by Steven W. Beattie

Thursday’s links: Wylie bypasses publishers; McArthur scolds Alexis; and Cronenberg bares all

A smattering of links for you: Andrew Wylie launches imprint to sell digital books by Roth, Amis, Pamuk, and others directly through Amazon Gulf of Mexico oil spill creates publishing cottage industry Kim McArthur schools ... Read More »

July 22, 2010 | Filed under: Book news

Sci-fi in the buff

By Steven W. Beattie

Literary readings range from entertaining to unbearably dull, but in most cases the readers remain clothed. Not so with Naked Girls Reading, an event that goes tonight at Toronto's Gladstone Hotel. NGR kicks off the ... Read More »

July 21, 2010 | Filed under: Book news

Copyright holders “greedy” say Woodlief, Curtis

By Steven W. Beattie

In a July 9 Wall Street Journal article, Tony Woodlief argues that current practices for securing permission to reprint copyrighted material are too intricate and costly to survive. He cites his own experience writing a ... Read More »

July 19, 2010 | Filed under: Book news

Ten (youngish, white) women writers Flavorwire loves

By Steven W. Beattie

Responding to the recent contretemps between Jezebel.com and The Daily Show, in which the former accused the latter of slighting its female correspondents, resulting in a blistering open letter from TDS's female staff members, the ... Read More »

July 19, 2010 | Filed under: Book news

Sh*t some publishers put out

By Steven W. Beattie

There is a new apparently unstoppable literary trend poised to join the ranks of carbon-copy publishing: "Sh*t My [Blank Does]" books. This one kicked off with Justin Halpern's Sh*t My Dad Says, a memoir loosely ... Read More »

July 12, 2010 | Filed under: Book news

Graphic novelist Harvey Pekar dead at 70

By Steven W. Beattie

The Ohio Chronicle-Telegraph is reporting that Harvey Pekar, the iconoclastic creator of the graphic novel American Splendor, has died at age 70. Pekar was best known for his autobiographical stories that examined the combined absurdities ... Read More »

July 12, 2010 | Filed under: Book news

Linda Grant on the best-dressed characters in literature

By Steven W. Beattie

Linda Grant, author of the Man Booker Prize“nominated 2008 novel The Clothes on Their Backs, knows the importance of sartorial style in creating a fictional character. On The Economist's More Intelligent Life website, Grant writes ... Read More »

July 5, 2010 | Filed under: Book news

Transgendered Arab defies death threats and releases memoir

By Steven W. Beattie

A member of the Arab world's transgendered community “ which is forced to operate underground, away from the eyes of the law and conservative society “ has defied the forces of repression and warnings from ... Read More »

July 5, 2010 | Filed under: Book news

Festival to mark 25th anniversary of Larkin’s death

By Steven W. Beattie

The British poet Philip Larkin died on December 2, 1985. To mark the 25th anniversary of his death, the city of Hul, U.K., is holding a 25-week festival called Larkin 25. Besides lectures by Larkin ... Read More »

June 28, 2010 | Filed under: Book news

Lawrence Hill gets some love from Oprah

By Steven W. Beattie

It's summertime, which means barbeques, beach volleyball, and anarchists smashing windows in downtown Toronto. (Okay, that last was just a one-off ... it is devoutly to be hoped.) Another seasonal ritual is the summer reading ... Read More »

June 28, 2010 | Filed under: Book news

Prev 42 434445 46....62 63 Next