NEWS
The week that saw the sad news of the death of Anthony Minghella, also saw the deaths of two prominent writers.
Arthur C. Clark dies at the age of 90.
Tallish, bespectacled, rather big-eared and increasingly thin on top, he tended to be described by his friends as a beaming and highly articulate shambles of a chap, a man to whom convention meant very little. Yet his mind was like a razor…Clarke’s amazing career was possible largely because he was never, in any ordinary sense, quite a part of this world. (Read the rest of The Guardian’s obituary here.)
Hugo Claus dies of euthanasia
The writer of The Sorrow of Belgium, had Alzheimer’s opted for euthanasia. He was 78. More from Associated Press here.
The Orange Longlist announced
From the Guardian:
Anita Amirrezvani The Blood of Flowers
Stella Duffy The Room of Lost Things
Jennifer Egan The Keep
Anne Enright The Gathering
Linda Grant The Clothes on Their Backs
Tessa Hadley The Master Bedroom
Nancy Huston Fault Lines
Gail Jones Sorry
Sadie Jones The Outcast
Lauren Liebenberg The Voluptuous Delights of Peanut Butter and Jam
Charlotte Mendelson When We Were Bad
Deborah Moggach In The Dark
Anita Nair Mistress
Heather O’Neill Lullabies for Little Criminals
Elif Shafak The Bastard of Istanbul
Dalia Sofer The Septembers of Shiraz
Scarlett Thomas The End of Mr Y
Carol Topolski Monster Love
Rose Tremain The Road Home
Patricia Wood Lottery
The list includes, for the first time, a Turkish Writer, Elif Shafak, whose previous book, The Flea Palace, was published by Marion Boyars publishers.
Ms Shafak, 35, had faced charges for comments made by her characters on the mass killings of Armenians in the final years of the Ottoman Empire in 1915.
Turkey rejects Armenia’s claim that the killings constituted “genocide”. (From the BBC)
(Our own bookfox, Lisa, whose Armenian grandmother was a witness to the atrocities and whose first novel Prince Rupert’s Teardrop was partly inspired her experiences, is hoping to bring us more on this story in due course.)
Here is the coverage from the New York Times. And more stories on this issue can be found at The Independent and The Scotsman
NET COMMENT
The Literary Saloon’s overview of coverage on The Orange Prize, excerpt here:
“Reading 120 books I did find myself thinking, ‘Oh god, not another dead baby’,” said Kirsty Lang, as the longlist for the prize was announced. “There were a hell of a lot of abused children and family secrets.”
(We’d have thought ‘Another dead baby !’ might be a great slogan for the longlist, tempting the male readers who might be hoping for some horror-thriller schlock …..)
….And in The Times Dalya Alberge reports that A.S.Byatt denounces ’sexist’ Orange prize:
The novelist A. S. Byatt told The Times that the Orange was a sexist prize, saying that she was so critical of what it stands for that she forbids her publishers to submit her novels for consideration. “Such a prize was never needed,” she said, noting that many works of literature were written by women.”
And there is an excellent overview of the exclusive prize for women debate over at Booklit :
It proudly claims to be “the UK’s only annual book award for fiction written by a woman”. But what relevance does it have today when even by its own admission, as per its FAQ page, it’s set out what it achieved to do (especially with women scooping the Nobel, the Man Booker, and the Costa Best Book in 2007)(more here)
The ultra-cool Artemis Fowl fansite explores just how many published authors start off in fanfiction – (and if you look hard enough you might recognise a couple of recent Vulpes interviewees!)
These aren’t the only fanfiction authors that are well known. Phillipa Ashley and Rosy Thorton both loved the TV show North and South. They both wrote fanfiction avidly, and received many reviews and encouragements from their fans. And they both wrote their own novels, and then got picked up by publishes. Philipa Ashley wrote Decent Exposure, the first in a new series of books called Little Black Dresses. Rosy Thorton published More than Love Letters. Both are romantic comedies, edged with parody.
The popular teen author Meg Cabot wrote fanfiction when she was a girl. She dedicated much of her time to the fantasy author Anne McCaffrey. She later grew up to write successful book series such as The Princess Diaries, and The Mediator. Cabot encourages her fans to write fictions based on her books, and it is one of the most active fandoms today.
SNIPPETS AND FUNNIES
The Onion spoofs the recent screenwriters strike, reporting of the ZERO impact of a Novelist’s Guild of Amerca strike…
LOS ANGELES—The Novelists Guild of America strike, now entering its fourth month, has had no impact on the nation at all, sources reported Tuesday.
…consumers easily adjust to the sudden cessation of any bold new sprawling works of fiction or taut psychological character studies….
So far, sources say, no one has attempted to cross the picket lines, most of which are located in private homes. However, unconfirmed reports indicate that at least one novelist may be breaking the strike by writing under the pseudonym “Richard Bachman.”
“We must, as a people, achieve a resolution to this strike soon,” novelist David Foster Wallace said at a rally Monday at Pomona College in Claremont, CA, where he is a professor. “The thought of this country being deprived of its only source of book-length fiction is enough to give one the howling fantods.”
“I thank you both for coming,” he added. (Read all here.)
New York Public Library in New York goes all out in their Milton exhibit
Just inside the New York Public Library’s Fifth Avenue temple, to the left of the blinking neon “KEROUAC” sign, I found a room with the size and feel of a mausoleum….
…Piped in for mood enhancement is a loop of musical pieces inspired by the poet’s work, from Handel to Haydn, Penderecki and a mercifully brief selection from the song “Better to Reign in Hell” by black-metal band Cradle of Filth. The group’s 2003 CD “Damnation and a Day: From Genesis to Nemesis” is on display….
….“Satan is so pretty,” says a man in his 30s to his companion as they leave a display case. It holds a mezzotint by William Henry Hyde (1858-1925) of a broodingly handsome devil titled “Satan Surveys the Canopie of Night.” (For full article click here.)
IN THE DEN: What the foxes have been blogging about
Emma talks about the torture of writing synopses:
What’s it about?’ is still the question I find hardest to answer, whether it’s for an interested friend or a radio host. And usually I wait for a title to emerge as I write, only sometimes of course it doesn’t. By the time I realise that, the dull working title has stuck and I can’t think of any thing more. (For the same reason my children had many a soft toy who never got further than ‘Bear’ or ‘Rabbit’). (More here)
Whilst Emily talks about that first date with the agent (and remembers why she doesn’t want teenage skin)
You remember how it used to be: you’re fifteen (32) and the boy (literary agent) you’ve fancied for ages (done a redraft for and exchanged some promising emails with) has finally asked you out (invited you into the office)…
…But here you are, the morning before the date, lying in bed wondering what to wear, how to act, which way to tilt your head for that first kiss (we’ll probably just shake hands first off) . . . But hang on, something’s different – you can feel something lightly throbbing on your cheek and as you rush out of bed and stumble to the mirror you see the full horror of what has erupted on your face overnight:
A ZIT.
Whilst Jenn talks writers and parties and, err, who wrote the biggest book here:
I think real writers go to secret parties in each others houses and when they are drunk they put their books on the table and measure them, and say, that’s a million words, that, and it only took me three months. Then someone else says, oh, mine’s fifteen thousand words but it took me all of my life including my puberty years, and no-one knows who is the hardest.
Thanks to my vulpine colleagues for collecting together all the links. As always, views and comments are very welcome!
Thanks for the plug there, Rosy
Interesting book news. Exciting to see the Orange list out. I want all of those titles!!
Just added Booklit’s piece on the Orange Prize. Is there a need now for an exclusive women’s prize now that women are the winners of most of the major prizes?
What does everyone think?
While the argument is there that it’s Orange Broadband’s money and they can jolly well do what they like with it, I can’t help feel that the relevance of the award is fading, especially when it was set up to give women a shop window in an industry that passed over them. Now, over a decade later, the climate has changed and the award has achieved its goal. Ultimately it’s up to Orange as to whether they still find it viable and annual outcries over it ensure that people are, at the very least, still talking about it.
The problem, now, is that the last couple of years have provided negative comments from the chair of the judges. Muriel Gray in 2007 said something along the lines of how boring womens’ fiction was because the majority were writing domestic dramas. This year, Kirsty Lang, has announced that women are preoccupied with misery memoirs. What will next years crop produce? Negative issues over shopping obsessions?
What the judges seem to decry is that there’s rarely anything interesting being put out. It’s a shame because there are women out there producing serious works of literature that are also well-written (based on the reviews, Doris Lessings The Cleft excepted) but they ensure they aren’t put forward for the prize because they recognise it as a form of discrimination.
Personally, I don’t find the prize all that interesting. Women are certainly not underrepresented in the UK publishing industry these days. If there’s anywhere that they are it’s in fiction translated to English. It would be nice to see the prize open up its tight criteria to works of fiction by women that have been translated into English within the eligible dates. It’s a prize for women worldwide, but why exclude women who don’t write in English, when the effort by a translator has been made to make them available?
Whilst I can see your point, logically, and whilst the judges are forever bemoaning the entries as you say…I can’t help but look at that list and think what an interesting selection it looks and how there is something still interesting and relevant – for me – about a list representing women’s experiences.
You know, I was thinking about all you were saying on your post and thinking – yes but…the thing is – for me – that prizes in and of themselves perhaps aren’t that interesting. However a list that comprises a selection like this of women’s experiences and povs and writing from across the world – and suddenly it seems so much more so.
Perhaps you are right that the original reason for the Orange is no longer relevant, but I think more than ever we do need exposure to women’s experience here and abroad. When people say we no longer need feminism, they seem to forget the situation of many women all over the world.
I think this prize is actually more interesting for the theme rather than less so. I wonder about prizes that are just about “best” or even what that actually means….
“It would be nice to see the prize open up its tight criteria to works
of fiction by women that have been translated into English within the
eligible dates. It’s a prize for women worldwide, but why exclude women
who don’t write in English, when the effort by a translator has been
made to make them available?”
Oh yes, I think I agree here. Why don’t they, I wonder?
As a feminist, I heartily applaud anything that brings a wider audience to women writers. More power to them!
The humor in this weeks round-up was much appreciated after all of the sad passings of the recent days. I especially liked the Novelists Strike, the book parties and date with the literary agent. They were like chocolate covered marshmallow eggs.