Literary News

Ways With Words - Dartington Hall
July 11 - 20
Dartington Hall, Devon, England

Set in medieval buildings, the Dartington Hall Ways With Words festival features over 100 events. Featured authors include Kate Mosse, Martin Bell, Penelope Lively, Henry Hemming and Gervaise Phinn.

John Clare Festival
July 11 - 13
Peterborough, England

Fans of poet John Clare will want to take note of this one. Festival events include exhibitions, poetry prizes, tours and public readings.

Liverpool Arabic Arts Festival
July 12 - 24
Liverpool, England

The Arabic community is one of the oldest ethnic minority communities in the UK. The Liverpool Arabic Arts Festival showcases Arabic culture, including theatre, film, music, dance and - of course - literature. The literary events of the festival include a Palestinian poetry reading, an introduction to modern Arabic literature and discussions with Arabic writers.

I unfortunately overlooked this festival in my last post about literary festivals across Canada that are happening in July. To make it easier, I’ll just mention it in a new post.

From July 17th to 20th, the Saskatchewan Festival of Words features the theme “Character Matters.” Speakers include 2007 Giller Prize winner Elizabeth Hay, Globe and Mail book editor Martin Levin, along with authors such as Frances Itani, Nalo Hopkinson, Wayne Grady, Jacqueline Baker and Ken Babstock, among others.

Festival events include workshops (for both adults and kids), films, panel discussions, interviews and live music.

The Saskatchewan Festival of Words is held in Moose Jaw.

Well, I’m back from my vacation (honeymoon, specifically), and ready with a list of upcoming literary festivals to enjoy in Canada next month.

The Scream Literary Festival
July 3 - 14
Toronto, ON

The Scream Literary Festival features 12 days of events around downtown Toronto. Priscila Uppal, Emily Schultz, Sonja Ahlers, derek beaulieu and Natalie Zina Walschots are some of the authors taking part in the readings, performances and panel discussions.

Denman Island Readers and Writers Festival
July 17 - 20
Denman Island, BC

Now in its sixth year, this festival lineup features bill bissett, Jen Sookfong Lee, Jack Hodgins, Maggie de Vrees and other local and visiting writers. Readings, panel discussions and workshops are on offer as well.

Lakefield Literary Festival
July 18 - 20
Lakefield, ON
According to its website, the festival is “a celebration of the rich literary heritage of Lakefield and the surrounding area.” Held on the weekend closest to Margaret Laurence’s birthday, past participants include Michael Ondaatje, Anne-Marie MacDonald and Jane Urquhart. This year’s lineup includes Diane Schoemperlen, James Bartleman and Nora Foster Stovel, among others. Margaret Laurence fans will take particular interest in this festival!

Hello everyone. I’m going to be out of town for about a week with no internet access, so this blog will be pretty quiet for a while. Check out my today.com blogroll page for some great blogs to read in the meantime!

My parents will be taking care of my plants when I’m gone - don’t worry!

A Bible with a remarkable typographical error has found its way back home.

The Bible in question, which has the word “vinegar” in place of “vineyard” in the Gospel of Luke, was printed in 1717. It was one of only three printed with this typo. It was brought to Lunenburg, Nova Scotia, and bought by a resident named Michael Francklin. Besides using his Bible for obvious reasons, Francklin wrote out his family tree. This Bible sheds light on the early history of Lunenburg and of Nova Scotia.

A librarian at an English college eventually came to own it, sold it to Nova Scotia for $5,000, much less than this one-of-a-kind Bible is probably worth.

In addition, the great-, great-, great-, great-, great-, great-, great-grandson of the Bible’s printer, John Baskett, actually lives in Lunenburg himself.

Source & image:
CBC

Britain could soon see its first female Poet Laureate - or, it could not, if some of the forerunners have anything to say about it.

In May, the Ledbury Poetry Festival director Chloe Garner urged the Queen of England to appoint a female Poet Laureate, something that would be a historical first. However, many of the women who are in the running for the position don’t want it.

The arguments against becoming the Poet Laureate seem compelling. At a mere £5,000 a year plus 630 bottles of Spanish sherry, many poets feel that the compensation does not justify the amount of work undertaken in such a high-profile position. Other poets worry about their creativity being stifled or their private lives becoming compromised.

According to an article in the Independent, the poet Wendy Cope finds the position of Poet Laureate “an archaic post and means nothing. It’s simply not important.”

What do you think? Is there still value in the post of Poet Laureate?

Source:
The Independent

If you have a tattoo, chances are you thought long and hard before getting it. The last thing anybody interested in a tattoo wants is to have something permanently drawn into their skin that they would regret. And that’s just what a new book is going to show us.

No Regrets: The Best, Worst, & Most #$%*ing Ridiculous Tattoos Ever, a book by Aviva Yael and PM Chen, takes a look at some of the most hard-to-believe tattoo choices from across America. The CBC features a short photo gallery of highlights, but picture these gems: bald Britney Spears, teeth bared in mid-umbrella attack; Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie’s first child Maddox mugging for the camera; Lacoste’s green crocodile logo; and my favourite, Patrick Swayze as centaur (done at a place named, ironically, No Regrets Tattoos).

Source:
CBC

The desk and chair where Charles Dickens wrote Great Expectations was sold at auction Wednesday for about $860,000 CAD.

Tom Higgins, an Irish businessman who is the CEO of a live tarot card and psychic readings service, was the lucky winner of this one-of-a-kind desk and chair, sold at an auction to benefit the Great Ormond Street Children’s Hospital in London.

Dickens himself was a supporter of this hospital, speaking at its first fundraiser in 1858. His desk and chair were passed on through the family to his great-great-grandson Christopher. When Christopher died, his wife donated the famous items to the Great Ormond Street Children’s Hospital in honour of Dickens.

Source:
CBC

Image: Christie’s/Associated Press

I’ve been writing about the Orange Prize for fiction quite a bit lately, but here’s one more piece of news: the prize has found its winner.

Rose Tremain took home the £30,000 prize for her novel The Road Home. Tremain was actually the predicted favourite to win - only the second time that has happened in the Orange Prize’s history. The novel tells the story of an immigrant from eastern Europe who moves to England in search of a better life. According to an article in The Independent, Orange Prize jury chair Kirsty Lang praised Tremain’s novel for its empathy and explained that it won because “. . . she managed to get inside the head of an eastern European migrant coming to England.”

Tremain, a British author, is no stranger to accolades - or even this prize. Her novel The Colour was shortlisted for the prize in 2004, while another novel Restoration was on the shortlist for the 1989 Booker Prize. Other awards she has won are the Whitbread Novel of the Year award, the Dylan Thomas Prize and the Prix Femina Etranger.

Source:
The Independent

Tung Desem Waringin is an Indonesian author and businessman who was searching for an innovative way to promote his new book. His answer: drop money out of the sky from an airplane.

The plane flew over a soccer field in the Indonesian city of Serang Sunday, sending a total of 100 million rupiah, or approximately $10,732 CAD, down to the excited citizens below. There was, of course, a mad scramble for the free cash in a country where millions of people live off the equivalent of $2 CAD per day. It is estimated that 500 people walked away with some of the money.

Waringin is known for his publicity stunts. He promoted his first book by riding a horse through Jakarta while dressed as an Indonesian war hero. In fact, he had initially planned to drop the money over Jakarta, but local authorities feared the repercussions of such an event over the densely-populated capital.

The book being promoted is called Marketing Revolution. I’d say he’s got some experience there!

Sources:
Guardian
CNN