, and reduced symptoms in rheumatoid arthritis patients. Some studies have further demonstrated reduced blood pressure and improved performance at work and school.”

Jerome Weeks wonders if top editors at the New York Times realize how important the Times Book Review is to readers. “While many newspapers are shrinking every story to the length and mental level of a movie blurb (‘best ever!’), the Saturday Times and the Boston Globe’s Ideas section take their small stands against our rampant anti-intellectualism. They print essays, intelligent ruminations on topics and trends often prompted by books. Yes, more of these would be welcome. And yes, the Book Review needs a jolt of provocative writing and fresh thinking. But its dullness has had less to do with the nature of the books being covered and more with the genteel backscratching that passes for book criticism these days.”

The first Harry Potter book has been translated into ancient Greek. “Classics teacher Andrew Wilson, from Bedford, says it is the longest text to have been translated into the ancient language in 1,500 years.”

Can Australian readers be bribed into buying books? “Books Alive began as the Government’s antidote to the GST’s bite into book industry revenues. From July 31 to August 15, backed by a $1.85 million advertising campaign, booksellers hope to tempt customers with $5 editions of six popular books, available with the purchase of another book.”

“It is strange to find that I have joined the swelling ranks of children’s authors, since that was never either an ambition or an intention. But maybe we are all subconsciously influenced by the rags to riches story of Joanne Rowling. Certainly, children’s literature is no longer the poor relation in the publishing world. If you want to be an author, children’s literature is the place to be and agents are certainly on the hunt.”

British poet laureate Andrew Motion says many important literary papers are being sold outside the country. “Motion says the government should do more to stop important literary papers, often belonging to the country’s most distinguished writers, going abroad.”

“Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country, has given birth to some of the continent’s most remarkable writers – and then proceeded to devour them.” From Chinua Achebe to Ken Saro-Wiwa, countless writers who have risen to international acclaim have found themselves beaten down by the country’s notoriously repressive government. “By now, the ugly dance between Nigeria’s imperious military rulers and its outspoken writers has become predictably ritualized. When the latter dare to dissent, the former lock them up, or worse.”