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Archive for the ‘Places to Read New Fiction’ Category

Independent booksellers across the country have formed an alliance. On October 1st, with backing from the Guardian newspaper, they are launching their own national loyalty card scheme. Participating bookshops – 114 in total – can be found on the Love Your Indie website.

The other news is that independent booksellers in London have produced a new map showing the location of  87 independent bookshops across the city, including shops selling new, antiquarian, specialist and second-hand titles. The map features a text work from the artist David Batchelor and is available,  free, in bookshops and galleries.  Among the bookshops which have donated money to fund its publication are Housman’s Bookshop in Kings Cross, Woolfson and Tay in Bermondsey and the Atlantis Bookshop in Bloomsbury.

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The Bookseller reports that publishers Gollancz  have agreed a five-figure deal for two books with self-published author Michael J Ward. The books are part of a series called ‘Destiny Quest’ and have similarities with interactive game book series from the 1980s where the reader controls the path of the story by rolling a dice or choosing the next actions of a character. Ward self-published the first book in the series, The Legion of Shadow, in February, and it has sold more than 1,800 copies, according to the publisher. Gollancz will republish in May 2012 as a £14.99 trade paperback, which will include the original self-published version, extra material and a new mini-adventure. Book two in the series, The Heart of Fire, will follow in November 2012. Gollancz is an imprint of the Orion Publishing group.

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The Short Story is a new website designed to showcase the best short stories from around the world. They’re currently running an open submission competition to find the best story of 2011. Three cash prizes will be awarded. The deadline is Sept 15.

More info on how to submit work from The Short Story website.

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 presents Shorelines: Literature Festival of the Sea, a small, intelligent and thought-provoking festival, celebrating  great writing on the theme of the sea. Curated by Lemn Sissay and Rachel Lichtenstein, this three-day event takes place over the weekend 15-17 July at Solomon Monk’s Pump House in Southend, Essex.

Highlights include readings by contemporary cult British authors Iain Sinclair, Jay Griffiths and Robert Macfarlane; a special production of The Rime of the Ancient Mariner performed by Lemn Sissay; Sri Lankan born artist and writer Roma Tearne; Chinese poet Yang Lian; prize-winning Icelandic author Sjon; American artist Thomas Joshua Cooper; an open air production of The Tempest; and an award winning adaptation of Hemingway’s world renowned novella The Old Man and the Sea by Magpie Blue Productions.

Download the full Shorelines programme HERE. For more info and tickets go to:  www.metalculture.com

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The annual Worlds Literature Festival takes place in Norwich from 20th-24th June this year, with a variety of public events and speakers including Joseph O’Connor, John Boyne, A.S. Byatt, Hisham Matar and many more.

Tuesday’s Summer Read event features a personal favourite of mine. Katie Kitamura (pictured) will be reading from her flawless debut novel about a prizefighter The Longshot (6pm, Norfolk and Norwich Millennium Library). As it says on the back of the book, ‘Hemingway’s returned to life – and this time, he’s a woman’ (Tom McCarthy).

Click here for information on the participants of Worlds Literature Festival 2011.

The Bookseller reports that, the success of this year’s Save Our Libraries Day – with 120 events held across the country to demonstrate support for local libraries threatened with cuts and closures – has led to calls for an annual National Libraries Day. The plan has the backing of a wide range of organisations including the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals, Campaign for the Book, the Crime Writers Association, the Publishers Association and The Bookseller.

In her acceptance speech on Monday (6th June), the new Children’s Laureate Julia Donaldson (pictured)  signalled her intention to be an advocate for the public library service during her two years in the role, saying: “I care very much about libraries and I’m looking for more opportunities to speak out against the cuts and closures I see as so damaging to our children’s future.” She has since announced she plans to take a tour of libraries across the UK.

Congratulations to Arts Council funded independent publishers Route Online. One of their authors, Michael Nath, has been shortlisted for the prestigious James Tait Black Memorial Prize for his novel La Rochelle.  The winner of the prize – chosen by the Professor of English Literature at Edinburgh University, assisted by PhD students – will be announced at this year’s Edinburgh International Book Festival in August.

Established in 1919, the James Tait Black Prize is Britain’s oldest literary award. Two prizes are awarded each year, one for fiction, one for biography. Previous winners in the novel category include E M Forster, Siegfried Sassoon, Aldous Huxley, D H Lawrence, Evelyn Waugh, Muriel Spark, Iris Murdoch, Beryl Bainbridge, Angela Carter, John le Carré and Bruce Chatwin.

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