A Million Little Refunds
James Frey, the author who admitted making up portions of his best-selling memoir, “A Million Little Pieces,” and his publisher, Random House, have agreed in principle on a settlement with readers who filed lawsuits claiming they had been defrauded.
Neither Mr. Frey nor Random House are admitting any wrongdoing, but consumers who bought the book on or before Jan. 26 — when both the publisher and author released statements acknowledging that Mr. Frey had altered certain facts — will be eligible for a full refund, said a person familiar with the negotiations, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the settlement still has to be approved by a judge.
The NYTimes has more.
Posted by Giles, Thursday, September 7, 2006, at 9:16 PM.
Posted to Book people | Books | Ethics | Publishing
"They Blog"
Kathy writes:
I’m building a blog that’s going to be a simple “Q&A with bloggers”. It’s called They Blog. I feel there are a lot of great blogs out there and I think a lot of readers (and bloggers) out there want to know the writers behind the blogs. I’d like to start with some of my personal favorites and I really hope you’ll take part!
Absolutely! Delighted — it’s a great idea — and more than a little flattered. Thank you.
Read Foreword’s Q&A here.
Posted by Giles, Friday, September 1, 2006, at 12:49 AM.
Posted to Book and design blogs | Book people | Books, design, art | Personal
Interview with Penguin's Paul Buckley
…over at Hear, Hear:
No matter what you’re selling - a product, an idea or a skill - the presentation is just as important as the thing itself. Your customers will only do so much research (if at all) when purchasing your product, and when presented with similar choices, they will choose the one they feel most comfortable with. And that decision is most likely based on the packaging. Nothing illustrates this better than the experience of shopping for new books: before we even bother to read the description on the back of a book we have never heard of, we need to first notice the book and have enough desire to pick it up. And that decision is based on the book’s cover.
In this interview, Hear, Hear chats with an expert in book cover design - Paul Buckley, a veteran art director of one of the largest book publishers in the world, Penguin Group.
The interview will be published in two installments; the first went up yesterday (thanks for letting me know, Shawn!), while the next will be next Friday.
Some great stuff here, too, including a bunch of click-for-larger covers to get in to.… Hear, hear — nicely done!
Posted by Giles, Thursday, July 13, 2006, at 9:39 AM.
Posted to Book and design blogs | Book design | Book people | Books | Business | Design | Publishing | Type and typography
Artist I'd Like to Work with Soon
Meet Els Overkleeft, a photographer and graphic designer from my old stomping grounds of Maine:
In addition to wonderful photos like the one above, Els uses a combination of photos and overlays on some of her work that’s just beautiful — check out many more examples at her web site. Check out the book she’s put together, too.
I especially enjoyed seeing some of the places I’ve known well in the past — it’s been too long since I’ve been back to Maine. Thank you, Els, for the mini-vacation down memory lane.
Posted by Giles, Monday, July 3, 2006, at 12:18 PM.
Posted to Art | Book cover photography | Book design | Book people | Books | Design | Photography
'Nuther Design Observer Must-Read
We get the word “koan” from Zen Buddhism, where in Japanese it translates literally as “a matter for public thought,” sort of an open-source philosophy for ancient times. Koans often demonstrated the inability of logical reasoning to produce enlightened thought, and, as a trained lawyer and insurance clerk throughout his life, no one knew the deadening effects of logic better than Franz Kafka. Writing was his escape, his meditation, and, fittingly, Meditation was the title of his first published work, released in 1913. While all 18 koans inside are very much worth enjoying, it’s the shortest of them all — the penultimate “Die Baüme,” or “The Trees” — that I’d like to read as a meditation on typography.
Read the rest. Nice article, Rob Giampietro.
(Check out Coudal’s Field-tested books, too, courtesy of DO’s Observed column. What a great idea!)
Posted by Giles, Wednesday, June 21, 2006, at 11:49 AM.
Posted to Book people | Books | Type and typography | Writing
Artists I Love Tonight
Craig Hamilton. I’ve been fortunate to work together with and, more importantly, learn from this amazing comic arts genius (Aquaman is among the many characters he’s worked on), and can’t resist the temptation to post his take on a Peter Pan cover:
It’s for sale, too; alas, my art budget at the moment is about equal to my font budget — which is to say, zero. Good news for someone out there, though.…
Meanwhile, there’s a comment on that page from Michael Bair. Who’s responsible for this:
Oooooooo. In layout, even! Love. Want a big-scale print of that, but it’s not for sale. Just as well.
Click on either illustration for a larger version, more information, and samples from both artists.
Next up on the comic arts front: a history. Too much I don’t know about an area of design with pretty astonishing depth.
Need more time to feed these obsessions. The curse of the curious, someone once told me. I’m sure I’m cursed daily on all sorts of fronts, so adding another to the list doesn’t seem so bad.…
Posted by Giles, Thursday, June 15, 2006, at 12:40 AM.
Posted to Art | Book design | Book people | Books | Books, design, art | Personal
BEA Podcasts Available
If you weren’t able to attend BookExpo America 2006 in Washington DC this year, we now have a valuable FREE service from the show — Podcasts from BEA.
We have recorded approximately 24 of the favorite events and sessions and will release them as podcasts over the next couple of months.
Plus, our roving reporter has captured some special interviews in his quest to find out “What’s the Buzz” at BEA this year.
Please visit www.bookexpocast.com where you can subscribe to our podcast by email, iTunes or other popular podcast software. We also have a complete list of our scheduled podcast events under “Upcoming Podcasts” on the site.
I’ve spoken with a couple of people who went to BEA this year; both said it was “underwhelming” and “not as busy as usual.” Anyone else want to venture an opinion?
Posted by Giles, Tuesday, June 6, 2006, at 12:40 PM.
Posted to Book design | Book people | Book sellers | Books | Books, design, art | Business | Jobs | Publishing
More on Richard Eckersley
…at the Design Observer:
That legacy is enormous. His books and jackets have been annually included as selections in the annual Association of American University Press competition, as well as frequently included in the AIGA “50 Books” competition, and among them are many that were instantly hailed as masterpieces of the publishing arts: Karl Bodmer’s America and The Journals of Lewis and Clark, of course, but also Jacques Derrida’s Glas and Cinders, Avital Ronell’s The Telephone Book: Technology, Schizophrenia, Electric Speech, Warren Motte’s Small Worlds, a steady stream of translations of contemporary French writers (including books by Marcel Benabou, Marguerite Duras, Jean Echenoz, Maurice Blanchot and Gérard Genette), and many, many more.
The article includes links, but in case you’re busy and need to get back to it, here’s a taste — also called out by Joseph in response to the original post — of Glas:
Thank you for the link, William. Been too behind the curve to surf and am sure folks appreciate the follow-up.
Posted by Giles, Tuesday, April 25, 2006, at 6:37 PM.
Posted to Art | Book design | Book people | Computers | Type and typography
RIP, Richard Eckersley
UnBeige notes:
Eckersley was born into a family of graphic designers in England and worked as a junior at Lund Humphries, which published the now-cult-classic Typographica magazine. He was in the US only one year before he took a job at the University of Nebraska, where he had lived since 1981. He focused on innovative book design, and was most famous for his typographic tricks in The Telephone Book, the first book he designed on a computer.
Stephen Heller wrote a nice piece for the NYTimes that also includes a wonderful cover. Here’s a larger version:
Rest in peace, sir. Your work will continue to be treasured.
Posted by Giles, Friday, April 21, 2006, at 12:00 PM.
Posted to Art | Book design | Book people | Computers | Technology | Type and typography
Cover Design Competition
Mathias writes:
I am in the process of finishing my phd thesis and it goes to the presses in the middle of May (defence in September). Our institution allows the writers to design the book covers - with rather sad results.
So to try to improve on this situation I want to organise a design competition for the cover of my thesis.
I have put more information online here.
To get more contributions I have decided to publicise the competition by mailing (spamming?) some of the blogs I read and to see if this spreads.
To be honest, I wasn’t going to post this; there have been some pretty juicy conversations around here centering around design competitions and whether they’re a Good Thing™, and thought by perhaps not giving it attention, it might just quietly go away.
However, BoingBoing has since mentioned it, generating a discussion on the announcement page that’s, well, familiar.
Interested in the competition? Want to give him a piece of your mind, as a book design professional? Enjoy.…
Posted by Giles, Thursday, April 13, 2006, at 5:13 PM.
Posted to Book design | Book people | Book prizes | Ethics
Covered Forever: Germano Facetti
From the UK’s Guardian:
Germano Facetti - who died, aged 77, at the weekend - probably wouldn’t have liked the idea much, but he was the master of branding long before the word entered the popular consciousness. Facetti’s book covers for Penguin, where he was art director from 1961 to 1972, gave an extraordinary unity and unmatched visual impact to a publisher already regarded by readers as a vital part of British cultural life.
One of Mr. Facetti’s covers caught my eye (pun intended…;) early in my book design career:
Thoughtfully included in their extensive gallery of book he’d designed. Definitely worth a moment’s tribute.
Posted by Giles, Thursday, April 13, 2006, at 5:01 PM.
Posted to Art | Book design | Book people | Personal | Publishing | Type and typography
Bookslut: Kidd Awkward, Indifferent
But somehow the book winds up with something resembling a positive review:
This awkwardly designed, slippery slab of a book, with a half-split cover and the wingspan of a raven, is a physical ordeal to hold and to read. But it’s a rewarding ordeal. Containing nearly 400 pages of book jacket designs by Chip Kidd, one of the pre-eminent designers of our time, Chip Kidd: Book One is an exhilarating chronicle of how one creative mind can transform a moribund art form merely by taking a slightly sidewise approach to its hidebound conventions.
[…] Kidd’s secret? One of them, at least, is that, as he relates in the accompanying copy, he actually reads the books he’s assigned, from beginning to end; the reason he’s not irritatingly literal is that he’s gratifyingly literate, as the encomiums from some of “his” authors included in this book would indicate. Even John Updike himself contributes a fine introductory essay. It’s too bad, then, that the rest of the book is indifferently written (by Kidd himself) and horribly copy-edited — “loathe” instead of “loath,” “it’s” instead of “its,” “premiere” instead of “premier,” and “who’s” instead of “whose,” to cite just four depressing examples. But if you can look past that and, ironically, this book’s own uncomfortable layout, Book One is a treasury of brilliant book design.
Posted by Giles, Thursday, April 6, 2006, at 12:00 PM.
Posted to Book and design blogs | Book design | Book people | Books | Books, design, art | Writing
Cartoon Modern: Final Cover
Todd wrote tonight, asking:
My memory fails me, didn’t you blog about this a while back? …[I]t would be worth posting an update, the cover is looking great.
Yes, I did — and couldn’t agree more, it is looking great:
There are a great many comments at the introduction page, but let me add a few: I like the font choices, love the subtitle and author treatment on the front, like the little details like the handling of the bar code and publisher logo on the full version, and like the smaller cartoons. Only the cityscape on the back stands out as being “too different” for me, but I’m not an expert on the style (and the author says it fits).
Cover design by Brent McFadden. Nicely done, folks!
Posted by Giles, Monday, March 27, 2006, at 8:12 PM.
Posted to Book and design blogs | Book design | Book people | Publishing
Anybody in Vancouver?
Here’s an event if you are:
Glenn Goluska trains three decades of experience on his upcoming lecture Lead, Wood, and Laser: 30 Years of the Book, Design & Typography. Cosponsored by the Alcuin Society and host venue the Vancouver Museum, this 7 p.m. event next Thursday (March 30) should touch on Goluska’s stints at groundbreaking Toronto publisher Coach House Press, at the Canadian Centre for Architecture, where he designed exhibition catalogues and posters, and at Imprimerie Dromadaire, which Goluska has run off and on since 1975. As if that weren’t enough, The Elements of Typographic Style guru Robert Bringhurst introduces. To reserve, call 604-734-7368.
Posted by Giles, Thursday, March 23, 2006, at 4:28 PM.
Posted to Book design | Book people | Books, design, art | Publishing | Type and typography
Photographs I Love Tonight
Can’t let Foreword’s third birthday weekend pass without a post on one of our newer areas of emphasis: photography. Especially the intersection of photography and book covers.
Here’s one I’d love to use on a cover:
From the always-wonderful heavenuphere, shooting at an architecture exhibit in Rotterdam.
She’s also a librarian, and I covet her garden, too. Multitalented!
Posted by Giles, Sunday, March 19, 2006, at 8:37 PM.
Posted to Book cover photography | Book people | Flickr | Libraries | Photography
The Search's Copyright: A Good Discussion
Tom Evslin, author of hackoff.com, mentioned not too long ago, has a good conversation with John Battelle, author of The Search — which is about Google et al — regarding the copyright warning in his book:
This warning seems directly aimed at Google Book Search, a project which intends to scan the collections of some of the world’s great libraries and make them searchable online. Now you can find similar language on the copyright page of lots of books but John Battelle is a known strong supporter of the value of having almost everything searchable as anyone who reads either his book or his blog knows.
So I emailed John and asked him about the apparent contradiction. He said the decision was the publisher’s (Penguin) decision to make but “I totally disagree with it.” Of course, at the time he signed his contract with Penguin, no one knew that this issue would exist. He readily agreed to talk to me it.
Tom also notes that hackoff.com has been selected for the short-list of titles being considered in the fiction category for the Lulu Blooker Prize. Congrats.
Posted by Giles, Thursday, March 9, 2006, at 1:18 PM.
Posted to Book and design blogs | Book people | Book prizes | Books | Business | Computers | Ethics | Freedoms and rights | Libraries | Public domain | Publishing | Technology
Theme of the London Book Fair
…was “what technology can do,” says the New York Times.
Margaret Atwood’s robotic arm seems especially amusing.
Posted by Giles, Wednesday, March 8, 2006, at 11:35 AM.
Posted to Book people | Book sellers | Books | Business | Publishing | Technology
Software Conflict 2.0
Closed out Software Conflict 2.0 for new publisher developer.* Books — that’s pronounced “developer-dot-star,” by the way — and wanted to thank owners Dan and Gayle for selecting this title. It’s rare that I enjoy the text being formatted into book form as much as I did here; Robert Glass is a talented and insightful essayist.
As I mentioned when the cover was posted, it’s an interesting size, too: 7.5 x 9.25. Chosen as a nod to the myriad of software “how-to” titles out there, it makes for a comfortable interior page:
Software Conflict 2.0. Available soon.
Posted by Giles, Wednesday, March 8, 2006, at 10:33 AM.
Posted to Book design | Book people | Computers | Personal | Publishing | Technology | Type and typography | Whatever
Book Design and the Spirit of Magritte
Karl Baden writes:
The book exhibition La Culture des Idées: Book design and the spirit of Magritte is currently on display through March 19, 2006, in the atrium of Bapst Art Library, on the campus of Boston College.
These are not Magrittes; the book covers in this exhibition are inspired by him, and appropriate his imagery. If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, Magritte might be said to be one of the most flattered of artists. The skeptical Walloon undoubtedly would have had something to say on this topic, however.
René Magritte (1898-1967) was the most important Belgian Surrealist; he transcends his national origins, and has become an artist of the world. His art was dedicated to the freedom of thought, and continues to have broad appeal to artists and members of the public who delight in the aesthetics of surprise. At the conclusion of his 1928 novel of mad love, Nadja, André Breton defined the essential quality of Surrealist art as “convulsive beauty” – “Beauty will be convulsive, or it will not be at all.”
The exhibition is free and open to the public — if you’re in or near Boston, enjoy!
Thanks, Karl.
Posted by Giles, Wednesday, February 15, 2006, at 3:55 PM.
Posted to Book design | Book people | Book prizes | Books, design, art | Photography | Publishing
"Creative Nonfiction"
Had an interesting conversation with someone yesterday about creative nonfiction, a category of literature I didn’t even know about. We were discussing it because of this:
The person I was speaking with specifially mentioned that Oprah had stood behind it, but I noticed in this morning’s NYTimes that she “rebuked” the author and kicked him out of the book club. Heh.
And the cover? Well, let’s say I didn’t need the Times to tell me someone needed a rebuke…! “The sticker’s an improvement,” I can hear someone saying. Newsflash: not for long.
A customer on Amazon left an image of this title as an alternate — and I like the cover:
It asks more questions. (A million more? Sorry. Had to go there.) Not perfect, certainly, but gets you thinking about what’s inside — an excellent measure of “success” in my book.
We have this second cover to think about because someone left a comment on Amazon. Been a good trend here recently, too. Thanks.
Posted by Giles, Friday, January 27, 2006, at 10:40 AM.
Posted to Art | Book design | Book people | Book prizes | Books | Books, design, art | Ethics | Freedoms and rights | Writing
Poster, V2
Okay, here you go:
Past even my usual four-something posts; I’ll try to be brief. But I thought you’d appreciate some details.
Ironically, the same day I was on a soapbox about culture, the poster was rejected — for a lack of cultural understanding.
The three artists talking about their work are from India and the Caribbean, areas of the world culturally sensitive to being grouped (generally) with the African culture the mask represented.
Monica and I discussed it a little, and her take — she chose the mask photo, by the way — was that the mask was a “diverse take on comedy/tragedy.” Worked for me at the time, but both Dr. Young-Zook and the “esteemed designer” learned a lesson. I said in one of the comment threads that I’m glad it’s not easy, because it’s more interesting. You also learn more. Case in point.
So, Monica wanted to go back to the panel of fellow doctors, to coin a phrase, with some photo options. I sent her to iStock, where she found a few good potential photos — but I really didn’t want to see something that I’d liked that much go to an iStock photo. I wanted one of my photographs. Thankfully, I knew I had this. I’d just taken it (December 26th, as part of the Ringling Museum photo series that My Life is from) and knew as soon as I’d seen it that I wanted to use it for something.
Non-offensive, it fits both India and the Caribbean — the palm shadow works especially well, I think — but needed, well, work. Five hours later, here we are.
Am I going out on a limb, taking this time for something that could — might very likely be — rejected again? Maybe. But the “panel” will get this developed poster and the two iStock photos undeveloped. Hoping it’s enough to nudge them to using a design based on my photograph, and I enjoyed the exercise. It was worth the time.
And damned if I don’t like it just as much as the first one, for a ton of very different reasons. What do you think? Leave a comment.
Note: In the interests of full disclosure, I wanted everyone to know that I posted a (very) slightly tweaked version Saturday evening.
Posted by Giles, Saturday, January 21, 2006, at 5:21 AM.
Posted to Art | Book people | Books | Books, design, art | Design | Flickr | Personal | Photography | Type and typography
Metropolis Mag
…says, in its review of Chip Kidd’s new book,
A good cover turns a sheaf of paper into an object of desire.
Best one-sentence book design description I might have ever read. Some good insights from Chip, too:
Kidd himself confirms the complexity of the process. When asked how long it takes him to design a cover, Kidd replies: “Anywhere from ten minutes to six months. It’s very, very hard to articulate. Sometimes it goes really quickly, sometimes it drags on and on.”
More of the excellent Reading Under the Covers here.
Posted by Giles, Wednesday, December 14, 2005, at 10:45 AM.
Posted to Book design | Book people | Books, design, art
Congrats, Tim!
Timeless Toys, formerly known as The Playmakers, on USA Today’s front page yesterday:
Nicely done, Tim Walsh.
Posted by Giles, Friday, December 2, 2005, at 5:04 AM.
Posted to Book people | Book prizes | Book sellers | Books | Books, design, art | Business
Someone Comes to Town
Congratulations Cory Doctorow!
You can download the book for free (it’s been released under a Creative Commons license) or you can purchase it here.
Posted by , Monday, June 20, 2005, at 9:48 AM.
Posted to Book people
Guy(s on) Davenport
Bill Drenttel writes,
There is a new, long post at Design Observer about Guy Davenport. I think this might be of interest to you for Foreword.
Agreed. In fact, I’d seen a piece at Bookforum — interestingly, by the guy who wrote this — and had meant to blog on it, but it got lost in the fray that is my life recently. (“Sure, moving and all that will go smoothly.…”) Thanks for the reminder, Bill.
Posted by Giles, Friday, May 27, 2005, at 1:56 PM.
Posted to Book people
Get Out the TiVo!
A reader says:
[B]ook designer par excellence Chip Kidd has a cameo as himself on ABC’s Feb. 16 episode of “One Life to Live”.
Now that’s interesting. Once Life to Live? A book designer? As himself? On a soap opera? Must see TV.
Thanks for the heads up!
Posted by Giles, Tuesday, February 1, 2005, at 9:45 AM.
Posted to Book people
Arthur C. Clarke: I'm ok.
Boing Boing is reporting that sci-fi writer Arthur C. Clarke is ok after yesterday’s tsunami in Sri Lanka.
Thank you for your concern about my safety in the wake of Sundays devastating tidal wave.
I am enormously relieved that my family and household have escaped the ravages of the sea that suddenly invaded most parts of coastal Sri Lanka, leaving a trail of destruction.
Posted by , Monday, December 27, 2004, at 2:36 PM.
Posted to Book people
Ted Hughes hit on Erica Jong in 1971
Thanks to Beatrice for noting this scandalous behavior as reported in the New York Times.
He tried it on me full force when we briefly met in 1971 after his publication-day reading of ”Crow.” He was a born seducer and only my terror of Sylvia’s ghost kept me from being seduced.
Posted by , Wednesday, December 15, 2004, at 3:56 PM.
Posted to Book people
Jessamyn West
is giving writers and publishers valuable tips how to market their books to libraries:
Don’t generically email us your press release and a link to your Amazon.com online store. We have distributors that we purchase the bulk of our books through, and we would prefer to go through them if we can. It takes extra effort to order from smaller presses and publishers, let us know why that effort is worthwhile.
Don’t tell us that the book is just right for our patrons if you know nothing about the community we serve. If you have local knowledge, please include it.
Do feel free to send us an inquiry as well as some information about the book and — most importantly — reviews that have appeared in print or online; the larger or more local the review the better.
More good tips at Librarian.net.
Posted by , Friday, July 23, 2004, at 8:51 PM.
Posted to Book people
Chip Kidd Pulls a Charles Dickens
Via an E-mail from the book designer extraordinaire:
As unlikely as it sounds, Im serializing a part of my next novel, The Learners, on USA Todays website as part of their Open Book program. Therell be a new installment every Thursday, starting today, for the next seven weeks.
Its a feverish little story about some of my favorite concerns: advertising, design, typography, torture, and murder (thats redundant, I know). The actual book wont be out for years, but in the meantime you can get a sampling of my Milgram fixation.
Congratulations, Chip!
Posted by , Thursday, July 22, 2004, at 6:06 PM.
Posted to Book people
No one told me
that Paula Danziger died. Yuck.
Posted by , Sunday, July 18, 2004, at 6:33 AM.
Posted to Book people
Literary HauntsAndalusia
Amy Welborn has some lovely thoughts about her recent trip to visit Flannery O’Connor’s Andalusia in Milledgeville, Georgia.
We went to the cemetery a few blocks away where Flannery is buried (and now her mother, too). At the time, there were absolutely no markers or signs pointing to her grave. We searched and searched, and finally ended up at the caretaker’s shed, and were invited into a pickup truck and driven to the spot. Another man stood there. He looked up as we approached and said, “They still don’t want to claim her, do they?”
Posted by , Thursday, July 15, 2004, at 7:33 PM.
Posted to Book people
In Case You Haven't Heard
Wil Wheaton’s new book is now available.
Would anyone like to review it for Foreword?
Posted by , Friday, July 9, 2004, at 5:45 PM.
Posted to Book people
Amy Welborn on the Christian Booksellers' Association 2004 Exhibit
Darn. No Kirk Cameron or Kathie Lee Gifford sightings this year.
Did any Foreword readers attend?
Posted by , Tuesday, July 6, 2004, at 11:29 AM.
Posted to Book people
Amy Welborn on Catholic publishing and book selling
This is very interesting.
Part 1
Part 2
And a few more thoughts
Posted by , Wednesday, June 9, 2004, at 11:04 AM.
Posted to Book people
No dignity
Disappointly, the top selling book in the UK this week is Being Jordan by Katie “Jordan” Price. In this country she’s mainly known as Jordan and is politely called a “glamour model” (read: goes topless for the highest bidding daily tabloid). She’s in demand because she has enormous faux breasts and I’m stunned that’s enough to put her autobiography at the top. Please Lynne Truss, do something newsworthy to get Eats, Shoots & Leaves back in the number one seller spot.
Posted by , Sunday, June 6, 2004, at 7:07 AM.
Posted to Book people
Bloggers Going to BEA
Beatrice
Amy Welborn
The Elegant Variation
Walking the Literary Line
Laura Llew
Who else am I missing?
Posted by , Tuesday, June 1, 2004, at 7:44 PM.
Posted to Book people
Melanie Craft
This is soooo last week but Beatrice.com highlighted a moving San Francisco Chronicle story titled A Day in the Life of . . . Melanie Craft that should not go unnoticed.
Writer Carolyne Zinko takes a hard look at the dog-eat-dog world of a struggling author Melanie Craft whom some have called a “21st-century Jane Austen.” Photographer Christina Koci Hernandez delivers haunting photographs to accompany Zinko’s article.
1998’s A Hard-Hearted Man is just one of the novels that has propelled her acceptance into the hallowed writing circles of such literary magazines as The New Yorker, Granta, and Paris Review.
Posted by , Friday, April 2, 2004, at 3:55 PM.
Posted to Book people
Spalding Gray
Requiem aeternam dona ei, Domine, et lux perpetua luceat ei. Requiescat in pace. Amen.
Mr. Gray has been found. Pray for him, his wife, and children.
Posted by , Monday, March 8, 2004, at 4:25 PM.
Posted to Book people
Pub Weekly looking for freelance writers
Now, this would be fun!
PW Daily is looking for a freelance writer to handle the research, writing and formatting of some of our daily and weekly listings, including Authors on the Air, Next Week on Book TV, Book Hooks and bestseller lists.
The writer must be able to deliver the aforementioned items prior to 12 Noon EST each day, Monday through Friday. He or she should be fast, accurate, reliable—and, well, reliable. Attention to detail is highly important.
via Jay at AnthemBooks.com
Posted by , Tuesday, February 10, 2004, at 7:31 AM.
Posted to Book people
Congratulations Cory Doctorow
Congrats to Cory Doctorow of Boing Boing in the release of his latest title: Eastern Standard Tribe.
You can download the book for free here or buy it here.
Posted by , Thursday, February 5, 2004, at 7:32 AM.
Posted to Book people
More on Spalding Gray
Unfortunately, Spalding Gray still has not been found. Here’s a nice look at the writer’s life from yesterday’s Chicago Tribune.
Gray’s books include Swimming to Cambodia, Monster in a Box, and Morning, Noon and Night.