by Steven W. Beattie

Two views of Arundhati Roy

Arundhati Roy, the Booker Prize“winning author of The God of Small Things, has been in the news recently for her outspoken comments about Kashmiri secession from India. Last week, rumours began circulating that the author ... Read More »

November 1, 2010 | Filed under: Book news

A day in the life of Ifran Sanci: on trial for obscenity, honoured by International Publishers Association

By Steven W. Beattie

Each year at Harbourfront's International Festival of Authors, the literary festival currently underway (until Saturday) in Toronto, PEN Canada sponsors an empty chair to bring attention to writers around the world who have been imprisoned ... Read More »

October 25, 2010 | Filed under: Book news

Tony Burgess’s bloody new book trailer

By Steven W. Beattie

Book trailers are becoming more pervasive and sophisticated all the time; they're also becoming more effective as tools for selling books. (HarperCollins's creepy trailer for Emma Donoghue's Room was a hit on the Internet even ... Read More »

October 25, 2010 | Filed under: Book news

Rushdie, Amis, and others protest closing of U.K. centre memorializing D.H. Lawrence

By Steven W. Beattie

A group of volunteers is currently working to save iconic Canadian poet Al Purdy's A-frame cottage, with the intention of turning it into a home for a writer-in-residence program. In a similar vein, well-known figures ... Read More »

October 18, 2010 | Filed under: Book news

The return of Harry Potter. Maybe.

By Steven W. Beattie

In news that is likely to send shivers of anticipation up the spines of publishers worldwide, J.K. Rowling has told Oprah Winfrey she would consider another instalment of her mega-selling Harry Potter series. The Sydney ... Read More »

October 4, 2010 | Filed under: Book news

Publishers upbeat heading into Frankfurt

By Steven W. Beattie

Every week, it seems, brings more news about the perils facing the publishing industry: the death of the book, office closures, and mass layoffs. However, according to the Guardian, publishers (from the U.K. at least) ... Read More »

October 4, 2010 | Filed under: Book news

Dionne Brand to unveil 1,000 square foot mural dedicated to human rights

By Steven W. Beattie

Following closely upon the Poetry is Public is Poetry initiative that debuted in Toronto at the end of August, the city's poet laureate is set to unveil another piece of urban poetry, this time in ... Read More »

September 30, 2010 | Filed under: Book news

Wheaton and Scalzi battle lupus and each other

By Steven W. Beattie

John Scalzi is an American science-fiction writer whose books have twice been nominated for the Hugo Award. He currently serves as president of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America. Wil Wheaton is best ... Read More »

September 20, 2010 | Filed under: Book news

Burroughs gets graphic

By Steven W. Beattie

Junkie, beat novelist, counterculture icon, occasional lyricist for Tom Waits and Warren Zevon. Now William S. Burroughs gets another posthumous line on his resumé: graphic novelist. According to the Guardian, U.S.-based Fantagraphics Books is set ... Read More »

September 13, 2010 | Filed under: Book news

The year of the feud

By Steven W. Beattie

Yesterday, Quillblog pointed to the controversy sparked by Margaret Atwood when she added her name to a petition protesting the potential appearance of a right-wing news channel (sarcastically dubbed "Fox News North") here in Canada. ... Read More »

September 3, 2010 | Filed under: Book news

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