Category: words

“It seems churlish to complain that poetry is receiving publicity, however dishonestly generated. Sales and readerships are very low; I read recently that 3% of all book sales are of poetry, and even that figure seems surprisingly high. But might we not be in danger of an inflationary rhetoric with regard to contemporary poetry, where so many superlative epithets – ‘best poet of their generation’, ‘best American poet currently writing’, and so on – are scattered like confetti over the whole crowd? – The Guardian

Great excitement in Canada about the announcement of finalists for the Giller Prize (one of Canada’s top literary prizes). A few reactions? “All the books have brown covers except one.” “Bleak, bleak and bleaker.” The list showed “big themes, big ideas and a few surprises.” – The Globe and Mail (Canada)

Independent electronic publishers are watching with concern the fate of a recently filed application by Gemstar-TV Guide International to trademark the word “EBOOK.” “I think we independents are not nearly cut-throat enough. We should have copyrighted every doggone e-book term we came up with back in the mid ’90s.” – Wired

The French capital, for a poet, is seductive. But for an American, is there danger in losing one’s voice in that seductive quality? C. K. Williams, the New Jersey native who won this year’s Pulitzer Prize for poetry is quite hip to the dangers. – New York Times

The Canadian government announces a $150 million fund to help Canadian magazines compete against American media selling their wares in Canada. The money will go to subsidize Canadian publications because “American magazines can sell ads more cheaply than Canadian competitors because the magazine’s costs have already been covered by advertising and sales in the United States.” – The Globe and Mail (Canada)

“The worst-paid journalists on earth live in Nigeria. Because of this, Nigerian journalists do on a daily basis what would constitute a firing offence in Canada – they accept money from the people they write about. These payments, called ‘commissions’, are paid by companies, individuals, organizations and governments when journalists come to call.” – The Globe and Mail (Canada)

Publishers anxiously at an e-book conference watch Napster case for clues to how publishers can protect themselves. “Keynote speaker Dick Brass, vice president of technology development at Microsoft, predicted that although 50 percent of all new books will be electronic in form within 10 years, widespread piracy could cripple the market.” – Wired

Dissident writers in the old USSR had to be wary. Since their work could not be printed at home they memorized it “The two most important phenomena in dissident writing in the Eastern bloc surrounding Samizdat and Tamizdat were the underground press in the authors’ own country and the opportunities for publication abroad.” – Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung