David Maybury | Blog

Something to bring the weekend that little bit closer – every painting in the MoMA in 2 minutes.

Sacha Baron Cohen has made it. (Ignore the Ali G, Borat and Brüno films – they were warm up acts to this)

Martin Scorsese – who is hard at work bringing The Invention of Hugo Cabret to the big screen – is enlisting the help of Baron Cohen to play the station inspector. Asa Butterfield (from The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas) and Chloe Moretz (from the brilliant Kick-Ass) will run the toy store.

Plenty more over on guardian.co.uk

Disney weren’t too impressed with the box office result of their most recent movie. In fact – they were so unimpressed that they have conducted a heap of research into why it didn’t succeed to break the bank.

And the result? Because boys didn’t want to see a movie with princess in the title.

In response to the findings – the film company have shelved one project (The Snow Queen) and renamed their forthcoming Pixar film Rapunzel to the less girly-sounding Tangled.

Seriously.

John Crace has come up with other title changes to appeal to boys – GI Snow and the Seven Dwarfs anyone?

Being the fanboy* that I am there was no way to avoid posting the teaser trailer to Eclipse (the next film in the Twilight series).

The movie is due out at the end of June:

*cough* Team Edward *cough*

*I will deny that this post exists in public.

The new Iron Man 2 looks good.

This post is filed under ‘because I can’.

Children’s writer and poet Philip Gross is coming to Dublin in March. Gross will feature as part of the Poetry Now festival in Dún Laoghaire (running from 25 – 28).

Actually Philip will be very busy as part of the Poetry Now festival – with an entire programme of events planned around his visit. Aimed at introducing 8 – 10 year olds to contemporary poetry – Gross will be facilitated teachers’ workshops as well as a number of visits before, during and after the festival.

Philip will also be reading in the Pavilion Theatre 0n Friday 26 March at 10am.

This week saw the Arts Council of Ireland post their budget decisions for 2010. It was the week that organisations, artists, actors, musicians, writers, theatres, performance groups, workshops, festivals, administrators – and everyone employed in Irish arts held their breath.

It was no secret that the budget was €9 million less than 2009. (The Irish Times told us so last Saturday) But since then – there has been very little said. No specifics have been made public – outside of the council’s overall breakdown:

In its overall approach, the Council sought to ensure that organisations can continue to bring the best of the arts to audiences across Ireland. Emphasis was given to achieving a regional balance, on enabling the arts to reach more people, and on supporting artists to make work. – Arts Council of Ireland

Of what has been made known: Theatre was hit hard – eleven companies were given no funding – while some established organisations/festivals have been cut from 10% to nearly 50%.

The Abbey saw a drop of more than €1m and the Project Theatre were dealt a 16% reduction. (Irish Theatre Magazine has more)

The literature response has been quiet. Publishers and organisations have managed to come out relatively well (could explain the low-key response) – cuts for literature organisations and publishers range from no cut to 15%.

Though some cases have been larger – including a drop of 24% for Irish Literature Exchange and others – the overall reduction in literature funding seems to average below 12%.

The lower-than-expected cut to the Arts Council budget can be accredited, in part, to National Campaign for the Arts – as well as presentations to the Joint Committee on Arts, Sport, Tourism, Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs.

Literature featured prominently in all of the lobbying – Colum McCann and Sebastian Barry included – and the importance of funding for authors, writing, publishing and books was heavily stressed.

2010 was always going to be a year of difficult news and hard budgets. Now is the time for exploring options, markets and methods with more energy – to make the most of what is available and create.

We need a change to the way the Arts Council does its business. It needs to be light, transparent, open, prompt and it needs to do as well as say. This has to have been for something. There has to be a reason. There’s joint culpability for both the recipients of the money and the people who have structured it. You have to honour the pain you’ve caused people by actually delivering something that is different and useful. – Willie White

Update:

Full list of Arts Council of Ireland funding decisions – PDF Link

The Irish Writers’ Centre has and the board of IWC have released a statement on receiving no grant from the Arts Council.

The Irish Writers’ Centre is extremely disappointed that the Arts Council has rejected its application for a grant for 2010.

Irish Times coverage of the response from arts organisations, groups and others. (Theatre Forum meeting on Wednesday 10 February). Deirdre Falvey’s Artscape column examining the artists tax exemption approval process.

Irish Publishing News has a complete list of awards for literature sector – including amounts lost/gained and percentage change on 2009.

And the oscar goes toooo… Granny O’Grimm! Yup, everyone’s favourite curmudgeon is up for an oscar – and the full animated film is up for viewing. G’Wan – have a look to see what the fuss is all about.

Secret Of Kells is up for an Annie Award – with some stiff competition against UP, Coraline,  Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs,  Fantastic Mr. Foxand  The Princess and the Frog.

In the Irish Times – Joe Griffin prepares a list of movies worth a remake (The Truman Show? The Incredibles?) while Donald Clarke talks noughie – with a retrospective on the last ten years of cinema.

Danny Leigh reveals his love of all things heartthrob, namely Pattinson and Efron.

Ahead of the next weeks release of Where the Wild Things Are, Steve Rose talks to Spike Jonze. Declan Cashin in the Irish Independent has a word or two with the man in question too. As does Vanessa Thorpe in the Guardian.

Quentin Tarantino’s editor, Sally Menke, talks work, scripts and the man himself:

Watching Scorsese and Schoonmaker’s work, I learned how to collapse time in action but still push characters through a scene. It’s a trick to give the illusion it’s all real; that’s become crucial to us because the Tarantino thing is to make the mundane feel very spicy. It’s the illusion that time is ticking away. It’s all about tension,

And Mark Kermode reviews the DVD release of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince – and prefers it to Tarantino’s Inglourious Basterds.

The budget cuts announced yesterday make for interesting times in nearly every sector – including the arts, which is heavily subsidised by the state. Deirdre Falvey breaks down the changes in today’s Irish Times – effectively it is a 10% cut for the Arts Council (Down from €85m to €76m). Culture Ireland, the organisation in place to support and promote Irish Arts abroad, will maintain its funding of €4.7m.

The National Library of Ireland, the National Archives and the Manuscripts Commission will become one organisation; as will the National Gallery of Ireland, the Irish Museum of Modern Art and the Crawford Gallery. All of the organisations will keep their own identities but the management, HR, board and other aspects will all be amalgamated.

What is most interesting was the quote from Maurice Foley, deputy chairman of the Arts Council

Significant grant cuts are unavoidable, conditional commitments will have to be reviewed and some organisations will need funds from other sources if they are to survive.

Foley’s comment resonates with my own beliefs about arts funding and it will be interesting to see how different organisations/performance groups/festivals and individual artists innovate and use their work to create new opportunities to support themselves. The Arts Council funding announcements in November and December might the beginning of new ideas and discussions. The Arts Management blog has even more on what is to come.

In non-arts related topics – what is the story with taking away medical cards for people over 70? Sigh.

Teeth is the kind of B-movie horror that I wish I was brought up on. (Instead I got Batfink, Magnum PI and **MASH**, which is a different kind of horror). It is a train wreck movie while at the same time managing to be gut wrenchingly funny. And to make things even better I bumped (very briefly) into Suzy afterward, which made me smile because she knew who I was.

If you haven’t already – get yourself over to movies.ie and register for the Dark Knight Screening Competition on 22 July!! (A whole two days before everyone else)

And just because of her sheer genius in interwebology, RP has the first five minutes of the movie. Go see!

The new site is not quite finished, but the impatient five year old in me just wants to get it out there and see how things go. I’m not going to apron-wring for long – make a few excuses etc. about how busy its been, how there is no first chapter yet and how I’m still working out the finer details of plot/characters etc.

It is in a sense an online version of my note book, so some of the pages will seem a little garbled – it will make perfect sense to me though, so let me know if I start to lose a readable format. Or if I stop using english altogether…

There is one important thing to note though… the change of blog address! 

Re-adjust RSS readers/bookmarks accordingly – I’m moving the blog over to the domain. The aim is to tie it all together to make one community based (collaborative) writing/creative project. The blog will continue, but there will be much more posts related to the project.

As I said, not much more on yet – but it will grow, I hope, with as much help as I can find:

www.poetbloggs.net

I was told a joke in September about writers procrastinating over their work. That every time they sit down to write they will remember something else that is ‘more important’ and leave the desk for a few hours.

At the outset of a project, especially a novel, you laugh this stuff off. But then it happens without you noticing. Once, is okay. Twice, forgivable. But what about three whole months?

The leaky tap in my bath is not important – but I spent three hours devising methods of fixing it. The way the steam from the kettle keeps making the bread go soggy, how is that worth forty-five minutes of my time?

But it was the two series of the West Wing in less than a fortnight that I watched that has me really worried. That’s a huge chunk of time lost to the Bartlett administration.

As a result I am developing a new method to get this project off the ground.
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So you have decided your stance on how artistic influence can change the world (or not) and you have finished writing a poem (or twenty). Not just poems to be worked on, but pieces that you consider to be finished. What next? What do you do with them? Some of it is common sense, but it is frightening how often common sense is ignored.

I have been having increasing conversations with young writers (Poetbloggs included) about submitting work for publication. The primary fact about being published is that the work really does need to be finished. It needs to be the best that you can produce before you send it in to a magazine, newspaper or journal. ¬¬Don’t just dash off the first (or second, and rarely the third) draft of your piece in the mail with a cover letter to every editor you can think of.

Research the places that you are sending to. Do they stop accepting submissions over a certain period? Do they have a maximum word count? Or a maximum number of submissions?

If you can, read a previous edition of a publication and see what the editor likes. Do you fit into that category? Maybe make a list of the places you are most likely to fit into and send there first, but don’t stick too rigidly to the list either.

Most publications will have a limit of how much you can submit at any one time. 5 poems or 2 short stories for example. Don’t send an editor your entire first collection. They won’t read it. Best to send a select few that are most likely to suit an editors taste. (Personally speaking, don’t print your name and address on every page. It is messy to read, and I have always found it annoying. Your name is more than enough on each page)

Write a short cover letter to go with the submissions. Don’t ramble for 5 pages, be brief and to the point. Publishing is a business like any other and when you reach this stage of writing the creative side must take a back seat for a while. Give relevant information – i.e. where you have been published previously. An editor doesn’t want to read your midterm English results. Or your SAT scores. Or what you scored in an Oxford matriculation.

If you want, include a brief biographical note at the bottom of the page. This is not essential, if you are accepted the publication will contact you and request this before it goes to print. Do include your contact details on the cover note, see earlier comments on this.

Be patient after you have submitted. Some journals take over a year to respond. It doesn’t mean you are being ignored, it just means that they are understaffed.

Be prepared to get rejected. Repeatedly. It happens to everyone. Repeatedly. It is not a personal attack on your writing, it is rarely even a criticism of your work, it is simply an editorial decision. Editors are people, and people have specific tastes.

For each rejection letter, send out two new submissions. Send one to the publication that rejected you (preferably with new work) and send the rejected work to a different publication.

If your writing is good it will be published.
GF

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As a closing note on the influence of art, poetry in this case, and its political and other influences, I have found an article from PIW, Can Poetry Be Political?, November 2002.

Irish poet, Joe Woods, is cited in the article arguing that ‘all poetry is sexual, religious, political, or anything that moves people or societies’. Perhaps not all poetry is going to fit this criteria, but certainly it should. Another writer, K. Michel, is given as saying ‘that poetry is always something more than any of these things, and that “something more” happens to be poetry.’

The article raises some interesting questions and makes no definitive argument for or against the influence of art. The decision of art-for-arts-sake over art as a moral indicator is left to the readers discretion.

GF

notes: PIW, Can poetry be political?
The Whitbread (now called Costa) Book Award Shotlist (Not related to the article but still news worthy) Feeling more like a blog editor than a contributor. Back soon, I hope. -pb.

My reply to Imani has been playing on my mind since this morning and I have had a change of heart. I do need to know that what I write has some sort of purpose, not necessarily political, but a purpose.

I am under no illusions as to the greater political influence that poetry has, or the lack of, as is the case argued in the previous post. I do not aim to set the worlds politics on its head with my writing. But art is a purpose in itself. The aesthetic aim to write something that is well crafted, and lasting to a reader. I believe that that is a purpose for all art.

There are other purposes for art and many different ideas on what a purpose is. Imani, do you mean poetry, and all other creative writing, should have no purpose whatsoever?

GF.
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For my inaugural post on poetbloggs I’m going back to the very beginning. Before a pen has even been picked up. Before a thought or a line has even been dreamt of. I am going to ask the question, what good is it?

Has poetry passed it’s sell-by-date so to speak?

An article from Adrienne Rich last weekend (18th November) quotes heavily from Shelley and his ideas of poetry as a way into revolution. Shelley’s claimed that ‘poets are the unacknowledged legislators of the world’. And perhaps, at the time, Shelley had a point. People read poetry, and listened to what it said then. (People still read poetry; perhaps they are just not listening anymore).

Rich considers what she calls the ‘free market critique of poetry’ in the article;

Poetry has been written-off on other counts: it’s not a mass-market “product”, it doesn’t get sold on airport newsstands or in supermarket aisles; it’s too “difficult” for the average mind; it’s too elite, but the wealthy don’t bid for it at Sotheby’s; it is, in short, redundant.”

And later reveals her view, the romantic outlook. A view that is becoming more and more redundant, if the free market critique is to be believed.

When poetry lays its hand on our shoulder we are, to an almost physical degree, touched and moved. The imagination’s roads open before us, giving the lie to that brute dictum, “There is no alternative”.”

In truth, both are correct. Poetry has got that effect. At some point in every reader’s life they will be touched by a work. It might not be a famous piece, but it will remain with the reader for life. Poetry however no longer has the power to overthrow corrupt governments or turn economies on their heads.

There is a reason it is not sold on newsstands in airports. People don’t read poetry for advice on living their day-to-day lives. Or who to vote for in the next local election. Literature has taken a new place with readers. And poetry didn’t move with the rest of the art. Fiction has become the major player in influencing thought, and most of that influence comes from being made in to a movie.

When was the last time a poem made the cut for a multi-million pound deal on the silver screen?

What am I getting at? I am posing the question of, why write it at all? Does it serve another purpose to the reader? To society? Or is Rich right when she says

There is always that in poetry which will not be grasped, which cannot be described, which survives our ardent attention, our critical theories, our late-night arguments.’’

Has poetry still got a purpose?

GF.

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I check my stats regularly, to a point where it could be considered unhealthy. I also check referring URL's, just not as often. The Wordpress graph for this blog has been fun to watch, traumatic at times, and the continuing growth in readers is encouraging and daunting. The referrals list has always been my favourite however – how did people find me?

Currently the largest search that has linked here has been 'gay bookstores dublin'. I have never posted about gay bookstores in Dublin – so for the benefit of those looking, here's a quick list.

Anthology Books; A small, friendly and very active bookshop in the centre of Temple Bar. Hosts events regularly and has a wide and eclectic range of books, journals, magazines and other bits.

Books Upstairs; Another small bookshop, opposite the gates of Trinity College. Very approachable and interesting staff with a large interest and participation in Irish literature.

Chapters; A great place if you have a few hours to lose browsing, rummaging and reading. With a basement full of second hand books, a floor for music/cinema and a huge selection of books in all genres.

Outhouse; I don't think Outhouse actually sell books, but if you are looking for reading material then it's library is certainly worth a visit. Or just have a drink in the coffee-shop, the hot chocolate is quite good!

That's all I can think of at the minute, there might be a few new stores opened since I left. If there are any that I missed please link them in the comments. GCN (Gay Community News) is also worth a look, with news, events, reviews and a very active and interesting forum. It also has the Little Gay Map Of Dublin – no explanations needed. Most of the larger bookstores in the city (Easons, Waterstones, Reads, Hughes & Hughes, etc.) have queer sections which might also be useful.

I hope this was useful!

After thrashing out the issue, and several changes to my own opinion, I'm able to answer Litlove's question – What do you think of this notion of collaborative writing?

At first glimpse the idea of collaborative writing and digital publishing are alien, unwanted advances on one of histories most important technologies – the book. The thought of a writer opening up their writing/editing process to others is absurd, pointless and possibly very vain. How can literature gain from a writer and the audience writing the novel/poem/play? It removes the enjoyment of simply reading a piece of work, and the writing may lose a lot from having so many voices.

Digital publishing is inevitable; I'm saying that with the possibility of it being another fifty years or more before it really is inevitable. The new digital paper is already available in new e-reader devices; newspapers are investigating digital publication and traditional publishers are already scrambling a resistance. E-book sales are rising, mostly in academic books, and as more and more people carry at least one mobile device (phone, pda, laptop or mp3) the cry for digital text is growing. Perhaps not in our lifetime, but inevitably, digital publishing will overthrow the physical book – for the foreseeable future however, the two will exist separately with the internet bridging the gap.

With that in mind, collaborative writing can really only exist online at present, but could act as the most crucial bridge between the two media. The change in how people interact with the web – blogging, social networks etc. – is providing a much greater confidence in reader interaction and developing the web as a serious media. Newspapers are using wikipedia (carefully) as a source of reference and many writers are surviving on income from their blogs alone. As this confidence and development increases writers are forced, by vocation if for no other reason, to move with their audiences. 

In following their audiences online, into the blogosphere, social networks etc., writers are faced with a more informed and much more demanding readership. Great literature/journalism is no longer accepted as a result of who published it – ordinary day-to-day readers want justification, explanations and insight. Much like musicians have been forced to digitize in order to maintain their audience, so now, are writers. Collaboration between writer and reader is part of this, allowing the audience a greater sense of input and realism.

Currently writers with blogs/websites are trying to build their own audiences before approaching publishers, presenting them with a large enough audience to warrant publication. This is the first step in the right direction – but it shouldn't end here. Writers should, foreboding as it sounds, ask their audiences' opinion before publishing – allow the reader an input to the editing/drafting process. Introduce those changes, or discuss them, build them up and interact with readers from inside the writing process rather than presenting a final draft. 

There are problems with this amount of audience interaction, and it may not be to the taste of everyone – there will always be an audience for books that are not written collaboratively for instance – but the questions of justification and explanation will remain. The consummation of the time involved in discussing and moderating a website/blog can be extensive, but it is fast becoming a necessary task in order to maintain an interested audience. 

The inevitability of digital publishing increases the probability of successful collaborative writing – the increased discussion between writers and readers is moving toward it already. Projects and links listed in previous posts show the increasing interest by readers to become involved in some way with a book or an author. This will not replace the book, not at present, but it will be an undeniable rival and will change current publishing methods. Books are evolving and the book industry should be encouraging change, striving for larger audiences and developing new writing. 

Historically, literature has always been at the forefront of change – why should it be any different now? 

Many thanks for everyone that has joined in the conversation – a few links to other posts/articles from over the weekend on a very bright Monday morning in England.  

This morning's New York Times has an interesting article, with lots of people I had never heard of using the web for collaborative writing (Mark Z. Danielewski, Yocahi Benkler and Lisa Scottoline).

Buzzmachine continues to be a hive of activity – with posts on books, why blogging is becoming imperative and more on books.  

if:book (The Institute for the Future of the Book Blog) has more on Gamer Theory, the reader collaborative book, as well as addressing moderation issues… 

I have linked to it before, but here it is again – infotainment rules has a few posts that compliment Buzzmachine. Books, books and well…more books.

Library Journal, The Guardian and Ricahrd Charkin (Macmillan CEO) all carry articles on digital printing.

The digital/online argument in the previous post saw little interaction by readers/bloggers who were not involved in writing. As a result, the post could only go a certain distance in addressing digital publishing issues. The argument is focusing now on whether or not readers would utilise e-reader devices (Sony and Philips), writers with blogs or online publications; or is it an unwelcome change?

"…I’ve read several books recently on a topic I’ve never read on before because of a personal experience that entered my life. A couple of the books really helped me to understand a perspective that was completely alien to me. I then took the opportunity to write those couple of authors and explain to them how their words had affected me. In both cases the authors wrote back and it was a really nice interchange.

The ability, through email, to so easily correspond with an author I found quite remarkable. In its way it added to the reading experience." Beatrice, via Buzzmachine

Eoin Purcell, via email this time, discusses the arguments involved and breaks them into two more manageable sides.

"…it seems to be generating the two default positions.

A) Its all going to pot and the standard is terrible. (Begging the question why they bother to respond at all?)

B) Its great and the opportunities are endless. (True to a degree but as in traditional publishing not everyone is a winner and the gap between winners and losers can be significant)."

Litlove, along with most of the publishing world, argue the case for recreational books to remain the same – or for changes to be as close as possible.

'…I think the internet makes a great resource for on-line books that have specialist agendas…
…other more pleasurable forms of publicataion are involved – fiction, cookery books, biography, poetry, for me the book is very much part of the experience and I would be very sorry to be without it.'

The developing e-readers (Sony and Philips – using technology from Eink and Plastic Logic) emulate the printed page and are ledgible at all angles and light that print is. The devices use little energy for only visual text, while also offering music, web browsing and soon, movies. These e-readers/PDA/Ultra Mobile PC's/Smartphone devices may not resemble the book physically, but the design of the content is dependent on the publisher and could be developed to create a hybrid of interactive/social website and book deisgn.

'…It really would depend on what it looked like in the end. I like to write on my books in the margins (terrible habit, I know) and I don’t suppose that would give the same sort of pleasure. But I could probably adapt. …'

The Philips/Irex Iliad e-reader enables the reader to write on the screen and save the notes as bookmarks/text files. The next step in this evolution would be for those notes to be published on a blog/forum or to be sent direct to the author. Mistakes could be fixed after printing. Additions be made, or changes to a plot. Readers could help revise books, sentences, paragraphs and chapters could all be changed as a result of direct conversation with an author and audience. (Raising grey issues about authorship, perhaps.) Great conversations could evolve as readers/critics read a novel.

Much of this will depend on the success of non-fiction and academia accepting the technology first, and possibly only after raising a new generation of digital readers, will fiction and other genre be open to the large scale change that digital printing allows. Is it simply a waiting game – for this generation die out and the next to be raised on the new technology?

The questions are still the same – Do audiences want to move print online, or to use the internet to compliment what they read in print? Would an audience want be involved more in the writing process of their favourite author, being able to comment and interact with them as the novel/poem/script was written? Would other writers/students like to be able to have that insight to others work?

Any and all comments are welcome and I will add links to list in the writers with blogs post.

In relation to the previous post, and as a result of Jeff Jarvis' discussion, a quick look across the Irish blogosphere shows up quite a few Irish writers using blogs to write about both work, life and everything else. Have blogs and email replaced the traditional literary letters? (NYT seems to think so) How much are writers willing to collaborate with audiences online?

Any input/ideas and opinions from writers, bloggers and readers are welcome. (I am linking to a few writers on the Blogosphere here but there are many more I have missed)

White House Poets   Shitty First Draft
Desmond Swords    Robert Bruce
Alice Lyons              Paul Sweeney
Sean Lysaght          Barbara Smith
Peter Sirr                Pat Boran
Micheal Begnal         Lorraine McArdle
That Girl                 John Scalzi
Onyeka George       Jane Holland
Bookish                 Selection of Poetry
Kevin Doran           C.Dale Young
Seth Ambramson    Dermot
Lane Smith             Tuppenceworth.ie
Seth Godin             Eoin Purcell

The conversation surrounding this topic has been interesting, and conflicting in places. Barbara Smith summarised one aspect of the argument as 'boiling down to the difference between hard copy and soft copy'. The conflict between traditional publishing and the web is only one, and possibly the first, step in successful online publishing. There are a number of other questions arising from using the internet, such as the changing relationship between an author and audience and the changes that writing online has on writing methods.

All of the writers/bloggers/readers that have contributed so far have been fairly conservative about moving away from print entirely. American Poet, Robert Bruce hopes that his blog will bring enough of a readership to help him move into print when he approaches a publisher.

"…if, in 2 or 3 years I approach a publisher with my regular readership of around 100,000 folks a month (or more), said publisher will most likely be more inclined to take a glance at my stuff. You see, I’ve done all the marketing, footwork, and building for them.

…a blog does not replace real publishing. What it does is intensify the publishing world and shakes it out of a deep and selfish slumber."

The validity of self-publishing on the Internet is also brought to contention, as both Lorraine McArdle and Micheal Begnal dispute how successful self-publishing can be. The absence of an editor, and with no restriction on content, allows anyone/anything to be published and does not allow for any objective view to the content before it is published. Begnal adds,

"…if you get yourself in a literary magazine, or if you’re very lucky, a real book, that means that at least one person besides you thinks your work is worth something, and more often than not, that person knows their stuff (if they’ve found themselves editing a “respected” journal)."

Going further, Begnal also questions the validity of the medium and questions whether or not an audience takes a blog/website as seriously as a book? As much as writers' are unwilling to move away from print and use the Internet only to compliment their work, how far is the reader willing to move?

Eoin Purcell (via his blog) adds his voice and has experienced the change in publishing and a new departure in writer/publisher marketing relationships. 

"…A writer of a soon to be released Dublin Archaeology book approached us with an amazing idea, a wonderful website which acts a showcase and bundles of passion. What was more his website has over 100,000 unique visitors a month. Most publishers would have ignored the topic as being slightly off track, but as we have some experience with it and we liked the additional revenues of worldwide web sales, we will publish his book in October as the first of several."

Any replies will be posted up here – let me know if there is anyone I miss out on.

The Institute for the Future of the Book has been involved on some interesting projects lately, not least of all the impending arrival of Sophie, a new online authoring tool – Book 2.0? The most recent e-book project that the institute has been involved in, GAM3R TH3ORY, has been a success, the commentary and active conversation that has helped develop the books content has rendered it a definite triumph. The layout of the site however, although innovative and allowing for a great deal of user navigation freedom, it is not the easiest medium for reading larger amounts of text.

The new wave of social input, conversation and collaboration have led to a large number of projects, Diane Duane, Neil Gaiman and Robert Bruce come to mind, it has allowed for idea sharing on a much greater scale, as well as giving the writer a greater access to an audience.

Collaborative authoring and the future of print has occupied a lot of space online and the Institute for the Future of the Book is tagging the new Sophie software as the next progressive step in web-publishing, this however, remains to be seen. The Sophie software will allow for a much greater reader input to an authors work, removing the writer from the previous seclusion of writing.

Alternative screen publishing – before the availability of Sophie – is limited and has not seen much uptake. Emulating the printed page on screen (magwerk and ipagez) are well designed but very stagnant methods of emulating print. The relatively still ‘printing’ is a hybrid of .pdf and flash that can incorporate some active components that allow for interactivity.

Downloadable .pdf files are also available but are digitally printed pages that do not really allow for much interaction (forms, hyperlinks and animations). The blog format is also a method of screen printing, but not really aesthetically friendly for such large amounts of text. It does allow for a large amount of interaction and reader input – but how much input into the writing process is wanted, a personal question really – how much criticism/input can you take? Writing collaboratively as a writer/reader partnership is interesting but how much influence can an audience have over a writer before they become writers themselves?

more on Sophie and the future of the book here, here and here.

John Updike is not a believer in the digital era. (Via NYT, free-sub req.)

The American theatre, or Broadway at least, is seeing the end of its most successful (financially) season to date as the shows begin to wind-down. The news that ‘Lestat’ – developed with Elton John and Anne Rice – is closing on Sunday sees the end of Warner Brothers first Broadway show. Other shows up and down Broadway are closing, or closed, including shows starring David Schwimmer and Julia Roberts. (via NYT)

Is Dublin experiencing similar theatrical success?

There has been some very successful productions staged this year and the current offerings host some of Irish theatres biggest names, but will it be Dublin’s most successful year to date? The Beckett centenary has increased awareness and filled more than a few seats; all across the country the sallow and stolid face of Beckett has reminded us of our theatre, a spectre playing upon the cultural conscience – making you feel guilty for not paying more attention to your own culture and arts.

Currently on Offer in Dublin

The Gate, which hosted Brian Friel’s ‘Faith Healer’ earlier this year, is currently playing Beckett’s ‘Waiting For Godot’.

Friel has another play in Dublin at the minute, this time in the Abbey, an adaptation of Turgenev’s ‘A Month in the Country’.

The Gaiety is playing host to John B. Keane’s ‘The Year of the Hiker’ which is produced by the critically acclaimed Druid Co. while the Project Theatre hosts ‘Hysteria’ and ‘Wallflowering’.

Missed this on Saturday, Clare Boylan has passed away at the age of 58. Most famous for her revision of Charlotte Bronte's work a few years ago, Boylan was a prolific and energetic writer and critic. 

Readers adored her, as much for the clever, evocative, erudite prose as the information within. Her articles were often wittily sardonic. For such a dainty, pretty woman, her capacity to pack a deadly punch in person as well as in prose was much admired.

Desmond Swords posted it in the comments but I am going to echo it here: 

A fortnightly poetry night at the

Monster Truck Art Gallery
(Corner Francis Street and the Coombe, opposite st Patricks Cathedral)

First guest poet is Raven, alongside a jazz duo from Blackrock college backing the poets.
There is an open floor and all are welcome.
It is a pay what you can policy entrance.

More info contact Desmond via his blog.

Stephen Moss is featured in the Guardian this morning after he toured the UK interviewing independent bookstore owners, here and part two is here. The survival and necessity of small bookstores is something that is prevalent in Dublin at the minute, with the loss of The Winding Stair, via Sigla, the sale of Reids to Easons and the growing success of Anthology.

Apart from the large chains such as Easons, Waterstones, Dubray and a few others, Dublin has only a few independent sellers. Books Upstairs on College Green, the Anthology store in Temple Bar, Chapters on Abbey Street and a few considerable second-hand shops across the city. Is there a need for independent bookstores, or is it simply whoever can sell the book cheapest? (Personally, it is a little of both)
And where does Amazon come into all of this? Moss offers a few insights into the world of independent book stores – but how prevalent are they in Dublin?

A friend, poet and long-time advocate of Balbriggan arts, sent me an email about an open-mic event on Thursday in Trax (the café just opposite the train station as far as I remember). I am dubious of open-mic nights, inviting poets to microphones phones could be compared to allowing a drug addict be unsupervised in a pharmacy, but Poetry Upfront comes highly recomended from a trusted source. So without further comment:

*Poetry Upfront *

Free Open-Mic Poetry Night
Thursday May 18th 8pm

Trax Café (Station street,Balbriggan,Co. Dublin)
All Poets and Listeners Welcome.

Jen Hadfield has an interesting poetry workshop on the Guardian site: Anti-praise Poems.

The site has a list of all of the tasks set and there have been some very talented writers involved, including Tony Curtis and Moniza Alvi amongst others. The workshops are a great resource to explore poetry form and play with ideas as well as read other poets' thoughts on different aspects of writing. Topics explored include rhyme, rhythm, meter, and form with each separate workshop giving a new aspect and view on what writing is. 

if:book blog has a piece on the future of literary history – if writers are sending emails rather than letters, how will biographers/editors be able to record and publish the letters of contemporary writers. Dave Eggers, previous, is planning to set-up his outbox as a searchable, customisable website to make it easier for his work to be referenced.

Further news, and here, about teenage author Viswanathan – more of her first book looks to have been plagarised, this time from Sophie Kinsella's 'Can you keep a Secret?'. The book has already been taken off sale by publishers Little, Brown and Co. and McCafferty has not pressed with any litigation. This is more damaging to any defence that Viswanathan can present.

Interesting that the book-packaging company involved are not taking as much heat for the plagiarism as Viswanathan however – New York Times piece on book packaging. (Free Sub. Req.) And a Slate.com explanation on book packaging – was Viswanathan just a marketing tool?

(Promising the end of the Viswanathan obsession after this post)

Laurel Touby's "In Defence of Kaavya Viswanathan" appears on GalleyCat.

UPDATE: Final chapter, Viswanathan loses the contract. And no revision in sight. 
 

In a previous post about Children's Literature I used my first meeting with Larry O'Loughlin to describe how authors for Children seem to have a stronger connection and vulnerability with their audience. In O'Loughlin's book 'Is Anybody Listening' he details both the everyday trauma's of seventeen-year-old Laura and the horrific scenes of children working in forced labour factories. This is a book for Young Adults and contains details that are both emotional and terrifyingly true.

Reading it when it was published in 1999 'Is Anybody Listening' was not an easy book to read. It is an honest depiction of cruelty and deprivation against children that is harrowing to read and even more difficult to acknowledge as truth. Irish Children's Literature is filled with books for Young Adults that go further than the Harry Potter stereotype. There is a great number of books for Young Adults by Irish writers that are encompassed by the genre 'Children's Lit' and often overlooked as a result.

Looking back on some of the best on offer I came up with a list of recommended authors, in no specific order; Larry O'Loughlin, Tom Lennon, Siobhán Parkinson and Aubrey Flegg. Additions to the list are welcome, or arguments against some of those included. 

New Irish and Scottish Gaelic poems are wanted for the next issue of the celebrated anthology An Guth 4. For more information, please contact Rody Gorman at anguth[AT]btinternet[DOT]com. (via Poetry Ireland)