Sontag and Oates the early favorites for the Lit prize? – Inside.com
Tag: 10.11.00
BANNED, NOT ONCE BUT TWICE
South African novelist Christopher Hope holds the rare distinction of having had his work banned by both his government’s old and new regimes. Wasn’t apartheid’s pervasive censorship supposed to end with the transition to democracy? “It goes on – this urge to shut people up. Anyone visiting South Africa and looking at the papers or the TV will catch, before long, a whiff of paranoia in the air.” – The Guardian
WHEN “BIBLIOMANIA” IS AN UNDERSTATEMENT
- When Seymour Durst died five years ago, his book collection about New York City had outgrown his five-story townhouse. Last month, his vast collection was donated by his family to the City University of New York’s Graduate Center, “to honor [his] wish to keep his 10,000 books, 20,000 postcards, 3,000 photographs and stacks of other New Yorkiana together under one roof.” – New York Times
BOLSHOI TO BEGIN RENOVATIONS
For ten years the Bolshoi Theatre has been waiting for crucial renovations to begin, and they’ve been repeatedly postponed. Now the construction finally has a start date. – CBC
UNEXPECTED HELP
After seeing its plans for a new home languish for lack of funding, the Canadian Opera Company gets a private investor who has promised $20 million to help the build a new opera house in Toronto. – CBC
LONDON’S CONCERT HALL BLUES
An “important announcement” at London’s South Bank today proposes to offer an acoustic fix for the concert hall there. But the promises have dragged on for years, and critic Norman Lebrecht doesn’t expect much. “To the left, Tate Modern heaves. To the right, the Millennium Wheel attracts day-long queues. In the middle, the nation’s foremost concert hall moulders.” – The Telegraph (UK)
DIGITAL MUSIC COPYING HERE TO STAY
In September, 1.4 billion songs were downloaded on the internet using Napster. Yet the recording companies still haven’t figured out that the genie is out of the bottle for good. To try to cut down advance downloads, some of the major labels have been restricting music critics’ access to advance copies (but the music slips out anyway). – The Globe and Mail (Canada)